Church of St Mary the Less, Cambridge
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The Church of St Mary the Less is situated on Trumpington Street, Cambridge, next to Peterhouse College. It is known locally as Little Saint Mary's or simply LSM to distinguish it from St Mary the Great.
It is in the Diocese of Ely and follows the Anglo-Catholic tradition of the Church of England.
[edit] History
There has been a place of worship on the current site since around the twelfth century. The earliest known records of the church state that the first church here, called St Peter-without-Trumpington Gate, was controlled by three successive generations of the same family until 1207. After that date it was given to the Hospital of St John the Evangelist, now St John's College, and served by chaplains from that foundation.
In the 1280s, the Bishop of Ely lodged some scholars in the Hospital but to his dismay found soon that the sick and the students could not live in harmony together. The students were moved in 1284 to the site of what is now Peterhouse College, this was the origin of Peterhouse. By the 1340s, the church was in such a bad state that the fellows of Peterhouse decided to rebuild it. In 1352, the new building had the dual purpose of College Chapel (to Peterhouse) and Parish Church. At this time, it was rededicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1632, Peterhouse built a separate Chapel and St Mary the Less reverted to being a Parish Church. Richard Crashaw the metaphysical poet, was a priest there from 1638 to 1643, at the same time that he was a Fellow of Peterhouse. A few years after his departure, many of the Church's ornaments and statues were damaged or destroyed by the Puritan extremist William Dowsing. The damage to the sedilia and the entrance to the Lady Chapel have never been repaired. In 1741, the church was refitted with wooden panelling, box pews, choir gallery, and the present pulpit. From 1856-7 Sir George Gilbert Scott restored the church and removed the 18th century panelling. Further restoration work was carried out in 1876 and 1891, but by 1880 the church was much as it is now. The south, or Lady Chapel, was added in 1931 and designed by Thomas Lyon, the architect of Sidney Sussex College Chapel. The Parish Room at the west end of the church was built in 1892 and enlarged in 1990.
