The Round Church, Cambridge England

The Round Church, Cambridge, England
a.k.a. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The round part of the church was built in about 1130 by the ‘fraternity of the Holy Sepulchre’. They were evidently influenced by the round church in Jerusalem called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre built by the Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th ct. Since they were Normans, recently arrived from France in 1066, they used the Norman or Romanesque style: hence the thick pillars and rounded arches. (Read the rest of the article from Christian Heritage here...)

Look at those massive columns!

(or are they pillars?)

Baptismal Font

A series of arches

The domed ceiling

I also came upon this interesting bit of information. The following letter was written by Ranald Macaulay, son-in-law of the late Francis Schaeffer: (copied from their website)

THE  L'ABRI-CAMBRIDGE CONNECTION 

'Although there isn’t an official L’Abri branch in Cambridge there is a strong connection. In fact English L’Abri has two parts, the residential work in Hampshire and my personal contribution to the work of Christian Heritage in Cambridge. In other words, I continue as a L’Abri worker but work in Cambridge.

The Cambridge bit happened like this.  When in 1996 Susan and I felt it was time to make way for younger workers at the branch in Hampshire, we came back to Cambridge where we’d spent a sabbatical in 1988-89.  But we hadn’t a clue about what might open up.  In the event, the ancient Round Church right in the heart of the city, which you can see above, fell vacant in 1998.  Its amazing design and heritage attracts about 180,000 visitors each year!  Built by 1130, that’s about 80 years before the university began, it was modeled on the church in Jerusalem where Jesus was buried and rose from the dead. But no one seemed to know what to do with it.

So, this was what opened up – the ROUND CHURCH!  To take care of it appropriately, a charitable organization called ‘CHRISTIAN HERITAGE’ was formed and this became officially responsible for the building in January 2001. Our first project was to make a 23 minute video called ‘Saints & Scholars’. This is on view all day every day; so people can sit down with headsets and get an impression of how significant, indeed essential, Christianity was in the formation of the West.  We also have a schedule of guided tours around the colleges...'(Read More from Christian Heritage UK)

P.S. My first introduction to Susan Schaeffer Macaulay was through her books 'How to Be Your Own Selfish Pig' and 'For the Children's Sake,' and later her lectures at homeschooling conferences (which I listened to via audio tape). Of course, her father, Francis Schaeffer the great theologian has been a  help to and influence on so many of us!

When we were visiting the The Round Church, we were thrilled so see and hear such a very Christian message being disseminated from The Round Church to the residents and visitors of Cambridge. But I did not know until I was gathering information from the Christian Heritage website for this post, that  Ranald and Susan Schaeffer Macaulay were involved in this ministry.


P.P.S. Photos are mine.



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