When somewhere says they have the greatest views of a city we are in, we have to take a look. I am not sure why, it’s just always something that we end up doing. So, when we saw a sign outside Great St. Mary’s Church saying it was the best view of Cambridge, we went in to climb the towers! Great St. Mary’s Church is also known as the University Church of Cambridge, built in 1209. The building was then rebuilt in the Perpendicular Gothic style between 1478 and 1608, with the university’s bells added to it.
When we went inside St. Mary’s Church, we found that, due to the day of the week we went, it was full of people! There was a silent prayer happening, so we were quite and respectful, looking at the beautiful stained glass windows and getting a ticket for the tower. There is a gift shop in this church and going up the tower does cost a small fee. We were then told the safety information, before heading up the 123 steps.
The stairway is very narrow and spiralling, so you will need to take your time and be careful. There is no stopping to take photos on the stairs apart from the area where you can see the bells. This sort of cut out has a big green button that can be pressed to light up the room, where you can then see a bunch of the bells hanging inside Great St. Mary’s Church. It’s pretty interesting to see and works as a good rest point too.
Going on to the top is a bit of walk, but once you get to the roof there is a little sitting area so that you can catch your breath. And, the views are stunning! From the top of Great St. Mary’s Church, you can see the market square, along with all of the other historical buildings around this area. It’s absolutely stunning, especially on a sunny day. You are sort of trapped on the roof until they announce that that stairway is clear, due to it all being sort of one way since it is thin, but this gave us plenty of time to walk around and read through our pamphlet that we got with our ticket fee. There are also lots of little cut outs for cameras, so you can take a really decent photography as well.
You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!