Our Lady and the English Martyrs

Story

The Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs is an English Roman Catholic parish church located at the junction of Hills Road and Lensfield Road in south east Cambridge. It is a large Gothic Revival church built between 1885 and 1890.FoundationThe first post-reformation Catholic church was opened in Cambridge in 1841; St Andrew's Catholic Church (later dismantled and re-built in St Ives) remained the only chapel available for Cambridge Catholics until the construction of OLEM. In 1865, the parish priest Canon Thomas Quinlivan acquired additional adjacent land, but the funds could not be raised for construction. With the aid of the Duke of Norfolk, the entire Lensfield estate was purchased in 1879. The task of raising more funds fell to Quinlivan's successor, Mgr Christopher Scott. On the Feast of the Assumption, 1884, the former ballerina Yolande Lyne-Stephens, widow of Stephens Lyne-Stephens, reputed to be the richest commoner in England, offered to fund the £70,000 construction of a church on the site.Building work began in 1885 following the plans of architects Dunn and Hansom, and the foundation stone was laid in June 1887. The construction of such a prominent Catholic church, as well as its dedication to the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, caused much controversy among local Anglicans and members of the University. Despite this, and the ill health of Mrs Lyne-Stephens, the church was completed and then consecrated on 8 October 1890. The first mass was attended by all the bishops of England and Wales except for Cardinal Manning and Bishop Vaughan.