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The Roman Catholic Church


THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, dedicated to the "Blessed Virgin and the English Martyrs," is one of the most beautiful buildings in Cambridge, and may claim to be one of the most elaborate modern churches in England.

It stands at the angle between the Hills Road and Lensfield Road. The best views of it are from the Hills Road, beyond the turning to the Railway Station, and in the Grounds of Downing College, where the tower and spire are seen rising majestically above the trees.

It is in the Transition or Early Decorated style, and is of fine Bath stone-Coombe Down, which is the harder variety of Bath stone, on the exterior, and Farleigh Down, which is more amenable to the carver's chisel, in the interior.

The designs for the floral and other stone-carving within this building were given by Mr. Edmund Kett, and were principally executed by Barnsdale, one of his men. Both for design and execution, this work is considered to surpass anything of the kind that has been produced in this country for many years.

The Church was erected entirely at the expense of Mrs. Lyne-Stephens. of Lynford Hall in Norfolk, for whom a niche is reserved in the eastern wall of the eastern transept for a memorial.