On a recent trip to Norfolk, I was surprised to come across a mention of Lady Margaret Beaufort (mother of Henry VII, generous patron of Cambridge University and a favourite at GSM) – along with her son’s deadly enemy, Richard III. Great St Mary’s has an unusual stained glass window which commemorates Margaret, Henry VII and Richard III together. Enemies in life, the leaders of the Lancastrian and Yorkist forces were united by their generosity towards the University of Cambridge, the Church and Great St Mary’s in particular.
The Abbey of St Mary in the Meadows at Creake was a small Augustinian house. Founded in 1206, it provided hospital beds for 13 ‘Christian paupers.’ Soon after, it adopted the Augustinian rule and became a priory. Then, with the support of its royal patron, Henry III, it was made an abbey.
In 1484 fire tore through the abbey and Richard III made a large donation to help pay for the rebuilding. Despite Richard’s generosity, the canons were struck down by plague until, in 1506, the abbot died and the buildings passed to the Crown.
Here, Margaret Beaufort stepped in. Long before Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries, Margaret used the lands of the defunct abbey to endow her collegiate foundation at Cambridge, Christ’s College.
Only the abbey ruins stand today, with children excitedly hunting eggs in the sunshine on the day I visited. I found the roofless nave a fascinating reminder of the rise and fall of the religious foundations whose dissolution provided so much of the wealth of Cambridge.
Heritage at Great St Mary's 