Architectural Features
These bays were rebuilt in the early C14,
at some point the rest of the arcades were raised and the arches reset, perhaps in the early C16 when the first pier on each side was rebuilt, the clerestory added and the aisles widened.
A date of 1538 in the N aisle roof may provide a date for the work.
A C15 N chancel chapel accessed through the now blocked arch in the E end of the N aisle was demolished at some point in the post Reformation period, probably when the chancel was rebuilt in 1726.
Roofs are tile, slate and lead.
The nave and aisles are externally entirely early C16, and the brick chancel is distinctively C18.
The tall W window has elongated Perpendicular style tracery, and the W door has a broad Tudor arched opening, above which is a punning plaque 'Deum Cole' commemorating the benefaction of Rev. William Cole.
The tower replaced a C15 W window and a timber belfry in the churchyard.
In typical Commissioner's style, the W wall of the tower is almost flush with W ends of the aisles, both of which have early C16 3-light windows.
The S aisle E window is blocked and shows the remains of both an early C16 window and of a smaller, early C19 that replaced it before the whole was blocked in the later C19.
There is a blocked C16 door in the W end of the N aisle.
The S door is C13.
It was reset in the C16 and given a C16 door, and restored by Ambrose Poynter in 1843.
A C15 buttress at the NW corner of the vestry is presumably the remains of the former N chapel.
Some of the bricks in the NE angle have carved initials, possibly of the C18 bricklayers.
The C13 chancel arch was repaired in the C18 when the chancel was rebuilt, and has a chamfered inner order with C18 capitals.
The four western bays are C13 in origin and have arches of two chamfered orders on polygonal piers with moulded capitals and bases.
The east bays were built in the early C14 and probably replace older transept arches.
The first pier on each side was rebuilt in the early C16, and which time the both arcades were raised reusing the existing arches.
There is a large painting of Christ in majesty surrounded by saints and angels on the chancel E wall, and the chancel ceiling stenciled decoration.
There is also a C19 timber pulpit with blind tracery panels, a delicate late C19 or early C20 iron screen closing the sanctuary, and an early C20 timber screen in a classical style closing off part of the S aisle.
There is a partial medieval piscina in the N aisle E wall.
Phoebe Withnoll, d. 1658, and several good C18 and early C19 wall tablets including one for the well-known Cambridgeshire antiquary Rev. William Cole, d. 1782, who left money for rebuilding the tower.
The earliest fabric is late C12,
the church was only mentioned in documentary sources in the early C13.
About 1218 it was given to St Radegund's nunnery, and revenues from St Clement's were used to provide clothing for the nuns.
The rebuilding in the 1530s, datable by the roof beam of 1538, was carried out right on the eve of the Reformation, even as many religious changes were beginning to happen.
It was apparently in poor repair in the C17, and the chancel was rebuilt in 1726.
SOURCES VCH: Cambridge and the isle of Ely: III , 123-32 Buildings of England: Cambridgeshire , 224 RCHME City of Cambridge: II 269-71 REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The Church of St Clement, Cambridge is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * Parish church with excellent surviving fabric of the C13-C16, including a dated roof beam of 1538. * C15 font. * C18 brick chancel and early C19 W tower. * Exterior is a distinctive mix of styles and materials, with archaeological evidence of former features. * Good scheme of C19 painted decoration in the chancel.