Architectural Features
The SW and NE corners of the S aisle are C12, indicating a substantial church by that date.
The chancel and S nave arcade were rebuilt in the C13, and the N aisle and arcade were built or rebuilt.
The W tower and S porch are late C14.
The nave clerestory is c.1500.
The N arcade, N aisle and part of the W tower were rebuilt following the fall of the tower in 1609.
MATERIALS Stone rubble with Barnack stone dressings, except for the N aisle and W tower, which are C17 ashlar.
The W window is C14 in style, but the tracery was renewed in the C19.
The collapse seems to have mainly affected the NE corner, although it is possible that some of the upper level, notably the two light bell openings with uncusped lights, may also be C17
The N wall has a C13 lancet with the label carried on small shafts.
In the chancel S wall is a good C13 doorway with dogtooth ornament
jamb shafts, a C19 door with a pointed head, square surround and punched roundels in the spandrels, and two three-light late C15 windows.
the lean-to vestry has a reset C13 lancet like that in the chancel.
The N aisle is ashlar faced and has two early C17 windows in a late Gothic style with foiled lights in a four-centred head
Between the windows is a blocked C17 door with a pointed head
worn headstops, possibly C13 reset.
Above the door is an inscription panel noting the commencement of the rebuilding of the aisle in 1608, and on the aisle parapet above this door in an inscription recording its completion in 1620.
At the NE corner of the S aisle, where it joins the nave, there is a flat C12 buttress
there is another C12 buttress at the SW angle and a third against the SE corner of the tower.
A shaped stop on the E side of the NE buttress is probably the remains of the C12 chancel corbel table.
The S aisle E window is C15, heavily restored
those on the S are C19 in a C15 style, and there is a blocked, possibly C15 window in the aisle W wall that was at one time converted to a door.
The S porch is late C14 and has an embattled gable.
the S door is also late C14 and has two order of small mouldings separated by a band of foliate bosses.
The S clerestory is late C15.
The clerestory on the N is C17, ashlar faced, and has windows similar to those in the N aisle, with shallow, four-centred heads and three cusped lights under a moulded label.
The SW respond has a C17 moulded corbel, and E respond has C17 style moulded corbel, possibly reset.
The S arcade is C13, with a range of piers, all with moulded capitals and water holding bases.
The eastern most pier is also polygonal and is apparently C17, with an inscription, and belongs with the narrow E bay, apparently also inserted in the C17.
The C13 lancet in the chancel N wall has shafted splays
similar shafts are reset in the splays of the C15 windows on the S side.
the remains of the large, possibly C17 window they replaced are visible at the top.
C15 piscina in the S aisle.
Chancel altar of 1924 by Ninian Comper has riddel posts with carved angels.
The late C19 reredos, removed from the chancel in 1924, and re-erected under the tower as a war memorial.
Of stone and alabaster, it has gilded, four-centred ogee arcading over angels and the list of the dead.
Some good C19 and C20 glass.
The nave roof, of hammerbeam construction with curved braces, square rafters and simple, pendant drops on the ends of the hammers, is early C17.
The C17 N aisle roof was rebuilt in 1876, and has embattled tie beams with curved braces and short king posts.
Four wall posts with carved figures of c1500, possibly from the former chancel roof, hang above the chancel arch.
The bell chamber of the tower has a heavy tie beam with braces, probably early C17.
Extensive range of C17 inscriptions on the N aisle, N arcade and E pier of the S arcade, commemorating the rebuilding in the C17.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES There are some good C18 and C19 table tombs and other monuments in the churchyard.
At the time of Domesday book in 1086 it was clearly already a large and valuable church that was the subject of a dispute over its ownership.
The surviving C12 buttresses on the S side suggest that the nave had reached its full extent by the early C12, and that the S aisle was apparently also C12 in origin.
The S nave arcade was rebuilt and the N arcade and aisle built or rebuilt in the C13.
The chancel was also rebuilt in the C13 and was originally perhaps as much as 18'longer than it is now.
The W tower was built in its present form in the late C14, and the S porch was also added in the C14.
In 1428 the church was said to be impoverished and destroyed by fire
this probably provides a date for the rebuilding of the clerestory and the insertion of the C15 windows.
In 1607 the tower, and perhaps its then spire, collapsed at the NE corner.
a C19 photograph shows it to have been a large window with a pointed head and simple Y tracery, possibly suggesting a late C18 date for the work, although an early C17 date is equally likely.
It was almost certainly entirely refurnished in the C17.
By the C18 it had at least one gallery, at the W. It was re-pewed with uniform box pews in 1835, and the triple-decker pulpit was removed in 1862 and replaced by a small wooden pulpit, which itself was replaced by the present pulpit in the later C19.
SOURCES RCHME Huntingdonshire , 146-149 VCH Huntingdonshire 2 , 139-48 Buildings of England: Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough , 269-70 Burder, C V. A Picture Book of St Mary's Church, Huntingdon REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The church of St Mary, Huntingdon, is designated at Grade I for the following principal reasons: * Large parish church of C12 or earlier origin, with good work of the C13, C14 and C15, and a well documented rebuilding of the early C17. * Excellent, architecturally very ambitious, late C14 W tower, partly rebuilt on the N side after its partial collapse in 1607. * Tower is an important part of the townscape. * C13 S nave arcade and C13 chancel. * Good C13 shelly marble font. * C15 S clerestory and some C15 windows
This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Register.