St John the Evangelist Hills Road early 20th century

St John the Evangelist (Cambridge), Hills Road

Notes on the history of the parish of St John the Evangelist

The official title of this church shows that it was originally founded within the Cherry Hinton parish.

In 2023 the digital archive of St John’s was transferred from their web site to Capturing Cambridge.

The contents can be found here:

St John the Evangelist Hills Road

St John’s Parish Magazine 1908

St John’s Parish Magazine 1909

St John’s Parish Magazine 1910

St John’s Parish Magazine 1936

St John’s Parish Magazine 1937

World War One at in the Parish of St John’s

World War One – Blinco Grove

World War One – Cavendish Avenue

World War One – Cherry Hinton Road (south side)

World War One – Cherry Hinton Road (north side)

World War One – Cowper Road

World War One – Derby Road

World War One – Hartington Grove

World War One – Hills Avenue

World War One – Hills Road (South)

World War One – Hinton Avenue

World War One – Luard Road

World War One – Marshall Road

World War One – Rathmore Road

World War One – Rock Road

World War One – Rustat Road

World War One – Red Cross Volunteers

World War Two

Cambridge history articles in Parish Magazine

St John’s parish photo archive

St_John_Stonework

StJohnGuide

StJohnGuide2ndEd

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There was from the early days of the church a St John’s Music Society whose activities were published in the Homertonian, the college student magazine:

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Marie Burrows was recorded in 2016 talking about her life in the parish. He she recalls her father’s time at St John’s.

Christened, confirmed and married at St John’s, she recalls her own earliest memories of church life.

Finally she recalls the circumstances around her wedding at St John’s.

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Dorothy Sanders, who lived first in Hartington Grove in the 1930s then in Rock Road, is another longstanding members of St John’s. For a while though, after her marriage, she moved to Rampton where her husband was vicar. In 2016 she talked about her life:

She was married in Rampton church by the former vicar of St John’s, Rev. Jary.

After she returned to Cambridge from Rampton she and her husband became closely involved in the life of St Andrew the Great.

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In 2016 Tony Whitmore reminisced about his relationship to St John’s where he went to Sunday School and helped to pump the organ, and his marriage at St James’s.

Tony’s mother, Rosetta Cowell, was baptised and confirmed at St John’s. Here are Rosetta baptism and confirmation certificates as well as the Holy Communion booklet she was given at confirmation:

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Although Peter West had lived for many years in the parish in Hills Avenue, he had been  brought up as a Baptist and then joined the Congregationalists before finally joining St John’s. Over the years he and his wife have taken on many roles within the church. In 2016 he talked about his move to St John’s.

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Pat Chapman has lived in Queen Edith’s for much of her life and knows the local churches well. She became a regular member of St John’s through a friend in the 1990s. Here she talks in

2016

Sources: interviews, St John’s web site