Stone, circular church building with a conical roof and arched doorway, next to an adjacent gabled structure with a cross.

Round Church Cambridge

Holy Sepulchre (Round Church) & Sepulchre Passage, Cambridge

History of Holy Sepulchre, Bridge Street

This is one of England’s five surviving round churches of C11-12.

An 1809 etching of the Round Church showing its circular stone structure framed by trees, with two small figures in the yard.

Round Church 1809

A watercolour drawing of a circular church tower, brick walls, and timber-framed buildings with figures on a cobbled street.

Bridge Street pre 1840

Sepulchre Passage was the passage that round around the churchyard of Holy Sepulchre before the construction of Round Church Street. It appears on maps circa 1800 but is not named.

A small section of a map showing grey streets surrounding a green space containing an orange, round-shaped building structure.

Cambridge Town Map c.1800

A detailed black and white engraving showing the circular stone exterior and arched entrance of the Round Church in Cambridge.

Holy Sepulchre church Cambridge

An 1808 engraving showing the circular stone walls and arched entrance of the Round Church in Cambridge with a tall tower.

Holy Sepulchre church Cambridge

1830 Pigot’s Directory

Richard Anthony Relhan, apothecary (1782-1844)

Relhan was also a gifted amateur artist and left a large collection of pictures of buildings and other historic features which are housed by Cambridge University Library. He was baptised 1782 at Holy Sepulchre, first son of Rev. Richard and Maria Relhan. Richard Relhan (1754-1823)had been born in Dublin and married Maria Day, daughter of Cambridge attorney, James Day. The father was chaplain of King’s College (1781-1796) but also taught and was a noted botanist publishing Flora Cantabrigiensis in 1785.

Richard Anthony Relhan was living in 1841 in St John’s Street, with his brother Charles, violin teacher, and his wife Elizabeth, where he ran his apothecary. He seemed to have had financial difficulties and in 1843 was living in King Street where he died in 1844 from debility aged 62.

1861

Sepulchre Passage

(1) George Swan, 34, labourer, b Cambridge

(2) Ann Knight, 79, b Needingworth

(3) Ann Clark, 70, laundress, b Herts

(4) Maria Stanford, 53, bedmakers help, b Ely

(5) William Swan, 39, servant, b Cambridge

Two ink drawings showing a circular church with two figures on the street and a detailed view of its ornate arched doorway.

Holy Sepulchre, R Farren 1881

The conical roof of the Round Church rises above a thick hedge and iron fence, with figures and a horse-drawn carriage nearby.

Holy Sepulchre and Round Church Street c.1900

Further information can be found on Wikipedia.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre with its conical roof stands behind a brick wall, with pedestrians and a cyclist nearby.

Round Church, Cambridge

The sepia-toned building features a conical roof and rounded stone walls, sitting behind a low brick wall and adjacent garage.

Round Church Cambridge c1952

1996 study of Anthony Salvin:

https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-1893-1/dissemination/pdf/englishh2-363484_1.pdf

Gwen Raverat (Period Piece) describes a visit by her mother circa 1883 (p.25).

2021

Sketching Cambridge by Michael Large