Introduction:
The Churches Conservation Trust are custodians of St. Michael’s church, Longstanton. LDHS is keen to support St. Michael’s church and hopes that in time CCT, with the help of others and /or Heritage Lottery Funding, will provide the necessary facilities that St. Michael’s needs. It is a beautiful and rare church but sadly under-used. It can be more easily used for concerts; exhibitions etc. if it had electricity and toilet / hand washing facilities. Currently the church cannot be visited by local school children, as the days of nipping around the back are long gone. Night time events cannot be held easily due to a lack of electricity.
LDHS would love to promote this rare thatched church to visitors, and perhaps have volunteers to help open the building more often. But without proper facilities this would be difficult to do. Visitors, who travel from further afield, will have a similar problem to the children as there is no cafe or public convenience nearby. The Black Bull pub in Longstanton has toilets but it is not open during the day. My suggestions, if you are coming from a distance, would be to try Tesco Store at Barhill; the small services at Lolworth on the A14 or Cambridge Services which is located on the A14 at the Swavesey junction. Coming from the south I can think of no convenient services after Stansted airport. Of course Cambridge has many cafes and toilets and Oakington has the White Horse Pub. Unfortunately the White Horse pub is very close to St. Michael’s but the road between the two is closed to cars. You can access Oakington by foot or bicycle. It would be possible to walk from the White Horse to St. Michael’s church but it is a fair way. You may wish to first check that the church is open. Please check directly with the White Horse and the Black Bull pubs for their opening hours.
St. Michael’s is a rare thatched church and the lack of facilities probably add to its charm. It is certainly very “authentic!” There are only two thatched churches in Cambridgeshire (and only 6 in total throughout the UK) The other thatched church in Cambridgeshire is located just a short distance away in the village of Rampton. (Follow B1050 from Longstanton to Willingham. In Willingham turn right at The Black Bull pub. Follow the road until you get to a T junction. Turn right. This is Rampton Road – it is quite a drive but you will eventually come to the village. Rampton church is hidden away up a little path. If you get as far as Giant’s Hill or leave the village then you have passed it. As usual LDHS accepts no responsibility if you follow suggested directions or routes; or for any errors or omissions. Please park legally and responsibly to ensure that Rampton residents are not inconvenienced.)
Contact
With the support of LDHS a Friends of St Michael’s church, Longstanton group has been set up. The church is open as often as possible and the group has arranged a number of events over the last year.
Other CCT Cambridgeshire churches
The CCT cares for churches at Connington, near St. Ives; Duxford; south of Cambridge and it has a church in Cambridge. There may be others. Please check the CCT website for details. In due course we will try to provide a bit more detail on the other special Cambridgeshire churches in their care.
General & Church Enquiries
You can find information about all CCT’s 340 churches by via visitchurches.org.uk.
