INSIDE FLAP BACK FRONT
TAKE THE
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6 7 5 GRANTCHESTER TO CAMBRIDGE
12 Take in beautiful churches and rolling meadows, stop for a cup of tea or a local beer as you discover the world of Sidney Chambers – an unforgettable new hero in the world of detective ction. Starting point: Church of St Andrew and St Mary, Grantchester End point: Cambridge railway station Approximate walking time: 2 hours 11 4
FINISH
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2 1 INSIDE FLAP BACK FRONT
CURATED BY JAMES RUNCIE
HE VILLAGE OF GRANTCHESTER is just over two miles from the Cross into Newnham Road, and take the rst footpath on the right across Double back (you may like to note the second oor of 20 King’s Parade, Tcentre of Cambridge. Start the walk at the Church of St Andrew Lammas Land and follow the footpath signs to the City Centre. Watch out where James Runcie was born) and turn left into Bene’t Street. and St Mary, Grantchester. This is where Sidney is Vicar and where for cyclists, and imagine Sidney himself bicycling to and from Cambridge along The Grantchester Mysteries begins. these very paths. If you tire, you can stop for a pint in The Granta Pub. 9 On your right, you will see The Eagle pub, where Sidney and Inspector Keating meet for two pints of 1 The church was founded in 1352 by the two Soon you will nd Mill Lane on your right. Go up Mill 5 beer and a game of backgammon every Thursday local trade guilds of Corpus Christi and the Lane and turn left into Trumpington Street. This leads night. The RAF bar is at the back. This is also where Blessed Virgin Mary. The patron of the living is into King’s Parade. Almost immediately on your right Watson and Crick drank while they were cracking still a Corpus Christi college and you can see its you will see Fitzbillies cake shop where you can buy the secrets of DNA (also in 1953). emblem The Pelican in her Piety in the mosaic Sidney’s favourite Chelsea Bun. On the left-hand side oor in front of the altar. The architecture is Ede and Ravenscroft, Sidney’s tailor, and further Enjoy a couple of pints here, and, on 10 ranges from early Norman to the nineteenth down the road on the right is Sidney’s Cambridge college, Corpus Christi. emerging, turn left and cross into the century, when the south aisle was added. The oldest part of the building is shopping centre, Lion’s Yard, noting The the chancel, which dates from the fourteenth century and has ne tracery 6 Founded in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi Arts Theatre on the way. This is the in the decorated style. The church tower is fteenth century but the clock and the Blessed Virgin Mary, it bears the distinction location of the rst murder in the last is no longer ‘stuck at ten to three’ as it is in Rupert Brooke’s famous poem of being the only College in Oxford or Cambridge story in Volume One, ‘Honourable Men’. The Old Vicarage, Grantchester. Nor, I am afraid, does the current Vicar live founded by their citizens. Try to visit Old Court, to there (that honour falls to Jeffrey and Mary Archer). the left, the original court of the college which dates Turn right into St Andrews Street, and note the old Police Station, on the from the 1380s. It is a rare mediaeval architectural right, just after Emmanuel College. Inspector Keating would have had his The current Vicarage is the white building 2 gem and the oldest surviving enclosed court in Cambridge. of ce on the rst oor. to the right of the church. The Old Vicarage itself is off Mill Way. New Court was built in the 19th century, 7 11 It is a further ten-minute walk up Hills Road to designed by the architect William Wilkins, who the Railway Station, scene of the denouement On leaving the church, walk up the High designed the National Gallery, Downing College in the rst story in Sidney Chambers and the Street to The Green Man pub and turn right and the front screen of King’s College, among Shadow of Death and the ctional of ces of onto Grantchester Meadows. others. The New Court of Corpus remained ‘Morton and Staunton solicitors’ where you his favourite building and he is buried in the should be able to nd a train to take you home. 3 This is where Sidney walks his dog, Dickens, on Chapel here. To its right and left are the Library and the Hall, respectively. This a daily basis. In summer it is a wonderful spot triangular arrangement of buildings re ects the balance between academic, If you are feeling energetic, or it is summer, 12 for a picnic so you may like to bring one with spiritual and social life in the College community. you can make a quick detour on this route you; although Sidney, Amanda, and Jennifer also and turn left into Gonville Place, and have a winter picnic here on the River Cam at 8 Turn right out of Corpus and walk down King’s then right into Gresham Road, and nd the end of the story ‘The Missing Ring’. Parade to King’s College Chapel. The rst story in yourself at Fenners Cricket Ground – site Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death ends here, of the mass poisoning in Volume Two of Continue along the river through two gates, through a tall hedge and ‘Little and Volume Two of The Grantchester Mysteries: Sidney The Grantchester Mysteries. On a summer Fen’, a 500-year-old water meadow. Chambers and The Perils of the Night begins with a afternoon you might even be able to catch suspicious fall from the roof. a few overs of cricket before your journey. Follow the river and then walk up to the footpath into town. It will take fteen to twenty minutes to cross the Meadows. This is one of the most iconic buildings in the world, and is a splendid example You can also do this tour in reverse order, of late-Gothic (Perpendicular) architecture. It was started in 1446 by Henry VI starting at the Railway Station, and either Leave via Eltisley Avenue, home of Hildegard 4 (1421–71) and took over a century to build. It has the largest fan vault ceiling walking or taking a ve minute taxi into the Staunton in the rst Sidney story, ‘The Shadow in the world and some of the nest medieval stained glass. The architect of City Centre. Then you could see the main of Death’. The rst major turn on the right, by ‘the noblest stone ceiling in existence’ was John Wastell and he built it in three sites and take a punting trip on the river the corner shop, is Chedworth Street, home years between 1512 and 1515. to Grantchester rather than walking. You of Isabel Livingstone and then Dr Michael can hire a punt either with or without a guide at Silver Street Bridge, Robinson in ‘First Do No Harm’. Try and time your arrival for evensong (most often at 5.30 p.m.) opposite Queen’s College and by The Anchor pub.