10 SEPTEMBER 1927, Page 28

THE CHAPEL OF SAINT MARY MAGDALENE AT STLTRBRIDGE, CAMBRIDGE. By

Chester R. Jones. (Cambridge University Press. as. 6d.)—The little Norman chapel described in this scholarly booklet stands lonely in a field beside the Newmarket road outside Cambridge. Origin- ally it served a leper hospital. Later its lands were the site of the renowned Sturbridge Fair, where merchants from all over England and Western Europe congregated every August and September. Th. Fair ceased to be held and the chapel fell into decay and was used as a barn. Pious Cambridge men bought it for the University in 1817; it was restored in 1867 and has recently been opened for service. The profits from the sale of the booklet will help to warm the chapel in winter. Both historically and architecturally the little building is of great interest, as the text and the many excellent illustrations show. It is a healthy sign of the times that such ancient chapels should be restored to pious uses. We remember that recently the mediaeval -chapel on the point at Briithiell, St. Peter on the Wall, was put in order after long neglect.