US faithful flock to mother church in village

A church in a small English village has become an unlikely hotspot for American tourists who said they were eager to visit their mother church.

St Michael's in Longstanton, Cambridgeshire, is a thatched church dating mainly to the 13th Century.

The Church of St James the Less was built in 1846 in Philadelphia to look almost identical after academics in Cambridge shared drawings and plans with American colleagues of "the perfect country parish church".

The Friends of St Michael's have been welcoming more and more American Christians in recent years, who wanted to see the original.

The Cambridgeshire church is cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust and the Friends of St Michael's.

Narelle Hassell, 69, secretary of Friends of St Michael's, said: "The relevance of our small thatched building at the end of the village is often underestimated by local residents. Despite this, the visitor's book indicates a different story.

"Linked to St James the Less in Philadelphia, not by happenstance but literally by design, this church has a place in the consciousness of a parish and school in the United States. It is this link which gives us a feeling of great pride."

"The favourite spot to have photos taken - especially our Philadelphia friends - is in front of the church because they look almost identical, except that they have a triple bell-cote and we have a double - that's about the only big difference, and clearly the age."

The roof is also tiled in the US, but thatched in Longstanton.

John Hager, from Philadelphia, has researched and written about the connection between the two churches.

"In the early 19th Century there was a group of really churchy academics in Cambridge and they were really interested in bringing back and studying what they thought was a more accurate kind of medieval architecture for churches in the 19th Century," he said.

"They thought St Michael's was basically the perfect country parish church.

"They studied it, they drew plans and they spread it abroad because they thought that people in England and also the US should know about it."

Members of St James' school and church regularly visit St Michael's.

One member coined the phrase that the Longstanton church was "the mother church", said Ms Hassell.

"It certainly is on their radar and they love this connection.

"It's grown, and this year alone, in the space of about two months we had about five people from Philadelphia who were connected to St James - and we are expecting more."

A former teacher at St James, George Asimos, comes to Longstanton every year.

A lithograph depicting St Michael's initially sparked his interest, said Ms Hassell.

"It was in the possession of his grandparents but he doesn't know how or why.

"It makes us feel that our job here is very worthwhile and their passion for coming here is really infectious," she added.

Asked if he thought there were other "copies of St Michael's", Mr Hager said: "Yes, there are a number of them out there including one in North Dakota that drew inspiration. After St James the Less, a lot of people became really interested in this kind of church."

He acknowledged St James was "not an exact copy".

"But when I stepped into St Michael's, I felt like I knew that place."

St James the Less is now part of the St James School in north Philadelphia, which is a tuition-free school for about 90 students.

The congregation is made principally of pupils and there is also a community service on Sundays.

Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.