Cambridge Leper Chapel hosts celebration of city's historic roots

Stourbridge Medieval Fair provided an opportunity for celebration, reflection and renewal at Leper Chapel of St Mary Magdalene off Newmarket Road on Saturday (September 7).

The celebrations were of a thankful-for-the-harvest variety, the reflection because this incredible building has been in ongoing (give or take) use since 1150 - and renewal because a sense of community matters when people face collective challenges.

The organisers, Cambridge Past, Present & Future, encourage the reenactment community to take part. Kevin and Christie de Silva showed up from Essex in full circa-1450 regalia, and Christie set about showing how they made wooden spoons back in the day. Turns out that the species of wood matters a lot, the grain for lighter woods being denser, while the looser grain in, say, an oak tree, absorbs more liquid and food.