I've visited St Mary three times and on each occasion the keyholder has been out but I will persevere having read the entry on the excellent Cambridgeshire Churches website.
Having at last gained access it's actually a bit of a let down and the paintings not as extensive aqs I thought since they've been recovered to protect them.
Surprisingly my copy of Mee doesn't include an entry for Hardwick.
ST MARY. The relation between the site of the church and that of the Benedictine Priory of Hardwick, re-established in 970, is not known. The parish church is of moderate size, built of stone and pebble and placed nicely with a row of trees on the l. and one on the r. The tower probably early C14: unbuttressed and with lancet windows. The rest seems all Perp (much restored), except that in the chancel on the S side near the W end there is one window going lower than any others, and the tracery of this is Dec. The masonry of the church (into which the Perp windows were set) may also be C14. One can assume that, because the tiebeams of the fine roof with polygonal queen-posts (with bases and capitals) are cut away so as not to interfere with the Perp tower arch and chancel arch. The S windows are genuine Perp. The N and clerestory windows entirely C19.
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