Relhan Collection : 37 Bottisham church. S view

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>1801</p><p>Holy Trinity, Bottisham, once a magnificent church, has part of a C12 tympanum but was otherwise rebuilt in the late C13/early C14, possibly by Elias de Beckingham, king’s clerk and Justice of Common Pleas, d.1305. His brass was situated in the nave, but only the indented slab remains. Like many churches Holy Trinity benefited from support from local gilds, and one of the functions of its Holy Trinity gild was ‘to repair the church fabric’. The N aisle contains many memorials to the Alington family. The chancel was recorded as in poor condition in the C17 and repairs were constantly needed on the exterior clunch walls, usually with rebuilding in stone or whitewashed brick. Relhan shows the S aisle with the tower, nave, clerestory and a truncated chancel without the W Galilee porch. Considerable restoration was required in C19, driven by the Rev John Hailstone, a rich reforming vicar. The architect was Charles Papworth of Cambridge, and much work was carried out 1839/40. The detail, even of the flint decoration to the S aisle walls in Relhan’s drawing, is precise, showing the rare anomaly of the blind arcades. These were built originally above ancient tomb slabs in the early C14. A tomb slab of a priest was found during restoration 1839. The inferior stonework continues to give problems, with much required in late C20 and more work in progress now (2019).</p><p>Bradley and Pevsner 2014; Duffy 2005; Tudor-Craig in Hicks 1997; RCHME 1972; VCH 2002</p></p>