Relhan Collection : 66 Burwell church. NW view

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>St Mary’s church has remains of its C12 origins in the W tower but otherwise was almost completely rebuilt 1439-1467. It is commonly reckoned as the finest Perpendicular church in Cambs, believed to be the work of Henry VI’s master mason Reginald Ely, d.1471, then working on King’s College Chapel. The church has been described as a glasshouse of walls of traceried windows. Work is closely dated by wills that made bequests for its construction, eg it was ‘<i>newly begun’</i> in 1467 and by 1475 only a new missal and candlesticks were required. The tower has a final octagonal stage influenced by Ely’s Octagon; Relhan shows the diagonal buttresses, battlements, pinnacles and even bell of the tower in detail. The spirelet has the inscribed date 1799 which commemorates the restoration of the lead recladding; the sanctus bell it houses was recorded in 1776. Could the spirelet be a C17 addition to the tower? The porches are both C15; the church path leading to the S porch is shown following the route it does today. The High Street seemingly continues on from this main porched entrance to the church. The almost circular churchyard once overlooked the fens and Burwell Castle. Restoration of the church fabric by John Edlin in 1861/2 and 1868 and by Blomfield<i></i>in 1877 has made few changes to its external appearance. The brass of the last abbot of Ramsey, John Laurence alias Wardeboys (d.1542), last abbot of Ramsey, was prepared beforehand by him. Apparently this brass is made of scrap from Bury St Edmund’s. Another handsome memorial is that of Thomas and Alicia Gerard (<b>348</b>). Some of the gravestones illustrated by Relhan survive, including one with a heart and another with an urn shown in relief. The reverse of the former is a memorial to 78 people, mainly children, attending a puppet show in a barn and burnt to death in 1727. </p><p>Bradley and Pevsner 2014; Cotton in Hicks 1997; Davis EM pers comm; Heseltine 1981; RCHME 1972; Rogers in Hicks 1997; Smith in Hicks 1997; VCH 2002; Wright 1991</p></p>