Relhan Collection : 112 Chesterton church. Altar tomb of the Brakyn family

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p> A not dissimilar tomb to (<b>110</b>) but taller and with the Brakyn arms separately drawn (<b>111</b>). In 1535 Thomas Brakyn of Cambridge, 3 times Mayor and 4 times MP, buried in St Clement’s, Cambridge, purchased a long lease at a nominal rent of Barnwell Priory’s estate of Chesterton. Much of this estate was sold off, with the lordship of the manor and arable land purchased by Edward Steward of Teversham (<b>309</b>). The Brakyn family continued to thrive in the C17 but with little connection to Chesterton. Francis Brakyn’s (<b>111</b>) heir John married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Cutts of Childerley (<b>127</b>) and hence was buried in Lolworth (<b>243</b>). Cole records his worn grave slab and refers to his inclusion in the epitaph of his son Thomas (Mayor of Cambridge) in St Sepulchre’s, Cambridge. He describes the Brakyn arms and says there was no inscription. C19 restorers were apparently happy to get rid of these cumbersome old tombs that obstructed the chancel, possibly using the stones elsewhere on the site. Similar tombs survive outside in the churchyard but are mostly illegible. On this altar tomb some of the original colour was still visible in Relhan’s day.</p><p>Palmer 1932 </p></p>