Relhan Collection : 118 Chesterton Tower

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>Captioned, as also (<b>119)</b>, by Relhan ‘Old House’, for not until Foster 1909 was its history clear. The manor of Chesterton was given to canons regular at Vercelli in Piedmont by Henry III in thanks for his effective regency during Henry’s minority, and was controlled by that abbey’s proctors, who built Chesterton Tower in the mid-C14 and resided there until c. 1443, when Henry VI gave it to Trinity College, foreign connections of religious houses having become unpopular. The Tower, a single residence, is a rectangular building with a vaulted ground floor of two bays supporting an upper floor and attic floor (small single light windows in Relhan’s drawing), originally accessed by a stair from one of the two octagonal turrets. There are remains of a large rear chimney stack and the former garderobe in the SW corner turret. The building was originally cased in clunch, recorded, with its substantial brick repairs, by Relhan. At that time it was being used as a farm building; the gablet roof suggests it was a dovecote with open flight-entries in the connecting NW turret roof (similar to others, around Cambridge, eg Grantchester). Already in disrepair c.1820 the building was restored in 1875 for public meetings and Sunday school, and served until 1920 as a parish hall. In 1949 the Tower, again derelict, was thoroughly restored by the Ministry of Works, further work following in 1964 and 1980. In 1963 Trinity College sold the surrounding land for development but retained the Tower, which 1961-1970 was occupied by a sculptor, and from 1975 as offices for successive occupants.</p><p>Bradley and Pevsner 2014; Davis EM pers comm; Foster 1909; RCHME 1959; VCH 1989 </p></p>