Relhan Collection : 209 Harston, Obelisk erected in memory of Gregory Wale

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>Harston obelisk was erected in 1739 by James Church in memory of his friend Gregory Wale who died at Little Shelford in 1739, aged 70 years, whom he had met regularly on this site. It was known as St Margaret’s Mount or Maggot’s Mount, a small area of upland chalk near the Harston, Newton and Little Shelford parish boundaries. The Wale family were lords of the manor of Tiptofts in Harston in C17 and C18 and their family seat was in Little Shelford. The inscription, still legible, records that Gregory Wale was Justice of the Peace for Cambs, Deputy Lieutenant, County Treasurer and Conservator of the River Cam. He is buried in Little Shelford. The Barnack limestone obelisk is tall and thin on a pyramidal base, surmounted by an urn and signed ‘C Bottomley fecit’ and ‘F Tuck’. It was restored in 1909 by the Wale family. William Marshall constructed a concrete base to replace frail brick foundations, and a plaque records restoration in 1985 by Rattee & Kett. Relhan shows a wide view across the open fields of Little Shelford, with Hauxton village in the valley below and Cambridge on the horizon. Today (2020) there is too much tree cover for these features to be visible. The monument is in good condition and stands in an arable field on the highest point for some distance all round. It can be reached by a footpath off the road from Little Shelford to the B1368. The initials and date AR and 1781 carved on the obelisk presumably relate to something other than the artist and the date it was drawn.</p><p>Bradley and Pevsner 2014; Online: Open Spaces (Harston History; celebrating the history of a Cambridgeshire village) 2015; www.littleshelfordhistory.co.uk/ </p></p>