Relhan Collection : 267 Quy Hall. N view

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>1809</p><p>Quy Hall consisted of a house and stables set within a park of about 20 acres when Relhan drew it, but was expanded to 150 acres by James Martin after Enclosure of the parish in 1840. In the 1450s it included a hall and parlour and was gradually rebuilt from the late C16, mostly by the Ansty family (<b>268</b>). It still incorporates sections of a late C15 roof. The Hall has two storeys and brick walls with tiled gabled roofs, keeping the H-shaped plan of a late C16 house. Relhan's drawing shows squat first-floor windows which suggest the central range had an inserted floor in a former open hall. A long entrance hall with gallery above was added, probably in the early C17. By the 1780s it included a hall, two parlours, study, billiard room and at least 4 bedrooms. Some doors and door cases of c. 1740 survive. Thomas Martin and his son, who often lived here from the 1790s, had the stables to the E rebuilt. Today we see the changes, mostly made in 1868–70 for Clement Francis, a Cambridge solicitor who foreclosed on the Martin’s mortgage. He used the same London architect, William White, who had worked on Quy church (<b>266</b>). External walls were reconstructed, reproducing on the N the profile of the earlier house and adding decorative brickwork. The serpentine wall is an early C19 detail; bricks were being produced in the parish by then. This has now gone. The brick tower behind the hall may compare with Fen Ditton Hall’s observation tower (<b>146</b>). In 2020 the parkland on this side was mostly woodland and scrub. The estate is farmed and is still the residence of the Francis family. See (<b>276)</b>.</p><p>Davis EM pers comm; RCHME 1978; Watts undated</p></p>