Relhan Collection : 285 Sawston church. Mural monument to Henry Huddleston (d.1657), Sir Robert Huddleston (d.1657), Lt-Col Henry Huddleston...

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>Sir John Huddlestone (<b>284</b>) was succeeded by his son Edmund, then his grandson Henry (1596-1657), memorialised here, who was involved in the Gunpowder Plot and was heavily fined. Neither Henry nor his eldest son Sir Robert, who had kept game for Charles I at Newmarket, lived at Sawston and were mostly out of England during these tumultuous years. Both died in 1657. When Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660 the Huddlestons regained some of their estate, but from 1680 this was being lost again as Catholicism became more unpopular after James II, and the family struggled financially thereafter. Robert's brother and heir Henry, who had fought for Charles I, was succeeded 1665 by his son Henry (d. 1713). Henry, married to Elizabeth, mostly lived in London, while his daughter Mary and her husband Sir Francis Fortescue lived in the Hall. Henry’s son Richard borrowed money abroad to sort out the family finances but died in poverty in lodgings in London 1717, while Sawston Hall was still used by the Fortescues. Richard left a young son, also Richard, to hold the estate once he came of age, who lived to1760. Cole records a huge number of Huddleston and other tombs and arms etc, including those of his own friends. This memorial is to the first Henry Huddleston (1596-1657), his son Robert, who died 1657 before he could inherit, the younger son Henry d. 1665 and his wife Elizabeth. It is a cartouche, thought to be by Jasper Latham, and survives in good condition. The hands holding up a bleeding scalp can just be recognised.</p><p>Bradley and Pevsner 2014; Palmer 1932; VCH 1978</p></p>