Relhan Collection : 325 Wendy church. Shield of arms above W door

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>Labelled ‘This church was erected 1735’. The arms above the W door, the main entrance to the little Georgian church, are those of Samuel Sandys, 1st Baron Sandys (1695-1743), a Whig politician and MP for Worcester 1718-1743, whose Parliamentary posts included Chancellor of the Exchequer, Leader of the House of Commons and First Lord of Trade. He paid for this church. He had indirectly inherited this portion of the Haslingfield /Wendy estate via Susan and Thomas Stewart (<b>192, 193</b>), died without children 1797 and was succeeded by his niece Mary, dowager Marchioness of Downshire (d. 1836), who also held Shingay (<b>329</b>). Her heirs sold the manor to Lord Hardwicke of Wimpole, c<i>.</i> 1845, and it descended with his Wimpole estate. The coats of arms are the only decoration on the church, with no Christian symbolism apparent, reflecting anti- Catholic attitudes that would be reversed by the Camden Society and the Oxford Movement after the mid- C19. The church was pulled down 1866 (<b>326</b>).</p><p>Hanham in ODNB; VCH 1982</p></p>