Relhan Collection : 38 Bottisham. The Hall, seat of the Rev GL Jenyns

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>The Rev George Leonard Jenyns inherited the Bottisham estate from his cousin, the politician Soame Jenyns, in 1796 and rebuilt the Hall the following year. He replaced a moated house that had stood in surrounding parkland since the Middle Ages with an elegant new brick Queen Anne style house. The designer and builder may have been Charles Humfrey, pupil of James Wyatt. Relhan’s drawing predates the addition of wings to N and S and an L-shaped service wing, in 1840. The main front of 3 bays is shown with the entrance in a central oval projecting bay of 2 storeys. The round-headed entrance doorway and sash windows are clearly detailed in the drawing. The modern view is tantalizingly distant for other detail to be seen. The park, already described as ‘<i>elegan</i>t’ by Cole in 1743, was enlarged and re-arranged around the new Hall. A new avenue, seen here, linked it to a lodge on Tunbridge Lane, and the park was screened with plantations of oak, beech, fir and larch. The Jenyns family has remained living and farming here (2020).</p><p>Bradley and Pevsner 2014; Palmer 1932; RCHME 1972; VCH 2002; Watkin 1981</p></p>