Relhan Collection : 342 Pampisford church

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>1837</p><p>St John’s church has a C12 nave with an original S door containing a tympanum carved with a curved arcade that has 10 small arches for figures or objects connected with John the Baptist. The N aisle was added c.1200, cutting through the old wall, and the chancel was rebuilt. A tower (with later battlements and spike) and new windows in the nave and chancel were added in C14, the chancel arch was rebuilt in C15 and a porch added c. 1527. In C15 the Assumption gild was committed to raising funds ‘<i>for the use and repair of the church, which is in poor condition</i>’. In 1855-6 PC Hardwick restored the nave and 1893-7 Arthur Blomfield’s work included the chancel, N vestry and arcade, widening the N aisle, adding 2 new windows and a rather spectacular wooden S porch in place of the brick edifice Relhan shows. The nave roof was also retiled. (Bell complained that ‘<i>the church has been ruined by the restorer. On the exterior not an original stone remains, saving perhaps some windows in the chancel and with the exception of the arcade but little within</i>’, but it is unclear just which period of works upset him). The 2 flat tombs Relhan shows by the S aisle remain, as does at least one of the gravestones he has drawn near them. </p><p>Bell 2013; Bradley and Pevsner 2014; Duffy 2005; VCH 1978</p></p>