Relhan Collection : 351 Shepreth church

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>1837</p><p>All Saints church has a Norman chancel arch and a reinstated door, C13 arch and S aisle, C14 W tower completed 1743, with the embattled parapet that Relhan recorded and which was cracked in 1774. In 1853 the tower was lowered and given a pyramidal roof. By 1685 the church needed tiling, plastering, and repointing, the pulpit was cracked and seats broken. The chancel was extensively repaired 1777 but was turned back into a Gothic style 1870, when the square C18 aisle windows Relhan drew were replaced by the present Gothic ones. The antiquarian John Layer (1585-1640), held the manor in 1620 and was also the rector. He built himself a '<i>pretty manor-house</i>’ there, incorporating some of an older rectory, which in 1666 was the largest house in the village. This was partly destroyed 1844 but one room has ceiling beams of 1500, probably reset. His monument is in the church. Cole 1743 also drew the S side of the church, where he shows the S aisle with a separate lower roof than the nave. Relhan’s drawing is in the more casual unfinished style of his later years. </p><p>Bradley and Pevsner 2014; Palmer 1935; VCH 1973</p></p>