A HISTORY OF HOLY TRINITY CHURCH, BOTTISHAM
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nave to have personal advantages: first to enhance his reputation and, of greater
importance at that time, to ease the path of his soul to heaven. It seems that Elias
was a major benefactor. Living at Bendyshe, across the lane from the church, one
can imagine that Elias could keep in close touch with the Master Stonemason
during the extensive rebuilding. Elias’s tomb slab, of Purbeck marble, was
moved from the north-east corner of the chancel when the memorial to Colonel
Jenyns was installed in 1875. The slab was cracked during the move, hence the
metal ties. The significance, and detail, of the floriated canopy, with an angle each
side in the spandrels, is described by Binsky (1987).
FONT SLAB In the floor of the central aisle, immediately to the west of
Elias’s tomb slab, is supposedly, the base of the original Norman font. Parts of the
original font are stored in the Allington Chapel at the east end of the north aisle.
ELIZABETH CLENCH In the central aisle of the nave, immediately
to the east of the slab commemorating Elias de Beckingham, lies a badly-worn,
light-brown marble slab commemorating Elizabeth Clench. Hailstone describes in
some detail, the history of the Clench family. Their importance is illustrated by
the remark of Queen Elizabeth I when, in 1581, she referred to Judge Clench, as
‘her good judge’. Several generations of the family were buried at Bottisham. A
Robert Clench married (1598) a Joan Webb of Tunbridge Hall and their seven
children were all born in Bottisham between 1599 and 1610. The eldest son
Robert married Mary: they had two sons Robert and John, the latter became mayor
of Cambridge, who married Elizabeth whose tomb lies at the east end of the
central aisle. The slab lies north-south in orientation and is not in its original
position. Elizabeth, who lived at Bendyshe Hall, (across the road from the church)
was born in 1670 during the reign of Charles II: she died on November 25, 1700,
aged 30 years. The next generation sold the estate to St. Peter’s College,
Cambridge.
North-east corner of nave
ALLINGTON CHANTRY
By the mid-fifteenth century England had lost all possessions in France,
except Calais, and the country was experiencing the upheaval of the Wars of the
Roses. Although trade with the Continent was more prosperous than ever, these
were turbulent times to be involved in politics. The Speaker of the House of
Commons must have been closely involved in the national upheavals: William
Allington, of Horseheath, was Speaker in 1429.
The Allingtons were a powerful family in the County of Cambridge.
They were descendants of Sir Hildebrand de Alyngton who had been the Under
Marshall to William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. At the time of King
William Rufus the Allingtons were involved in the building of Westminster Hall
and, later, great benefactors of Anglesey Abbey. A William Allington appeared in
Bottisham as “Lord of Bottisham Hall” in the first decade of fifteenth century