Holy Trinity, Bottisham

History of Holy Trinity, Bottisham

Listed Building

Parish church. The early C13 chancel, West tower and West porch survive from an earlier church on the site but in the early C14 the nave and aisles were rebuilt. The exterior of the church, including the tracery was extensively repaired and restored in C19 and C20.

Hugh Rogers’s guide to the church says that there had been an early Norman church at this site; stones of this period can be seen in the tower and parts of the churchyard wall. A C12th coffin lid forms part of a stile in the churchyard wall.

In 1291 ‘Valuation of the churches of the Ely diocese’ shows that Bottisham had the highest assessment, or taxatio, of all the parishes in the Camps Deanery.

After the Dissolution, the living was given to the control of Trinity College.

The two storey extension to the west of the tower dates from the early C13th. It is a galilee, probably derived from ‘galeria’ or porch. Its first floor could have been used as a residence or as the meeting [place for a guild. There were several guilds in Bottisham in the C14th, one was that of the ‘Holy Trinity’.

Holy Trinity, Bottisham, c.1900 (L Cobbett)

Bottisham church seen from Bendyshe Close

View of Bottisham church. Bottisham Feast in Bendyshe Close.

There is  a monument to Sir Roger and Lady Jenyns from 1740 as well as others: the Pledger tomb (1599), and the Allington children (1638).

Holy Trinity, Bottisham (RGL2025)

Holy Trinity, Bottisham (RGL2025)

Holy Trinity, Bottisham (RGL2025)

Holy Trinity, Bottisham (RGL2025)

Holy Trinity, Bottisham (RGL2025)

Holy Trinity, Bottisham (RGL2025)

Holy Trinity, Bottisham (RGL2025)

This is the tomb slab of Elias de Bekingham. It is classed as a ‘Camoys Style prototype’ and dates from 1305 when brasses were becoming fashionable among professional classes. Elias was one of the judges of Edward I; he lived at Bendyshe Hal, Bottisham. He must have been a significant benefactor to the rebuilding of the nave at that time.

Holy Trinity, Bottisham (RGL2025)

Holy Trinity, Bottisham (RGL2025)

Holy Trinity, Bottisham (RGL2025)

Holy Trinity, Bottisham (RGL2025)

Holy Trinity, Bottisham (RGL2025)

The relief that was originally fixed above the entrance to the school.

Holy Trinity, Bottisham (RGL2025)

This monument represents the life size figures of Sir Roger Jenyns and his second wife Elizabeth, seated on rolled mats. They are in their night attire; this was not always considered very proper! Sir Roger was the first of the Jenyns family to own Bottisham Hall. He was responsible for the building of a school in 1730 a short distance from the church.

Holy Trinity, Bottisham (RGL2025)

Holy Trinity, Bottisham (RGL2025)

Holy Trinity, Bottisham (RGL2025)