An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Cambridge. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1959.
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'Christ's College', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Cambridge( London, 1959), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/cambs/pp25-37 [accessed 14 October 2024].
'Christ's College', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Cambridge( London, 1959), British History Online, accessed October 14, 2024, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/cambs/pp25-37.
"Christ's College". An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Cambridge. (London, 1959), , British History Online. Web. 14 October 2024. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/cambs/pp25-37.
In this section
College Buildings
Christ's College
(23) Christ's College stands on the E. side of St. Andrew's Street, between Hobson Street and Christ's Lane and close to the site of Barnwell Gate. The walls generally are of clunch with lacing-courses of red brick but almost entirely refaced with Ketton stone ashlar; the roofs are covered with stone slates. The GrammarCollege of God's House, founded by William Bingham near Clare Hall, was transferred by Bingham to part of this site in 1446 to make way for Henry VI's foundation of King's College. In 1505 Henry VII granted a new charter in extension and development to God's House, naming the Lady Margaret Beaufort Foundress, who undertook to complete and establish it, changing the name to Christ's College. The new statutes, in all probability drawn up by Bishop Fisher, were given by the Foundress in 1506.
The buildings of God's House were probably not extensive but the irregularities in the plan of the N.W. angle of the existing Entrance Court, from the Chapel round to the Gatehouse, may indicate that some were incorporated in the new buildings of the Foundress completed in 1511 still largely surviving. The latter will be seen on the plan to be ranged round, and to enclose, an irregular-shaped court, with the eastern end of the Chapel projecting beyond the limit of the E. range and a wing containing the Kitchen projecting from the S.E. corner. For descriptive purposes in the following account the Chapel is taken to be orientated due E. and W.
The Household Books of Lady Margaret (preserved at St. John's College) show that building was begun in 1505; it was well advanced by the time licence for services in the Chapel was granted in December 1506. The Foundress died in 1509 but her executors continued the work (accounts at St. John's College). During 1510 the Chapel, in the N. range, was in process of completion; in March Thomas Peghe was glazing the windows with new and old glass; in June the exterior was in all probability completed; and at about the same time it was consecrated. William Swayne seems to have contracted for the building and it was finished probably early in 1511; in 1701–3 it was refitted and in 1766 the S. side was refronted. By 1511 the Hall and Kitchen, the Library, the Gatehouse and probably the Master's Lodge were already completed.
The early 16th-century Hall, in the E. range, was refitted in 1723 and a plaster ceiling inserted under the original roof; the W. face was refronted in 1770. In 1875 George Gilbert Scott was called in to advise on the restoration of it and reported that the mediaeval design, excepting that of the oriel, remained almost complete behind later accretions. Thereafter between 1875 and 1879 it was entirely taken down and rebuilt using the early materials. At the same time a new approach to the gallery over the Screens and to the Combination Room, then over the Butteries, was contrived S. of the Hall. The Kitchen in a wing projecting southward from the Butteries was rebuilt during the first half of the 19th century and subsequently extended by the addition of offices on the W.
The W. range, containing the Gatehouse with the Library to the S. of it on the first floor, is part of the Foundress's buildings, but may incorporate some of God's House in the part N. of the Gatehouse. Between 1714 and 1738 the W. side was refronted and the E. side between 1760 and 1761; the earlier refronting seems to have followed the early 16th-century design fairly closely whereas the later work is to a simple Classical design.
The Master's Lodge first comprised the ground-floor rooms between the Chapel and the Hall. The Foundress's rooms were on the first floor and extended, or were later extended, over the Ante-chapel but soon seem to have been appropriated to the Master's use. In or about 1657 the ground-floor parlour was let as the Combination Room; in 1747 the latter was moved and accommodated in a room over the Butteries but transferred back to the first position in 1928 when most of the ground floor was given up to it and to a small Combination Room. The Master's Lodge was extensively restored in 1911 and much of the timber-work renewed. The range shown by Loggan N. of the Chapel was built in 1640 to provide further accommodation for the Master, being approached by a passage round the E. end of the Chapel, but it was demolished in 1748. The offices beyond the Chapel, approached by a passage built during the mastership of John Barker, 1780–1808, were rebuilt as an extension to the Lodge in 1936.
Subsequent to the completion of the Foundress's buildings, the first addition, consisting of four chambers, was made in 1563 but no record of where it stood survives. Another building was added c. 1613; in this John Atkinson was concerned; it may have been the range shown by Loggan standing free between the Hall and the Fellows' Building and demolished in 1730. The Fellows' Building on the E. side of Second Court was begun in 1640 and occupied by February 1644–5; the masons' work was complete by 1642.
During the 18th century much refacing of the older buildings was completed; in addition to that already mentioned, the N. side of the S. range of the Entrance Court was refronted in 1758, the S. side of the N. range in 1766 and the W. side of the E. range in 1769–70, all under the supervision of James Essex and in a simple Classical style similar to that of the W. side of the Court.
The Range of chambers on the S. side of Second Court and adjoining the Kitchen was built in 1823 and extended eastward in 1867. The Lecture Room, S. of the Entrance Court, is perhaps that called a temporary hall put up in 1876 while the old Hall was being rebuilt; it incorporates an older building of uncertain date. In 1888–9 a range of chambers, in a style reminiscent of the Fellows' Building, was built on the E. side of Third Court, from the designs of J. J. Stevenson, and in 1895–7 Bodley and Garner enlarged the Library by extending the W. range of the Entrance Court southward. They also restored the windows on the St. Andrew's Street front S. of the Gatehouse and, in 1899, restored the Chapel.
In 1927 a low wing was added E. of the Hall. Since 1948 ranges, Memorial Building and Chancellor's Building, have been built on the N. and S. sides respectively of Third Court; the first was finished in 1953, the second in 1950.
The College buildings completed by the zeal of the Lady Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby, survive largely intact though much disguised by later remodelling. In the Classical design of the refacing of the buildings to the court Essex has preserved a domestic scale, small but urbane, with success. The Fellows' Building of the mid 17th century is a remarkably accomplished work of much interest, which contains contemporary panelling; the name of the designer is not known. The Chapel contains woodwork notable for quality and homogeneity, interesting glass, and an important late 17th-century monument by Joseph Catterns.
Architectural Description—The Entrance Court (107 ft. and 130 ft. by 118 ft. and 126 ft.) (Plate 88) is bounded on the W. by a range containing the Gatehouse and the Library, on the N. by the Chapel and sets of rooms, on the E. by a range containing the Hall and Combination Rooms and part of the Master's Lodge on the first floor, and on the S. by sets of rooms.
The West Range, except the Gatehouse, is of two storeys and two storeys with attics; the walls were refaced and the dressings all renewed in Ketton stone in the 18th and 19th centuries excepting the outer arch of the Gatehouse and the heraldic carvings above it. The roofs are covered with stone slates.
The Gatehouse (21 ft. by 12 ft.) (Plate 99), placed slightly to the N. of the centre, is of two stages outside and three storeys inside. It has octagonal turrets of three stages at each corner, moulded plinths, strings and embattled parapets to the W., and is of greater height than the rest of the range.
The restored early 16th-century W. entrance has chamfered jambs, wide moulded four-centred head (p. 394) and crocketed ogee label enriched with paterae and with carved stops, of a dragon on the N. and a greyhound with a shield charged with a cross on the S.; the paterae are carved with leaves, shields with a cross, and badges of three ostrich feathers issuing from a coronet; in the tympanum within the ogee label is a portcullis; from the label-stops rise pinnacled standards flanking a large heraldic panel filling the entire space above the arch and below the first string (Plate 93). Concealing the apex of the label is a carved shield-of-arms of the Lady Margaret surmounted by a demi-eagle issuing from a coronet; the shield is supported by large yales standing on the label against a field strewn with daisy plants, one with a red rose, and germander speedwell. Flanking the yales are, on the N., a coroneted portcullis and a red rose of Lancaster on a growing bush, and, on the S., a red rose on a bush royally crowned and a portcullis; flanking the demi-eagle are badges of three ostrich feathers issuing from a coronet and three grouped ostrich feathers. In the upper stage two two-light windows, blocked internally, with four-centred openings in square heads flank a central niche, apparently largely renewed in the 18th century, with pinnacled and crocketed three-sided canopy and crocketed spire reaching to the parapet-string; in the niche is a modern statue of the Lady Margaret; over each window a large rectangular panel contains, in the N., a Lancastrian rose royally crowned and, in the S., a coroneted portcullis.
The late 16th-century oak doors in the entrance archway are in two leaves with a wicket in the southern leaf; they consist of linenfold panels in moulded framing; the lower panels have been shortened because of a rise in the pavement-level.
Whereas the W. side of the Gatehouse was refaced by Robert Grumbold in 1714, retaining the earlier heraldic features, the E. was entirely refaced and 'Italianised' under the supervision of James Essex in 1760 and 1761 when Jeffs and Bentley were the stonemasons employed. The E. side is finished with a cornice and plain parapet-wall. The E. archway has an elliptical head with moulded imposts and archivolt. Lighting the first floor is a plain Venetian-window and the floor above has a rectangular window with moulded architrave; both windows contain double-hung sashes.
The Interior of the Gatehouse contains, in the N. wall, an original doorway to stair 'L' with chamfered jambs and head and with the threshold some 2 ft. lower than the pavement of the Gatehall. Entrance to the Muniment Room on the first floor is through an original doorway with four-centred head; the door is of the same date, in two heights of two panels on the face, the upper with sub-cusped trefoiled four-centred heads with a foliated spandrel, and has a large box-lock. The room has a timbered ceiling divided into four panels by moulded beams and plates with a boss at the central intersection carved with a stag couched on stylised foliage; some chamfered beams have been inserted later for strengthening. In the room are kept two iron-bound chests, of the 16th or 17th century; a third, of c. 1500, has been lent to the Cambridge Folk Museum.
The lengths of the W. range flanking the Gatehouse each have a chamfered plinth, a plat-band, a moulded string and an embattled parapet on the W. and a plain plinth, a dentilcornice and plain parapet-wall on the E. The northernmost canted section of the W. wall N. of the Gatehouse, was refaced in 1715 and the next section in the following year, both by Robert Grumbold; the date of refacing the third section next N. of the Gatehouse is not recorded but is probably c. 1716; on the ground floor are one single-light and six two-light windows all with square openings in square heads; on the upper floor are seven mid 18th-century sash-windows with moulded architraves and, on the roof, the same number of hipped dormer-windows with cornices.
The W. wall S. of the Gatehouse, as far as Bodley's extension, was refaced between 1738 and 1740 under contract with William Pitcher of Cambridge. The fenestration was similar to that further N. but altered late in the 19th century to the present form of one, two and three-light stone-mullioned windows with four-centred openings in square heads. The two oriel-windows, one in the old range and one in the extension, are the work of Bodley. In the roof are two dormer-windows.
The E. side of the range, N. and S. of the Gatehouse, was refaced in 1760 and 1761 under the supervision of James Essex. The treatment is generally similar from end to end; the doorways have moulded architraves and console-brackets supporting pedimented cornices and the windows, excepting those of the Library, have moulded architraves and double-hung sashes and are similar to those on the first floor of the northern part of the W. side. The Library windows were of the same date and design until replaced by Bodley by the present four windows in the Tudor style.
The Interior of the range N. of the Gatehouse has, on the ground floor, exposed moulded ceiling-beams of the early 16th century. Two doorways at the foot of stair 'M' contain early 18th-century six-panelled doors. On the first floor, the S. rooms, approached by a circular stone stair, are entered through an early 16th-century doorway with chamfered jambs and four-centred head and hung with an old plank door. The main room has an open timber ceiling with moulded beam and plates and, in the N. wall, an early 16th-century clunch fireplace with chamfered jambs and projecting four-centred head; the timbered ceiling is continued into the room to the S.W. The room S. of stair 'M' has stop-chamfered ceiling-beams and modern joists and a fireplace of the late 16th century with moulded jambs and four-centred arch in a square head; on the walls are portions of panelling of c. 1630, with frieze-panels carved with foliage and flowers, reset in modern panelling of the same design. The small room adjoining on the N. has exposed timber-framing in the N. and W. walls.
S. of the Gatehouse, the range contains on the ground floor a number of exposed chamfered ceiling-beams. The Reading Room is lined with 18th-century fielded panelling and has a fireplace with a flat moulded stone surround of the same date. On the first floor, the Bursar's Room, next S. of the Muniment Room, retains an early 16th-century open timber ceiling with stop-chamfered beams and joists; the walls are lined to a height of 6 ft. with reused panelling of c. 1600.
The Library (20¼ ft. by 83½ ft.) occupies the southern end of the first floor of the W. range. It was completely modernised when extended to the S. in 1895–7. Among the fittings it retains two pairs of mid 17th-century bookcases, somewhat altered, projecting from the E. wall, each pair being linked by a wall-case. They have an entablature with triglyphs in the frieze and a dentil-cornice; the ends are in two panelled heights, the lower containing an inner arched panel with jewelled imposts, key and bases.
The North Range of the Entrance Court is of one storey, two storeys and two storeys with attics; the building materials will be described below with the different parts of the building. Virtually only the Ante-chapel of the Chapel block fronts the Court, while the Chapel crosses the end of the E. range.
No structural evidence remains visible to show whether any of the chapel of God's House is incorporated in the present Chapel. Certainly most of the western part of the site now occupied by the College had been acquired prior to the date of Lady Margaret's foundation; further, God's House had a chapel which was in part demolished during the early 16th-century building operations and the roofing materials stored for re-use, suggesting perhaps that the old chapel was on the site of the new; but the extent of the demolitions is not known.
The building is now to all appearances entirely of the early 16th century, and only a slight change in the alignment of the S. wall, involving a break northward at the point of junction with the screen and the wall above the latter, may indicate an earlier S. wall extending the length of the present Ante-chapel. This angularity has been masked by the considerable exaggeration of it made presumably by Essex when refacing the S. front by which he contrived a wall-passage from the first floor of the Master's Lodge to the rooms over the Ante-chapel in place of the hanging pentice shown in Loggan's engraving of the College c. 1688. The wall-passage has since been blocked and access to the upper rooms is now obtained by the N.W. turret-stair or from staircase 'O'.
The space now occupied by these upper rooms was evidently originally open to the Chapel, since the Chapel ceiling extends without break to the westernmost wall, so forming a gallery, but one of exceptional extent compared with the galleries of other Colleges.
The remainder of the range westward contains sets of rooms. Irregularity in the setting-out of the plan suggests that it may incorporate older buildings; if so, they were so extensively remodelled when the present range was built early in the 16th century that no work clearly assignable to an earlier date survives.
The Chapel (84¼ ft., with the Ante-chapel, by 28¼ ft.), completed in 1510–11, was extensively refitted in the first years of the 18th century when a flat plaster ceiling was inserted; in 1701 it was repaved with marble by Robert Grumbold, and most of the woodwork was renewed by John Austin between 1702 and 1703. It was restored by Bodley and Garner in 1899 who removed the plaster ceiling and exposed the original timber ceiling, which was then repaired and recoloured.
The walls have brick plinths and are faced with rendering above, except the N.W. vestry and the building adjoining it on the E., which are of exposed brickwork, and the stair-turret; the dressings, the S. face of the Ante-chapel and the turret are of Ketton stone. The E. wall has a low-pitched late 19th-century embattled parapet and contains a wholly restored window of five cinque-foiled lights with tracery in a four-centred head and with wall-panelling below the sill. The N. wall, with embattled parapet of the same date as that on the E., contains four windows to the chapel, each of three four-centred lights with pierced spandrels in a four-centred head with a label and moulded rear-arch and all completely restored; lighting the Ante-chapel is an early 18th-century window with square head, plain mullion and moulded architrave, and lighting the rooms above are two square-headed windows, perhaps of the late 16th century, with hollow-chamfered jambs and now fitted with 19th-century double-hung sashes.
The N.W. stair-turret was in part at least rebuilt by Grumbold in 1671; it is entirely of ashlar, octagonal and in three stages with a timber cupola with lead-covered dome supporting a weather-vane. The cupola was added at the charge of John Covel (Master 1688–1722); it has a solid base with a square pedimented framing for a clock-face in both the E. and S. sides, the first dated 1889, no doubt the date of repair, and the second 1722; the upper part has a window in each face with a crowning entablature with a pulvinated and pierced frieze. The clock it contained, given by Covel, was replaced by a new one made by A. Reed, Cambridge, in 1869.
The S. wall, E. of the E. range, contains two windows similar to those in the N. wall. S. of the Ante-chapel it is markedly askew; the ashlar refronting by James Essex is symmetrically designed, being in three bays with a plain plinth, a cornice at the level of the capping of the parapet-wall of the adjoining buildings, and a panelled attic with an upper entablature and blocking-course. The central doorway has a semicircular head and Ionic side-pilasters supporting an entablature; the two flanking windows have moulded architraves and entablatures and are blocked and the three upper windows have moulded architraves and contain 19th-century double-hung sashes. Approximately behind the W. ground-floor window, masked by the refronting and only visible from inside, is a doorway with moulded jambs and four centred head; this, although of greater elaboration in moulding than the other architectural features of the Chapel, is probably of their date: the E. internal jamb is splayed but the W. is at a right angle in order to align with the W. wall of the Chapel, indicating that doorway and wall are contemporary. The last is similar in composition and construction to the S. wall of the S. range of the Entrance Court. The doorway is shown by Hammond (1592) but not by Loggan (c. 1688); either Loggan is for once at fault or entrance to the Chapel was then elsewhere. The central area of the W. wall where it might be supposed a W. entrance was contrived is now concealed by panelling and plaster; but staircase 'O' is itself of considerable age.
The Organ-chamber and the N.W. Vestry, perhaps originally a chantry-chapel, are additions to the Chapel building, but only of slightly later date, and provision for both would appear to have been made in the original plan; the annexe linking the two was built only shortly afterwards. The Organ-chamber (11½ ft. by 9¾ ft.) is of two storeys; the lower storey, originally probably a vestry, is now filled with organ-pipes. It has diagonal buttresses and a late 19th-century embattled parapet; in the N. wall on both the ground and first-floor is an almost wholly restored window of two lights with four-centred openings and a pierced spandrel in a four-centred head. The W. door is of the mid 16th century and reset, with moulded jambs and four-centred arch in a square head; the window above on the first floor is similar to those on the N. and completely renewed externally. The N.W. Vestry is of one storey, with diagonal buttresses and a plain parapet; in both the N. and W. walls is a two-light window similar to those in the Organ-chamber; that in the N. wall is flanked, on the E., by a square-headed doorway with the date 1690 in Roman numerals carved on the lintel, and, on the W., by a window of one light with moulded reveals and four-centred head; the three windows are largely modern outside and original inside. The E. doorway is mostly concealed but has old jambs. The single storey annexe has in the N. wall a restored two-light window similar to those just described.
The Interior of the Chapel has, concealed behind the panelling, doorways to the Organ-chamber and to the Master's Lodge; they are both of the early 16th century, with chamfered jambs and double-ogee moulded four-centred heads, and the first is now blocked. The window between the first floor of the Lodge and the Chapel was reopened in 1899, when the oriel was added. In the Organ-chamber, in the N.W. angle, is a doorway with chamfered jambs and four-centred head to a disused vice. In the Ante-chapel, the doorway to the N.W. Vestry is framed in the wood panelling masking a wide archway with triangular head, now entirely cased and concealed and retaining the original thin screen-wall only in the eastern half, also cased. The original doorway to the turret-stair, largely concealed by the later panelling, has a four-centred rear-arch.
The open timber ceiling of the Chapel is apparently original but restored and painted late in the 19th century. It is divided into five and a half bays by moulded tie-beams with curved braces springing from semi-octagonal stone corbels carved with stylised foliage; each bay is sub-divided into four panels by small longitudinal beams supporting hollow-chamfered joists; the wall-plates have restored brattishing and on each end wall immediately below the centre of the ceiling is a 17th or 18th-century carved cherub's head. This ceiling is continued in two and a half bays above the plaster ceiling of the rooms over the Ante-chapel where it is unpainted and with many of the joists missing; several of the braces are also missing and the tie-beams have been strengthened with modern girders; the corbels are much mutilated except one on the N. surmounted by brattishing. Above the whole length of the ceiling is an 18th-century king-post roof of low pitch. The Ante-chapel ceiling is divided into nine panels by 16th-century moulded beams (p. 396) supported at their intersections by four early 18th-century Corinthian columns on panelled pedestals, which encase or replace the pillars inserted in 1661. The early 16th-century lean-to roof of the N.W. Vestry is divided into four panels by a moulded principal rafter and purlin with the mouldings returned round the walls as a plate; each panel is sub-divided into six panels by moulded timber ribs.
Fittings.—Bells: three, in cupola on N.W. stair-turret, 1st given by John Childe, 1675, with the stamp of Anthony Bartlett, 2nd by Mears, after 1850, 3rd uninscribed; a bell was given by Dr. John Covel c. 1720. Brasses and Indent. Brasses: at E. end, (1) of [John Sycling, 1506], figure in academical dress of D.D., with indent for inscription-plate, in Purbeck slab; under Communion-table, (2) of [Edward] Hauford, Master, 1582, inscription-plate. In Ante-chapel, (3) of Thomas ffowler, 'gentleman usher of the Chamber' to Edward IV, and Edyth his wife, gentlewoman to the Princess Margaret, Countess of Richmond, 15. ., with figures of man and woman, man in armour, mutilated marginal inscription and four shields-of-arms, with the arms duplicated of (a) Fowler quartering Barton, Englefield and Gernon, (b) Dynham quartering Arches, c. 1520. Indent: In Ante-chapel, of chalice and inscription-plate in Purbeck marble slab. Clock: in Ante-chapel, on E. wall, wallclock, 18th-century, with later frame carved with roses, thistle and shamrock. Communion-rails: forming three-sided enclosure, of oak, with turned and enriched balusters, panelled pedestals at intervals and with moulded and enriched plinth and capping, 1702–3. Communion-table: of oak, with four legs in the form of Doric columns on pedestals connected by moulded stretchers, top and top-rails in the form of an entablature with triglyphs in the frieze, mid 17th-century. Consecration-cross: in Antechapel, painted in black on S. wall behind panelling, elaborate foliated cross within a circle. Doors: In S. doorway to Master's Lodge, behind panelling, of six linenfold panels, with original wrought-iron fittings, keyhole-surround with trefoiled cresting, and double-lobed handle with fretted base-plate, early 16th-century. In N.W. Vestry, in N. doorway, of two bolection-moulded panels, late 17th-century; in E. doorway and in W. doorway of Organ-chamber, two similar, of nail-studded planks with mouldings planted on to form three vertical panels, mid 16th-century; to cupboard in N. wall, of four panels in moulded framing and with carved foliated frieze, c. 1630, reused. In Organ-chamber, lying loose, small door of two linenfold panels with top-rail inscribed in Roman capitals 'T. Merbure. Non tam clarus erat quam quoque rarus erat. Obiit pridie Dece. An. Do. 1571', from the S. doorway. Glass: (Plate 100): In N.E. window— in side lights, small figures kneeling at prayer-desks in oratories drawn in perspective, in the E., of a woman in a blue gown wearing a coronet, perhaps Elizabeth of York, in the W., of a crowned man in armour, with helmet and sword alongside, perhaps Henry VII, both with crowned Tudor roses in niches above; in centre light, larger three-quarter length crowned and nimbed figure of St. Edward the Confessor with ring and sceptre, and with portcullis above; all set in framing of reused fragments. In second N. window—in centre light, small kneeling figure, as before, crowned and robed, perhaps Henry VI, with crowned Lancastrian rose above. In third N. window—in centre light, half-length of God the Father with added pastoral staff (?) and vexillum, under crocketed and pinnacled canopy, altered and with many fragments added. In fourth N. window—in centre light, larger three-quarter length crowned figure wearing robes and holding orb and sceptre, perhaps Henry VI. The larger figures are of the late 15th century and may be from the chapel of God's House, except God the Father, perhaps 17th-century; the smaller are of the early 16th century and may be part of the new glazing of the Chapel by Thomas Peghe paid for in 1510; all were formerly in the windows of the vestries. Lectern (Plate 10): of brass, with eagle standing on ball on moulded stem and base supported on four couched dogs, early 16th-century, an inscription upon it was obliterated by Dowsing.
Monuments and Floor-slabs. Monuments: In Chapel—on N. wall, (1) of Sir John Finch, 1682, and Sir Thomas Baines, 1681, white and black marble monument (Plate 98) by Joseph Catterns of London, completed in 1684 and consisting of two coupled pedestals supporting oval medallions with cartouches above linked and flanked by flower garlands, all against a black marble backing of ogee-shape with a white marble urn at the apex; two cherubs seated on the extremities of the pedestalcappings support the medallions which contain portrait busts cut in relief of Finch on the W., and Baines on the E. (Plate 99), the pedestals, flanked by palms, scrolls and flowers, contain an epitaph composed by Henry More; the cartouches are carved with the arms of Finch quartering (unidentified 1) and of Baines; the sculptor's signature, 'Josephus Catterns, Londiniensis, Sculpsit', is on the plinth. In vestry-annexe—on N. wall, (2) of Rev. Joseph Cook, M.A., 1825, white marble walltablet; on S. wall, (3) of Joseph Mede and Henry More, Fellows, and Ralph Cudworth, Master, all buried in the Chapel, white marble wall-tablet, placed here by the Master and Fellows in 1827. Floor-slabs: In Chapel—at E. end, (1) of Sir John Finch [1682], and Sir Thomas Baines [1681], black marble, with achievements-of-arms of Finch and of Baines; (2) of Ralph Cudworth, 1688, Master, Prebendary of Gloucester, and Henry 'Moore', 1687, Fellow, black marble, with achievements-of-arms of Cudworth and More; (3) of Ralph Widdrington, S.T.D., [1688], Fellow, Professor of Theology, slate, with achievement-of-arms of Widdrington. In Antechapel—(4) of John Covel, 1722, Master, Chancellor of York, slate, with arms of Covel in foliated roundel; (5) of Thomas Standish, 1714, Fellow; (6) of Beaupré Philip Bell, 1821, Fellow, slate; (7) of Edward, 1842, and Robert, 1843, sons of John Graham, Master, and Caroletta his wife, slate; (8) of Hugh Thomas, S.T.P., 1780, Master, Dean of Ely, slate; (9) of John Barker, S.T.P., 1808, Master, and Hannah his wife, 1808, slate; (10) of Richard Burney, 1845, Fellow-commoner, slate.
Organ-case and Organ-gallery: On N. wall, with key-board in gallery at first-floor level, upper part of case projecting and carried on carved scroll-brackets, lower fascia in the form of an entablature with cherub-head corbel in the centre and acanthusleaf corbels at either end supporting towers of pipes with deep crowning entablatures, flat intermediate panels of pipes having elaborately carved and pierced spandrels and scroll crestings; gallery carried on scroll-brackets linked by frieze with carved palm-branches, the front with fielded bolection-moulded panels and deep enriched entablature continued from the wall-panelling, the entablature projecting in a segmental bay in the centre to provide a seat for the organist and supported on an elaborate acanthus-foliated corbel flanked by trophies of musical instruments with open books, early 18th-century; the organ was built in 1705, repaired 1865. Painting: On S. wall, the Deposition, on canvas, previously over the altar, late 18th-century copy of 16th-century Italian original. On W. wall, of Lady Margaret at prayer, on canvas, late 18th-century copy of original in St. John's College.
Panelling, Reredos and Stalls. Panelling: In Chapel—lining N. and S. walls and returns of W. wall above the stalls and up to sill-level, in three heights of bolection-moulded and fielded panels with deep enriched entablature continued across all the walls; lining Sanctuary, in one height of tall fielded and bolection-moulded panels above a similarly panelled dado with moulded dado-rail and with a lower frieze below the main entablature containing elaborate carvings in high relief of foliage and palm-branches pierced and undercut, the panelling on the S. wall being divided into three bays by fluted Corinthian pilasters on pedestals incorporated in the dado. On the N. the woodwork is made to frame the Finch and Baines monument by returning the main cornice on richly carved console-brackets at each side and turning it over the monument as a canopy-like elliptical pediment; the flanking panelling is stopped by scrolls carved in low relief. Reredos (Plate 96): with a central pair of large fielded panels in carved and gilt bolection-moulded framing flanked by coupled three-quarter Corinthian columns on pedestals of dado-height supporting an entablature breaking forward over the order; both dado and entablature are continued from the side walls and on the frieze of the entablature is painted 'Unum Corpus et unus Spiritus'; standing on the cornice is a large segmental-headed bolection-moulded panel containing a cartouche inscribed 'Sursum Corda' and framed in a segmental pediment supported on pedestals with flanking scrolls. Stalls: the Master's and Senior Fellow's stalls and the casing of the entrance to the Chapel form a single composition and are integral with the panelling (Plate 96); the entrance-arch has a semicircular head with moulded and enriched imposts and archivolt and carved palm-branches in the spandrels below the main entablature; the two flanking stalls have each a semicircular shell-headed recess for the seat, the latter with scrolled arm-rests and legs, flanked by attached Corinthian columns on pedestals supporting a segmental pediment with palm-branches in the tympanum; the space between the archivolt of the recess, the main entablature and the columns contains a fielded panel in an enriched bolection-moulded frame and elaborate carved foliage with wreaths of flowers. The remaining stalls are arranged in three blocks and tiers against the N. and S. walls, returning on the W., and have fronts with fielded and bolection-moulded panels, scrolled ends supporting the book-rests and scrolled brackets supporting the seats; the front desks are modern. In Ante-chapel: Panelling— lining the walls from floor to ceiling, large fielded and bolection-moulded panels above a panelled dado, the E. wall divided into five bays, the centre three by attached Corinthian columns flanking the entrance-arch to the Chapel, the remainder by Corinthian pilasters, all on pedestals of dado-height and supporting a full entablature continued round the room. The woodwork described above is of 1702–3 and by John Austin; he was paid £639 in June 1703, in October the carver was paid £145. Paving: in black and white marble squares, by Robert Grumbold, 1701. Piscinae: In chapel—in S. wall, behind panelling at E. end, (1) with chamfered jambs and three-centred head, sill, originally projecting, cut back flush with wall-face damaging octofoiled dishing to drain, and wooden shelf, early 16th-century. In Ante-chapel— in S. wall, behind panelling, (2) similar to (1) and similarly damaged. Reredos: see Panelling. Stalls: see Panelling. Stoup: In Ante-chapel—in S. wall, behind panelling, with chamfered jambs, four-centred head and mutilated basin with remains of lead-lining, early 16th-century.
Over the Ante-chapel, the N. room contains a fireplace of c. 1700 with oak bolection-moulded surround, moulded shelf and overmantel containing a bolection-moulded panel flanked by panelled pilasters supporting an entablature; the door with six fielded panels is of the 18th century and the reused panelling on the window-splays of c. 1600. The main S. room has two late 17th or early 18th-century doors, each of two bolection-moulded panels. The original doorway from the N.W. turretstair, now opening into a bathroom, has chamfered jambs and a moulded four-centred head.
The N. range, W. of the Chapel block, was ashlared on the S. side in 1766 and the front is in all respects similar in design and detail to the general run of the E. front of the W. range. The N. side shows the early walling of clunch with brick lacing-courses, now extensively patched in brick, and with the whole western end, being the N. end of the W. range, brick-faced for some 30 ft. The five eastern windows shown on plan are modern externally; the second and fifth from the E. are of two-lights, the former with a plain square head; the others are of one light and, with the fifth, have four-centred openings in square heads. The sixth window is of the early 16th century and of similar form to those just described and now blocked; the seventh is rectangular with a plain architrave and probably of the 18th century and the small rectangular light at the end has a cement surround. The six first-floor windows are of one light, except the two-light second and third, and all with two-centred or four-centred openings in square heads; the first four from the E. are entirely modern externally; the fifth may be of the early 16th century but is faced with cement; the westernmost is of the early 16th century and of brick. The gable towards the W. end has the E. side stepped and contains a single-light early 16th-century window with four-centred opening in a square head faced with cement. In the roof are two 18th-century dormer-windows.
The Interior of the N. range has a number of exposed moulded ceiling-beams on the ground floor, and chamfered beams in the rooms above. In the N. wall of the E. main room on the ground floor is a small brick recess, possibly of the 16th century, with triangular head. The main rooms opening off stair 'O' on both floors and off stair 'N' on the first floor are lined with late 18th-century panelling in two heights with a moulded dado-rail and cornice, except on the E. wall of the upper room off the former stair, which has reused panelling of c. 1600 between the dado-rail and cornice. Staircase ' O ' has old solid oak treads on two heavy chamfered raking bearers: it is now cased with modern treads and risers. On the first floor, timber-framing in the walls of the bedrooms E. and W. of stair 'N' is exposed.
The East Range of the Entrance Court is of one storey and two storeys with attics. The S. half is occupied by the Hall, with the Butteries in the re-entrant angle between the E. and S. ranges, and the N. half by the Master's Lodge. The Hall (26 ft. by 54¾ ft.), originally of the early 16th century, was entirely rebuilt by G. G. Scott between 1876 and 1879; the old materials were reused and the same plan was followed but with the addition of an E. oriel. In the process the height of the walls was increased by 6 ft. and the W. oriel was redesigned; the original roof was reconstructed and the screen was also retained but much restored. The building has buttressed and embattled walls, two large three-light windows in both the side-walls, and three-sided E. and W. oriels similar and opposite to one another and both of three double-transomed lights on the face and two on each canted side. The E. and W. doorways to the screens-passage have four-centred openings in square heads and over them, lighting the screens-gallery, is respectively a small oriel-window and a two-light window. Re-erected on the roof is a square 18th-century timber cupola with a tall plinth, twin windows in each face, a crowning entablature and a square lead-covered dome of ogee-shape with a small finial. The bell is inscribed 'Collegium Christi 1628 laneuary 22'.
In the Interior of the Hall, in the W. end of the N. wall, is an early 16th-century doorway with chamfered jambs and moulded three-centred head with a portcullis and a Tudor rose carved in the spandrels; until the time of the rebuilding it was in the N. end of the E. wall opening probably into a lobby at the foot of the adjoining circular stair. In the E. end of the N. wall, behind the panelling, is a late 19th-century doorway and in the upper part of the same wall are two original single-light windows with ovolo-moulded jambs and four-centred heads opening off the first floor of the Master's Lodge. The S. wall containing the doors to the Butteries was entirely rebuilt between 1876–9. The Screen is in five bays with doorways in the second and fourth and the other bays containing four heights of linenfold panelling; it is largely of the late 19th century but incorporates early 16th-century material; the gallery-front above the original head-beam is entirely of the late 19th century. The roof is in five bays; the principals have curved braces forming two-centred arches below cambered collars and springing from octagonal wall-posts with moulded and embattled caps and late 19th-century shields charged with a 'C' on the bases; the collar is brattished and the spandrel above contains tracery; the ridge, both purlins on each side, and wall-plates are moulded, the last enriched with paterae, and between them are curved wind-braces. The main timbers are painted and gilded and much new material and tracery was used in the reconstruction of 1876–9.
The Butteries, S. of the Hall, have been altered but retain the original central passage with exposed timber-framing in the walls, except on the N.W. where a short length of the wall has been reconstructed further back. At the S. end of the passage is an original doorway with chamfered jambs and four-centred moulded head and with a 19th-century wall impinging upon the E. jamb; an original two-light window further W., now blocked, has moulded jambs and four-centred openings in a square head and retains original wrought-iron grilles. The two three-light windows on each floor in the E. wall are of the 19th century; recent stripping of the external rendering from the wall shows them to be set in a brickwork patching inserted when an E. wing once adjoining at this point was demolished sometime between 1804 and 1830. The one large room over the Butteries was fitted up for use as the Combination Room in 1747, and so served until 1928. The ceiling is divided into nine panels by beams in moulded casings with the mouldings continued round the walls as a cornice. The walls are lined with fielded deal panelling in two heights with a moulded dado-rail; the stone fireplace in the S. wall has an eared stone architrave, pulvinated frieze and cornice, and the wood overmantel comprises an eared panel with reeded brackets above supporting a cornice with a carved fret on the bed-mould. All the woodwork is of a style compatible with 1747. In the N. wall are three late 19th or early 20th-century arches opening to the screens-gallery.
The Master's Lodge was refronted on the W. by Messrs. Jeffs and Bentley, stonemasons, under the supervision of James Essex between 1769–70; the E. wall was rendered in plaster early in the 19th century. The upper floor was reserved for the accommodation of the Lady Margaret or for the Visitor, John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, and presumably reverted to the Master's use on Fisher's death in 1535. Of the three rooms on the ground floor the southernmost was the Master's Parlour, which was let as the Combination Room in or about 1657; subsequently it was again used by the Master until 1928 when again it became the Combination Room, together with the centre room, or small Combination Room, which had also on a previous occasion been let to the Fellows. The first floor was similarly divided into three rooms; the one next the Chapel has been named the Prayer-room and the Star Chamber.
The W. front is generally similar in form and detail to the other Essex fronts facing the Court, except for the orielwindow which retains the form shown by Loggan and the doorway below it which is a modern replica in the Tudor style. The original apron-wall and corbelling of the three-sided oriel was retained by Essex and incorporated in his new front; the whole is elaborately carved and enriched (Plate 92). The members of the moulded corbelling are carved and undercut with scrolled foliage and stylised and other paterae with the initials and badges 'HR', fleur-de-lys, three ostrich feathers issuing from a coronet, a Lancastrian rose and a portcullis; on the face of the apron are the arms of the Lady Margaret surmounted by a demi-eagle gorged with a crown and chained issuing from a coronet and supported by yales, all against a background filled with foliated stems and flowers and with 'Souvent me Souvient' painted below; on the N. canted side is a large royally crowned Lancastrian rose against a background of germander speedwell (or 'souvenez-vous-de-moi'), and on the S. side a coroneted portcullis and daisies (marguerite); the jambs of the window may be original, but, for the rest, the window has been much altered by removal of the mullions and heads of the original lights; at the corners of the parapet-string are much restored or modern half-angels. Flanking the oriel are two 18th-century blind windows which maintain the regular spacing and repetition of the 18th-century fenestration.
On the E. side of the Master's Lodge the wall has an embattled parapet; the northern end, adjoining the Chapel, has been heightened to three full storeys in the 19th century and at the S. end, opposite the end of the wall dividing the Lodge from the Hall, is an original semi-octagonal stair-turret, recently stripped of cement-rendering and restored. Nearly all the earlier windows, except the northernmost on the ground floor, have had the mullions removed and been given square heads; the jambs are probably in the main original. The window excepted is now covered by the passage to the new Master's Lodge; of the early 16th century and originally of three lights with four-centred openings in a square head, it has been cut through for a doorway and only the splays, reveals and part of the N. light remain. The next window southward is modern; the fifth and sixth ground-floor windows have been lengthened and the seventh is of a single light, now blocked, retaining the original four-centred head. On the first floor are five early windows, the second and third lengthened to open to modern balconies. The two chimney-stacks projecting at first-floor level are supported on 19th-century corbels.
The Interior of the Master's Lodge was very extensively restored in 1911 when much of the original timber-work was renewed and all the partitions were reconstructed. All the ground-floor rooms have open timbered ceilings which, it seems, were originally entirely covered with a damaskpatterned paper printed by Hugo Goes of Beverley, who was working at York in 1509; none remains in situ but pieces (Plate 58) are preserved in the Library (A. E. Shipley in Country Life, Oct. 7, 1916).
The ceiling of the Combination Room (26 ft. by 27½ ft.) is divided into eight panels by moulded beams and plates supporting exposed stop-moulded joists; modern timber has been scarfed into the beams and many of the joists are modern. The fireplace in the E. wall, moved here from the S. room on the first floor in 1911, is of clunch, with chamfered and moulded jambs and four-centred arch in a square head with foliated spandrels and, in the casement-moulding of the head and jambs, an enrichment of paterae carved with the shield of St. George, the initials H, perhaps HR., and badges including a portcullis, roses, fleurs-de-lys, caps of maintenance, one surmounted by broom-pods, a rose surrounded by a Garter, three ostrich feathers, three feathers issuing from a coronet, speedwell, and a pot of daisies. The room was panelled throughout during the Mastership of Dr. A. E. Shipley, 1910–27, and the S.E. lobby covers the original doorway with chamfered jambs and four-centred head opening into the stair-turret. The stair originally gave access to the rooms above but the lower steps have been removed.
The Small Combination Room (16½ ft. by 20½ ft.) and the Entrance-hall are divided by a modern partition. The ceiling over the first is divided into six panels and over the second into two panels by moulded beams of rather simpler section than those in the S. room; they have been restored and gilded but are largely original. The clunch fireplace, in the E. wall, with chamfered jambs and moulded four-centred head is original. The 19th-century N.W. staircase incorporates four old panelled newels, perhaps of the 17th century, and the N.E. lobby has exposed ceiling-beams.
On the first floor, the N. room originally extended the width of the range, but the W. end is partitioned off for the staircase; it now serves as a communicating lobby. The ceiling is lower than elsewhere and is divided into panels by moulded wood ribs; the E. face of the staircase partition is lined with early 17th-century panelling and the N. and S. walls are boarded and painted with panels each containing a gilt star; against the E. wall are traces of late 16th-century painted scroll-work on boards. The late 19th-century oriel-window in the N. wall, looking into the Chapel, evidently replaces an earlier window, the splays being old; it is enclosed behind an 18th-century door with four-centred head and hung in two leaves, each of two fielded panels. An original fireplace in the same wall has chamfered jambs and a moulded four-centred head. The middle room is now the Master's Drawing-room; the ceiling is divided into nine panels by original intersecting moulded beams and plates and the panels contain diagonal ribs with modern plaster enrichments at the intersections. The clunch fireplace in the E. wall is original; it is generally similar to that in the Combination Room but smaller; the paterae are carved with roses, fleurs-de-lys with four daisies, a coronet, three feathers with a scroll inscribed in black-letter 'Dieu et mon [droit]', daisies, a cap of maintenance, etc. The original S. room is now divided up by modern partitions. The ceiling is divided into nine panels by original intersecting moulded beams and plates. Of the two windows looking into the Hall, the westernmost is behind early 17th-century panelling containing an eight-panel door. The doorway to the stair-turret has chamfered jambs and moulded three-centred head. The E. wall of the N.E. room is lined with early 18th-century panelling in two heights with a dado-rail; the overmantel is of the same date and consists of a large eared panel with pulvinated frieze and pedimented cornice.
In the attics many of the early 16th-century collar-beam roof-trusses are exposed; they had braces forming four-centred arches below the collars but only a few survive; the two N. bays retain their curved wind-braces on the W. side. In the S. end of the E. wall is the original doorway to the stair-turret, with chamfered jambs and four-centred head, and in the S. wall are two small square-headed recesses.
The South Range of the Entrance Court is of two storeys with attics. The N. side was refaced in 1758 under the supervision of James Essex and is similar in form and detail to the other Essex fronts facing the Court; only the late 19th-century window at the E. end is different, being of two transomed lights. In the roof are eleven hipped dormer-windows with cornices. The S. side has the original walling exposed consisting of roughly-squared clunch ashlar, with patchings of brickwork behind the fireplaces and elsewhere; it has a brick plinth with stone capping, all renewed, and, at the wall-head, plain overhanging eaves. In the length are two rectangular garderobe projections of brick with stone quoins; the chimneys are flush with the wall. The doorway to the passage through the range has a mid 18th-century stone surround with moulded architrave and scroll-brackets supporting a pedimented cornice. Nearly all the early windows, which were originally of one and two lights with moulded reveals, four-centred openings and square heads, were altered in the 18th century by the insertion of sashes; they have recently been restored and unless otherwise described are entirely renewed externally. The easternmost window and the adjoining doorway are set within the enlarged opening of an original window retaining most of its brick relieving-arch; the third window retained an old head until recently. The fourth window, which before restoration appeared to be of the 18th century, is cut through the garderobe wall and the fifth is an insertion made in the same century. The sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth windows have been enlarged and the original narrower relieving-arches remain; the eighth and ninth retain early 18th-century sashes and the ninth has a modern mullion. The tenth is of the same origin as the fourth and in the same relative position; the eleventh has sashes set within the enlargement of an older window-opening and contains a mullion; the twelfth has 18th-century sashes.
On the first floor are thirteen windows. The first four from the E. are of one and two lights and retain old dressings in the lower parts of the reveals and old sills. The fifth and tenth, cut through the garderobe walls, are perhaps of the 18th century; the eighth window retains old reveals; the ninth was of the late 18th or early 19th century, with plain brick reveals, but is entirely renewed in stone and the eleventh has sashes hung within a 16th-century light with renewed four-centred head. The two western windows with flush sash-hung frames were of the early 18th century until entirely renewed in stone. In the roof are twelve 18th-century hipped dormer-windows with cornices.
The Interior of the S. range has exposed chamfered ceiling-beams in each storey; it retains many 18th-century panelled doors. The Steward's office is lined with 18th-century fielded panelling in two heights with moulded dado-rail and cornice. The main room E. of stair 'G' has exposed timber-framing in the E. wall and the fireplace has a bolection-moulded wood surround of c. 1700. In the N. wall of the lobby of the set opposite is a segmental-headed lamp-niche. The main rooms E. and W. of stair 'H' are lined with 18th-century fielded panelling with moulded dado-rails and cornices and the fireplaces have flat stone surrounds of the same date. The staircase is probably original, with solid oak treads, now cased with modern treads and risers, on two raking bearers of heavy scantling.
On the first floor, in the room at the E. end the splays of the two windows in the S. wall are original; the rear-arches have recently been rebuilt of the old bricks; the fireplace is original, with chamfered freestone jambs and a moulded and four-centred clunch arch with sunk spandrels in a square head. The adjoining room, on the E. side of stair 'G', has an open timber ceiling divided into eight panels by intersecting chamfered beams. A partition inserted in modern times across the W. end of the room, with a wide central archway, incorporates some panelling and fluted frieze-panels of c. 1600. Both the fireplace and the doorway to the set are original, the first with freestone chamfered jambs and moulded clunch four-centred head, the second with restored moulded jambs and four-centred head with foliated spandrels. The main room W. of stair 'G' (Plate 97) is lined with panelling, said to have come from elsewhere, of c. 1600 and in five heights with friezepanels carved with scroll enrichment and a dentil-cornice; the frieze and cornice are in part gilded and coloured. In the W. wall are two projecting doorcases, each with fluted pilaster-strips at the sides and a pedimented entablature of unconventional form having a deep frieze carved with a trefoiled shell, flanking foliated brackets supporting the pedimented cornice and a lion's mask in the tympanum; the doors are in six panels (Plate 94). The fireplace is original, with chamfered jambs and moulded four-centred head; it is flanked by modern wood pilasters supporting an overmantel, contemporary with the panelling, comprising four arched panels enriched with guilloche-ornament and divided and flanked by reeded and fluted styles; below the S.E. window are some reused panels with similar arched decoration. The door from this set to stair 'G' is of the late 17th century. The main room E. of stair 'H' contains a late 18th-century elliptical-arched opening with panelled responds in the W. wall. The main room opposite is lined with panelling of c. 1600 in five heights with miscellaneous lengths of frieze-panelling above; the fireplace has a late 17th-century stone surround, and in the lobby doorways are two eight-panel doors of c. 1600. In the attics, at the E. end, is exposed a 16th-century arch-braced collar-beam truss with curved wind-braces against the S. slope of the roof; other wind-braces remain further W. in rooms off staircase 'G'.
The wing containing the Kitchen (23½ ft. by 38 ft.), projecting southwards from the Butteries, is of three storeys; the walls are of brick, cement-rendered on the E. side, and the roofs are slate-covered. It was rebuilt in 1823 and subsequently extended westward. The E. side is similar to the adjoining front of the S. range of Second Court, with one and two-light windows. In the W. side are windows with plain brick openings with square heads. For the rest, the building incorporates little of interest.
The Second Court is bounded on the E. by the free-standing Fellows' Building, on the S. by a range containing sets of rooms and on the W. by the E. range of the Entrance Court; on the N. is the brick boundary-wall of the Master's Garden. The Fellows' Building (Plate 89) is of three storeys with attics; the walls are of Ketton stone ashlar and the roofs are slate-covered. It was begun in 1640; the masons' work was finished by 1642 and the building was occupied at the beginning of 1644–5. The design has been attributed to Inigo Jones but without good reason; it shares mannerisms with parts of Clare College known to be by Thomas Grumbold, but the designer is not definitely known. None of the windows retains the original glazing; all, except some of the dormer-windows, were fitted with sashes or casements in the 18th century. The sides and ends are symmetrically designed; at each corner is a broad Ionic claspingpilaster on a tall pedestal; the base of the pedestal and the capping, in the form of a plat-band, the pulvinated frieze and cornice of the entablature-blocks supported by the pilasters, and the capping of the tall blocking-course are continued to form the horizontal members dividing the walls architecturally into base, main stage, and attic-parapet; these main divisions are constant round the building. To E. and W. the wall-openings are placed uniformly vertically and in regular bays horizontally but with a half-bay of blank walling at each end, adjoining the pilasters, to give visual abutment to the large and elaborate area of fenestration.
On the W. the central archway (Plate 91) is set in a slight rectangular projection and has a four-centred head and Roman Doric side-pilasters on panelled pedestals supporting a pedimented entablature with short horizontal returns of the cornice to crown the projection; the tympanum is carved with scrolls and drapery. The flanking doorways are of similar character but smaller and with semicircular heads and open segmental pediments framing plain square panels. The windows in the base have moulded and eared architraves interrupted by square ashlar blocks, the voussoir-blocks meeting flush with the platband. Two ranges of windows, those on the first and second floors, occur in the main stage; they are all of two stonemullioned and transomed lights. The first-floor windows are given the main emphasis; they have eared architraves, except the centremost with a plain architrave, entablatures with pulvinated friezes and moulded sills with aprons; the centre window and the windows over the flanking doorways are further accentuated, the former by a segmental pediment supported on console-brackets in place of the ears of the architrave, the latter by triangular pediments. The second-floor windows have plain moulded architraves and moulded sills; those vertically above the doorways are linked to the pediments of the windows below by projecting aprons and to the main cornice by pulvinated friezes. The attic-parapet breaks forward slightly over each window, each projection so formed containing a short length of pierced balustrading with the balusters set diagonally; in each bay between the projections the capping of the parapet is returned vertically in a small semicircle to form a simplified cresting. In the roof are eleven dormer-windows with timber cornices, each centred behind a length o balustrading; those over the bays containing the doorways have semicircular pediments, the others have triangular pediments. On the roof-ridge are two square ashlar chimneystacks placed symmetrically over the third and ninth bays; they have entablatures with pulvinated friezes.
The E. side is similar to the W. side except that windows replace the flanking doorways and, in the roof, are five dormer windows, over the centre and end full bays and the third and ninth bays; the three middle dormers have semicircular pediments, the other two triangular pediments. The N. and S. ends of the building are uniform in detail with the E. and W. sides; they both have two windows on each floor and one dormer-window. The lead rainwater-pipes appear to have been renewed early in the 18th century.
The Interior is divided into four sets of rooms on each floor. Several of the rooms have exposed chamfered ceiling-beams and joists and many have 18th-century panelled doors. The oak staircases are original, with close moulded strings, turned balusters, moulded grip-handrails and pierced and panelled newels with shaped tops; on staircase 'A' the tops are carved with small scrolls (Plate 66), terminating in birds' heads on the bottom newel, all damaged or partly restored. The rooms are described below in two groups under the headings of the staircases which serve them.
Staircase 'A': on the ground floor, the doorway to the N set of rooms retains an original stop-moulded oak frame; it and the doorway to the S. set are hung with old moulded plank doors. The main N. room contains a fireplace with flat stone surround and original wood pilaster-strips at the sides supporting an entablature with dentil-cornice and three friezepanels; the latter contain 19th-century paintings of the arms of the University and the College and a black-letter exhortatory inscription.
On the first floor, in the lobby to the main N. room is a cupboard with a reused early 17th-century panelled door. The main S. room (Plate 97) is lined from floor to ceiling with original oak panelling, five panels high with a bracketed plinth and an entablature with modillion cornice which breaks forward over panels superimposed on frieze and architrave; in the centre of each wall and flanking the fireplace are Ionic pilasters panelled in two heights supporting entablature-blocks formed by slight projections of the main entablature and enriched with roses; the lower height of the pilasters contains a carved cartouche and the upper a bunch of fruit pendent from drapery above a portcullis or, in one, a rose; the window-frames are panelled and against the frames are half-pilasters supporting returns of the entablature. The four doorcases project; they have entablatures with dentil-cornices, superimposed panels and brackets enriched with pendent bunches of fruit at each end; standing on the cornice of each is a large cartouche flanked by carved bunches of fruits and flowers and painted with the arms of (N.E.) (unidentified 2), (N.W.) the University, (S.E.) the College, (S.W.) Finch (Plate 94); the original doors have a jewelled horizontal base-panel and six panels above and retain old wrought-iron hinges and 18th-century brass rim-locks. The clunch fireplace-surround is original, with moulded jambs and four-centred arch in a square head with plain spandrels; the wood overmantel comprises a main panel enclosing a smaller panel with broken pediment; both are twice mitred at the sides and the narrower upper parts of the former are flanked by scrolls and of the latter by pendent bunches of fruits and flowers; the smaller panel has a shelf articulated in the form of a cornice and a shaped apron superimposed on the lower horizontal members of the enclosing panel; all the mouldings are enriched and the cornices are dentilled; the whole is framed by the pilasters and entablature with central panel etc., already described, to form a single composition (Plate 95). (See the panelling at Peterhouse, Perne Library). The fireplace-recess is lined with imported blue and white tiles of the early 18th century painted with biblical scenes.
On the second floor, the main N. room is lined to within 2 ft. of the ceiling with original oak panelling in four heights with an entablature; the entablature has tapering brackets at intervals in the frieze and a dentil-cornice; the four projecting doorcases, containing eight-panel doors, have the entablature continued round from the walls, with a central frieze-panel and brackets at each side. Flanking the modern fireplace-surround are original Doric pilasters of wood supporting a shelf with deep sloping underside; rising from shelf to ceiling is an overmantel with a central eared panel with mitred head, carved key-block and flanking scrolls all framed within a main crowning entablature, with central superimposed panel, supported on side pilaster-strips continued up in front of the architrave and frieze and stopping against the dentilled bed-mould of the main cornice (Plate 48). The fireplace in the main S. room has an original moulded stone architrave incorporated in a later surround and all painted brown.
Staircase 'B': on the ground floor, the main N. set has an original stop-moulded door-frame hung with an old moulded plank door. The main S. room retains an original moulded and eared fireplace-surround of stone. On the first floor, below the landing window is a cupboard made up with some early 16th-century linenfold panelling and other late 16th-century panels. The walls of the main S. room are lined to within 3 ft. of the ceiling with original oak panelling, in five heights, surmounted by an entablature of unconventional form, with a tall frieze containing widely-spaced triglyphs and studs and an insignificant cornice; the two projecting S. doorcases have similar entablatures with carved and pierced scrolled cresting (Plate 94); the N. doorway has a projecting entablature; all three doorways are hung with eight-panel doors on old wrought-iron hinges. In the middle of the E., W. and S. walls and in the window-reveals are Roman Doric banded and studded pilasters and similar pilasters flank the fireplace. The outer mouldings of the clunch fireplace-surround are original, with depressed four-centred head, and enriched with egg-and-dart ornament; framing them is a moulded and eared wood architrave. The overmantel is composed of one large eared panel with a deep crowning entablature containing a superimposed panel on the frieze and architrave inscribed S W 1646; the large panel encloses a tabernacle-like framing to a smaller arched panel; the framing has banded Doric side-pilasters decorated with studs, reels, flowers and shaped labels supporting an entablature and flanked by large scrolls, all supported on a cornice-like shelf with shaped apron superimposed on the lower horizontal member of the large panel and the architrave of the fireplacesurround; the central arched panel and the jewelled imposts and bases to the responds are chamfered and tapered to give a false effect of perspective (Plate 95).
On the second floor, the walls of the main N. room are lined to door-head level with panelling in three heights surmounted by reeded frieze-panels and a modern cornice; it is largely modern but incorporates some early 17th-century panelling; the overmantel is similarly made up. In the fireplace is a mid 19th-century cast-iron grate enriched with reeding and roping. The S. room contains an original fireplace and overmantel; the former has a moulded stone architrave and is flanked by wood banded and studded pilasters supporting a shelf with deep ovolo underside; the overmantel contains two eared panels side by side flanked by scrolls and pendant bunches of fruits and framing a small arched panel and a rectangular panel in the central space below the adjoining ears, the whole embraced by a pedimented crowning entablature with dentilled cornice and small stud enrichments. In the attics the principal rafters are exposed and in one attic-room is a fireplace-surround in the late 18th-century style.
The South Range of the Second Court, containing sets of rooms, is of three storeys; the walls are of brick faced with Roman cement on the Court side and the E. end and with stone dressings. It was built in 1823 in the Tudor style and extended some 24 ft. to the E. in 1867 in matching style. The N. and S. sides are generally similar, with plain plinths and parapets; the doorways and windows have four-centred openings in square heads with moulded labels. The Interior contains six sets of rooms on each floor of the original building; the extension was built to contain lecture-rooms but later in the 19th century was converted to provide an additional set of rooms on each floor. The rooms contain many of the original fittings, which are of the most simple design.
The Lecture-Room, S. of the S. range of the Entrance Court, and originally standing free, was built probably as a dining-room during the reconstruction of the Hall between 1875 and 1879. It is lined with painted deal bolection-moulded panelling made for the Hall in 1723 when payments for the refitting to John Austin, James Essex, joiner, and J. Woodward, carver, are recorded. On the side walls the panelling is in two heights up to sill-level, with moulded skirting and capping; above, in the middle of the W. wall, between short panelled pilasters supporting a segmental pediment, is a carved and painted shield-of-arms of the College with yale supporters and elaborate mantling (Plate 52). The panelling is carried higher on the N. wall and contains two doorways, one blocked, each with a semicircular head and panelled tympanum. The S. wall is lined to the ceiling and divided into three bays by coupled Corinthian pilasters supporting an entablature over the centre bay with dentilled modillion-cornice; in the centre bay is one large bolection-moulded panel with enriched framing and between the capitals of the pilasters are carved blank shields flanked by festoons of leaves and flowers; in the other two bays is panelling similar to that on the side walls, but higher and with a moulded dado-rail, with plain boarding above.
In the grounds of the College, the private Gateway to the Master's Lodge, from Hobson Street, adjoins the N. end of the W. range of the Entrance Court. It is of the 16th century and built of thin red brick; the archway has a four-centred head of two orders, the outer splayed and the inner square, and altered jambs; the wall over the arch finishes in a low stepped gable. Reset in a modern brick wall in the S.E. corner of the Master's Garden is an early 16th-century stone head from an opening of flat two-centred form with a Tudor rose and a portcullis carved in the spandrels.
In the S.E. corner of the Fellows' Garden is a rectangular Bathing-pool known as the 'Bath' surrounded by paving and with a small Summer-house to the W. (Plate 87). It is not shown by Loggan, c. 1688, but is mentioned in Cantabrigia Depicta in 1763. Ranged along the E. side, in front of the screening shrubbery, are three carved stone busts on tapering panelled pedestals, of Nicholas Sanderson, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics 1711–39, on the N., John Milton in the middle, and Ralph Cudworth, Master 1654–88, on the S.; a fourth pedestal in the centre of the N. side, supporting a draped urn, is inscribed 'In memory of Joseph Mede'; all of the 18th century. The Summer-house is of the mid 18th century; the walls are of white brick, with a small timber eaves-cornice, and the hipped roof is slated. It is rectangular on plan with a rendered portico on the E. overlooking the pool. The three open arches of the portico have round heads, square piers and responds, moulded imposts and archivolts and stepped key-blocks. In the W. end is a central square-headed doorway flanked by windows with double-hung sashes; a similar window is in the centre of the N. wall. Inside, the walls are lined with painted and fielded panelling in two heights with moulded dado-rail and cornice; in the S. wall is a fireplace and in the centre of the E. wall a doorway to the portico.
The Bounaary-wall running eastward from the new S. range of Third Court is built of clunch ashlar, probably late mediaeval and now much weathered, as far as a 19th-century doorway; beyond for some 54 yards it has a facing of early 18th-century brickwork and then continues to the corner in varying materials, chiefly early 19th-century white brick with a mid 19th-century heightening in a similar material, returning southward along the E. end of the garden; towards the S. end it is again of clunch, with a heightening of red brick.
The House, No. 18 Hobson Street, is now part of the College and used as a Tutor's house. It is of two storeys with basement and attics; the walls are of brick with stucco dressings and the mansard roof is slate-covered. It was built early in the 19th century. The street-front was originally symmetrical, with a doorway and two sash-windows on the ground floor and three windows above, but a later window has been inserted on both floors; it has a stucco plat-band at first-floor sill-level. The doorways and windows have moulded stucco architraves, the first with a cornice supported on console-brackets. The other elevations are of no particular note. Inside the house are some plain original fittings.