Modernising A Medieval Seat Of Learning

In the second of two articles, Geoffrey Tyack examines the development of one of Oxford’s most imposing medieval colleges from the Reformation to the present day

THE 14th-century buildings of New College—described last week— may have formed the tradition of collegiate architecture in Oxford, but they have not been left unchanged for the past 500 years. Nor has the institution itself. After the Reformation, the Chapel was purged of ‘Popish’ aberrations. Subsidiary altars were removed in 1560, followed in 1566 by the destruction of the statues in the reredos, which was plastered over, and of the rood loft in 1571–72.

There were also changes to the residential parts of the college. The warden’s lodgings were enlarged to allow for the presence of a wife and family; some late-16th-century carved chimneypieces survive there (Fig 3). By the late 1600s, the senior fellows, tiring of sharing their rooms with junior members of the college, were beginning to construct ‘cocklofts’ in the attics of the quadrangle, in which they could enjoy some privacy.

These piecemeal changes had relatively little impact on the college’s external appearance, but, in 1674–75, the attic gables werehidden behind walls of Headington ashlar stone, with a fringe of battlements as seen from the quadrangle side, their smooth exterior contrasting with the coarse rubble of the 14th-century lower floors.

However conducive these changes may have been to the comfort of the occupants, they had the unfortunate effect of destroying the original proportions of the quadrangle, especially on the western side, where the top floor of the gate tower is squeezed between the newly heightened walls. The original appearance was further compromised in 1718–21, when sash windows were introduced throughout the quadrangle, save for one on the eastern side, which was restored in 1949.