EXETER COLLEGE
Historical
The history of the college may conveniently be divided into three periods
marked by the issue of three bodies of
statutes. (fn. 1) The first statutes were drawn up in 1316
when the college had been in existence for two years.
The second come from the year 1566. Their occasion
was the benefaction of Sir William Petre which more
than doubled the income of the college, but many of
the changes for which they legislated had already come
about in the previous fifty years with the admission of
commoners to a recognized place in the college. The
third code was produced in 1856 under the impulse of
the Universities Commission, though again they were
made necessary by changes which had already come
over the college. These periods will be taken in order.
I. 1314–1566. The founding of the college was a
complicated action, which was not accomplished in a day.
Possibly 4 April 1314 has most claim to be regarded as the
date of foundation: on this day Walter Stapeldon, Bishop
of Exeter, gave the rectory of Gwinear in Cornwall to
the Dean and Chapter of Exeter for the support of
twelve scholars at Stapeldon Hall. But it was not until
7 April that the bishop obtained Hart Hall, on the site
of the present Hertford College, as a house for them to
live in; and the licence of mortmain was only obtained
on 10 May. The site itself was changed in the next
year for St. Stephen's Hall, which occupied part of
the present area of the college: this henceforth became
known as Stapeldon Hall and the rent of Hart Hall
was devoted to its upkeep. During the next ten years
the new foundation took shape; its numbers were
filled up, the main part of its medieval site was obtained,
and in 1324–5 (the year for which the first financial
record survives) it was already in possession of an
income which was not much exceeded during the next
hundred years. The present site of the college, bounded
on the north by Broad St. and on the south by Brasenose Lane, may be divided into two roughly equal parts:
the southern part, now occupied by the main quadrangle and the Fellows' garden, is the medieval site and
was contained within the city walls; the northern part,
astride the wall, ditch, and lane, was acquired in the
17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The medieval site was
obtained by a series of gifts and purchases between
1315 and 1406, but the greater part of this site was
not occupied by college buildings until the 17th
century. Except for the hall and library which jutted
into an adjoining tenement, the buildings of the 14th
and 15th centuries were contained within the tenements given by Bishop Stapeldon and his clerk Peter
Skelton in 1315: these were three adjoining tenements
along the lane beneath the city wall, known, before the
college took possession of them, as St. Stephen's Hall,
La Lavandrie, and the tenement of the abbess of
Godstow. (fn. 2)
The history of the medieval endowment of the
college is similar to that of the medieval site: after the
first endowment the increase was gradual, disturbed
by no spectacular misfortunes or benefactions. The
Gwinear tithes given by Stapeldon were the biggestsingle
possession of the college till the 16th century; to these
tithes he added those of Long Wittenham, and the two
together were worth £52 13s. 4d. a year. During the
year 1324–5 the college received £48 16s. 9d., but
since it did not get possession of Long Wittenham till
1355 this revenue was probably seriously diminished
for the thirty years after Stapeldon's death in 1324.
From 1355 until 1479, the small increase in revenue
was due rather to careful management and investment
of the surpluses than to new endowments. Several of
the bishops of Exeter showed themselves well disposed
towards the college, but they confined themselves
generally to gifts of books and care for the discipline of
the scholars. The greatest benefactor among them was
Bishop Stafford (d. 1419) who, besides giving books,
spent over 200 marks on building a chamber under the
library, a porch to the chapel with a chamber under it,
and in other improvements: but these gifts brought no
great change in the material prosperity of the college.
On the other hand, except in years of famine, the college seems to have suffered little from the economic crises
of these times. Its temporary difficulties were sufficiently
met by loans raised on books, and by licences from the
bishops of Exeter allowing the college to break into the
common fund formed from the profits of past years and
to raise the commons of the scholars. Moreover, the
scope of the college was so limited by the statutes of
Stapeldon that it is doubtful whether large benefactions
could have been profitably used without some change
in the statutes. An important addition to the college
revenue was made in 1479 when some members of the
Exeter Chapter gave the rectory of Menheniot, which
was worth £20 a year: (fn. 3) this accounts for nearly the
whole increase during the first 200 years. In the valuation of 1535–6 Exeter is assessed at £83 2s. (fn. 4) : of this,
about £55 came from Stapeldon's benefaction. (fn. 5)
This absence of large endowments kept the college
faithful to the statutes of the founder in a way that
other colleges were not. These statutes (fn. 6) define the
studies and constitution of the house as they existed for
200 years, though there is an increasing divergence towards the end of the period. Provision was made for
thirteen scholars; eight from the archdeaconries of
Exeter, Totnes, and Barnstaple, four from the archdeaconry of Cornwall, and one priest who was the
chaplain of the college. The chaplain was in a special
position, being chosen by the Dean and Chapter of
Exeter and obliged to study Theology or Canon Law.
The other twelve, who were to be at least sophists
(i.e. undergraduates of two years' standing), were all to
be elected by the scholars themselves from the time
when their number was made up by Stapeldon, and
they were obliged to study Philosophy. The chaplain
also differed from the other scholars in that he held his
office for an indefinite period unless he were removed
at the petition of two-thirds of the scholars, while the
rest of the scholars could hold their fellowship at most for
rather under fourteen years: within six years of election
they must determine as B.A., within ten incept as M.A.,
and vacate their fellowships after the necessary two
years as regent masters and a further year's grace. The
number of fellows was increased by two by Bishop
Stafford of Exeter in 1404, but there was no further
addition to the numbers during this period.
Besides the chaplain, the only college officer provided
for in the statutes was the Rector, who was to be elected
annually by the scholars, and whose chief functions were
to receive and account for the revenue of the college and
to punish offending scholars. In this latter duty he had
wide powers of suspending a scholar from his commons
and even of finally removing him from the house without appeal. A function which was lucrative and caused
trouble when permanent rectors were instituted was
that of appointing college servants; but this cannot
have been important in the early days of the college,
when rectors held their post for short periods and when
the demand of two scholars sufficed to remove a servant.
The other important matter dealt with in the statutes
was the support of the scholars. It has been seen that
the full income of the college as Stapeldon left it was
(when some allowance has been made for the cost of
collection) between £40 and £50. Of this £35 13s. 4d.
would be spent on the food and allowances of the fellows. Their commons amounted to 10d. a week, with
additional yearly allowances to the Rector and chaplain
of £1 and to the other fellows of 10s. Thus, under
the original statutes, the Rector and Chaplain each received £3 3s. 4d., and the other eleven fellows
£2 13s. 4d. a year. These payments were augmented
by occasional gifts to the college, by the temporary
raising of the commons in time of scarcity in the
14th century, and by their permanent raising to
1s. a week in 1408. There were besides various
gaudy days and distributions of money for clothes
about which we hear in the 16th century. These
payments made, there would still remain, in a normal
year, a surplus for the needs of the college and
about the spending of this we are fortunately well
informed by the existing Rectors' Accounts.
These accounts (fn. 7) are, with the exception of titledeeds, the only important mass of documents left by the
college before the Reformation and, since any account
of the working of the college during this period must
come from them, they deserve some description at this
point. The statutes required that the Rector, within
six days of laying down his office on the eighth day after
Michaelmas, should render an account to the college.
The first of these which exists is for the year 1324–5,
but during the 14th century there are many gaps,
notably for the years 1337–54, 1365–72, and 1376–7,
and many others are in a fragmentary state. For the
15th century the series suffers from no large gap. The
series offers a terminal and detailed account of every
item of expenditure drawn up with varying degrees of
proficiency: it is of some interest that I have noticed no
humanist hand among them before the sixteenth
century. The greatest space is devoted to the payments
of commons and to sums given to fellows ad amicos
visitandos: it is from this portion of the accounts that
Boase was able to make so complete a list of the early
fellows of Exeter. Repairs to the various halls owned
by the college, especially to Hart Hall, to its other
properties, and to the college itself are another large
item: chief among them is the account for the building
of the library in 1383, and there are other details of
buildings throughout the period. More interesting for
the scholastic history of the college, though tantalizing
from their scarcity, are the notices of the purchase and
repair of books, of gifts of books which needed to be
transported to the college, or of those which—as in the
case of the splendid series of volumes of Hugh of Vienne
given by Roger Keys (d. 1477)—needed to be completed. (fn. 8)
Yet, despite the great bulk of these records, it is very
difficult to form an idea of the discipline and internal
condition of the college during this period. With the
limitations imposed on it by its statutes it could not
attain great eminence. The average age can scarcely
have been as much as 25. Except for the chaplain, no
provision was made for the study of Theology, and the
best scholars, when they became Masters, necessarily
migrated to other colleges to continue their studiessuch were Henry Kayle, Walter Lyart, John Halse,
all of whom became Provosts of Oriel. If we look
at the composition of the college at one moment
in the 15th century, on 20 Nov. 1420, there would
seem to have been six masters, four bachelors, and
two sophists, not counting the chaplain and two more
sophists were elected during the next few days. Most
of these men went later to livings in the diocese of
Exeter; two of them, Walter Lyart and John Arundel,
later became men of distinction as bishops of Norwich
and Chichester. One fellow had come to the college
in 1404 (though it is difficult to see how he had stayed
so long), the Rector had been a fellow since 1407, but
none of the others for much more than half that time.
Probably the greatest difficulties in this society arose
from the natural division between the masters, who
were the governing body in the faculty, some of whom
were heads of halls and had pupils of their own, and
the bachelors and sophists, over whom the masters,
as members of the University, had some jurisdiction,
while standing on an equal footing with them as
members of the college. It must have been particularly
difficult that the college statutes made no provision for
this distinction when the masters were men of position:
one of them for instance would generally be the head
of Hart Hall, a position which certainly carried with it
more dignity and importance than a fellowship of the
college. Hart Hall was the property of Exeter, but
while in 1552 it numbered 45, Exeter had only 31
members, of whom 25 were subgraduati. (fn. 9) Another
example of the intricacies of college and University
affairs is found in the account of an Oxford Hall in
1424, published by Dr. Salter: (fn. 10) here there was a
fellow of Exeter, John Arundel, as Principal of the
Hall with about thirty students; he was assisted by
another fellow, John Burwick, and succeeded, it seems,
by a third fellow, Walter Lyart, who took over the
pupils of yet a fourth, John Beaucomb. Some hint of
the difficulties caused by these divisions may be obtained from the Consuetudines of 20 Dec. 1539. This
document (fn. 11) was drawn up by the Rector of that date,
John French, as a manifesto against the insolentia
bachalaureorum and the ignorance of the younger members of the college in the matter of ancient customs.
He attempted to enforce respectful behaviour towards
the masters and the regular attendance of bachelors
and other battelers at lectures, disputations, and in the
library. But it was a weakness that of all this the
statutes said nothing, and the power of Rectors, during
their short term of office, to enforce regulations not
required by the statutes, must have been slight.
II. 1566–1856. So far the history of the college has
been one of slow growth within the limits of the original
statutes, although, especially towards the end of the period,
there are many signs of change to which the old statutes
could scarcely accommodate themselves. Chief among
these at Exeter as elsewhere was the presence of sojourners in college. Some of these were mature scholars
who hired rooms in college to continue their studies:
William Grocyn, for instance, who had been a fellow
of New College, rented rooms in Exeter for two years
on his return from Italy in 1491; and there was the
Greek scholar, Cornelio Vitelli, living in college at the
same time. But, though no doubt these men had a
stimulating effect on studies, they were less important
in the development of the college than the junior
sojourners who had to be looked after. It is significant
that early in the 16th century the college began to
make payments to outsiders for lectures: thus Richard
Smith, the first Regius Professor of Divinity, got 2s. 4d.
for his lectures in 1537 and 1538, Dr. Cots and Dr.
Brode had the same amount in 1543, and Magister
Warde also had 2s. 4d. for philosophy lectures in 1548.
But it was from outside that the impulse came which
overturned the old state of affairs, and this came not
from any of the great events of the time but from the
appearance of a benefactor.
In the Rector's Account for 1564 there is a charge
of 14d. 'for wine and sugar at the reception of M.
Wodward with whom we talked over the plan and
design of Sir William Petre'. This Sir William Petre
(c. 1505–72) was a civil servant of Henry VIII and
his three successors, and something of a scholar: his
'plan' was given effect in a series of documents of 1566.
On 22 March 1566 Queen Elizabeth empowered the
Bishop of Exeter to draw up new statutes for the college
with the advice and consent of Petre. (fn. 12) The details of
his benefaction will be described later; its effect on the
constitution of the college was as follows. By far the
greater part of the new revenue went to the setting up
of seven new fellowships from Somerset, Dorset,
Oxfordshire, Essex, and other counties where he or
his heirs should have lands or possessions. Even more
important were the changes in the machinery of the
college—the new position of the Rector and fellows,
the establishment of college officers, and the provision
for teaching within the college. The regulations on
these three subjects dominate the history of the college
during the second period of its existence and they must
be described in detail, with some account of their
future modifications.
The change in the position of the Rector and fellows
is easily described: the Rector was elected by the fellows
for life unless he should vacate his office by becoming a
bishop or should be expelled by a judgement of the Visitor
(the Bishop of Exeter); similarly the scholars were, after
a year's probation, admitted for life provided that they
did not receive an external revenue of more than 10
marks a year or contract to marry. This applied to
fellows on both the old and the new foundations and,
like the Rector, they could only be expelled by a
decision of the Visitor. The Rector's ascendancy was
established in a decisive manner by attaching to his
office the vicarage of Kidlington. The commons (at
22d. a week) and allowances of the new fellows
amounted to £7 8s. 8d. a year, and the son of the
second founder made a gift to the college to equalize
the payments due to the fellows on the old and new
foundations. The scholars were to be sophistae ad
minus as in Stapeldon's statutes and to have entered on
their seventeenth year. Until their M.A., for which
nine years were ordinarily allowed, the course was
similar to that prescribed by Stapeldon, but then within
ten years of completing their regency as Masters they
were to take their B.D., and within another eight years
their D.D.
Besides these changes in the position of the Rector
and scholars, the new statutes also made provision for
the discipline and studies of a body of members of the
college subordinate to them—the commoners and
battelers. In the original statutes discipline had been
thought of as power over unruly and contumacious
fellows and placed in the hands of the Rector. The new
statutes removed this form of discipline into the province of the Visitor and made provision for discipline
of a quite different sort—the discipline of the senior
over the junior members of the college, the lack of
which Rector French had bewailed in 1539–a discipline
which aimed at preventing not crime but idleness.
The original statutes had likewise made no provision
for teaching or the holding of disputations in college:
the only obligatory exercises were those required by the
University for the obtaining of degrees, and these were
performed in Hart Hall or in one of the schools
belonging to the college in School Street. Henceforth,
however, the studies of the college were ordered
through a little hierarchy of college officers, the SubRector, the Dean, and the Lector. The five senior
fellows of the college elected them and gave advice in
scholastic matters. The three officers were paid and
formed the nucleus of a teaching body in the college,
half-way between the medieval presidents of disputations and the modern college lecturers. The Sub-Rector
gave no lectures, but he was bound to be present as
'moderator in singulis theologorum problematibus seu
questionibus et disputationibus'. The Dean similarly
presided twice a week at the disputations of the bachelors
in dialectic and philosophy, but he—or a deputy appointed by him—also lectured to the undergraduates
(scholastici) on dialectic on feast-days, listened to their
disputations on the same subject daily, and exacted
exercises (repetitions) from them thrice a week; to
these duties was attached the right of punishing inattention and of receiving a fee of 8d. each quarter from all
commoners and battelers who attended his lectures.
The Lector was solely a lecturer, who was to exact weekly
exercises on the subject of his lectures; in term time he
lectured on some classical author and in the Long Vacation on arithmetic, geometry, and elementary astronomy.
The plan elaborated in these provisions was in effect
an uneasy compromise not so much between the
medieval and modern college as between a medieval
college and a medieval hall. The principal of a medieval
hall and his assistants had long, by private arrangement, received fees and performed functions similar to
those of the Dean and Lector of the 1566 statutes.
But the fellows as a whole remained a student rather
than a teaching body, though their studies were prolonged indefinitely.
During the hundred years after these statutes
were drawn up, the college increased in importance as
a teaching centre, and with this went an increase in the
number and emoluments of the college officers: the
stipends of the Sub-Rector and Lector were increased
by the son of Sir William Petre and beside them
appeared as permanent officers the deputy of the Dean
with the title of philosophiae moderator, a catechist who
was to instruct the youth of the college in religion, and
two bursars charged with the domestic administration
of the college. Another side of the same development is
seen in the founding of scholarships and exhibitions for
poor students, of which the first seem to have been those
of Sir John Acland (d. 1613), the builder of the dininghall, who left £16 a year for two poor scholars from
Exeter School. In 1637 Sir John Maynard (the brother
of the catechist of that date), in excusing himself from
giving anything for buildings, 'endeavoured his best
for the more essentiall part of the colledge' by giving a
yearly income of £20 to establish a divinity lecturership, £12 for a lecturer in oriental languages (i.e. in
Hebrew), and £8 for some office in the college 'such as
is now least rewarded but best deserved'. (fn. 13) The
number of college officers was now complete and, in
fact, declined after this date.
The first forty years of the 17th century, while this
system was being built up, were without doubt the
most flourishing years for the college before the 19th
century. The numbers increased rapidly: in 1572 there
were 91 members of the college besides the fellows
(3 masters, 7 bachelors, 61 undergraduates, 7 servitors,
and 13 poor scholars); in 1612 there were 183 (134
commoners, 37 poor scholars, and 12 servitors) (fn. 14) —certainly more than in the year 1800. There was a
series of distinguished and active Rectors, two of them
brought from outside on the recommendation of Sir
John Petre and Queen Elizabeth: Thomas Glasier
(1578–92), a Christ Church man; Thomas Holland
(1592–1612), Regius Professor of Divinity since 1589
and one of the translators of the Bible; and above all,
John Prideaux (1612–42), a product of the college,
who also became Regius Professor of Divinity and was
later Bishop of Worcester. The great increase in the
number of records witnesses to the energy of the administration of the college at this time. The college register,
which contained notices of elections and other college
business, had already begun in 1539, but it is not until
the 17th century that there are all manner of records
of ordinary administration—Bursar's Books, Kitchen
Books, Rules drawn up for the conduct of the Bursar's
business (1639), a Survey of the rooms in college
(1631–2), of which more will be said in the following
article, and a book containing lists of fellows with
the names of undergraduates for whom they are responsible (1605–30).
This last document is interesting as evidence of
a system of tutors outside the statutory organization
of the college but, except for the words pro his ego
stipulor, no information is given of the relations
between the fellows and their 'pupils'. The teaching
was still largely medieval both in matter and method
as may be seen from a manuscript of about the
beginning of the 17th century in the possession of
Lord Petre. It contains a record of Disputationes in
Aula—no doubt those of the bachelors presided over
by the dean or his deputy, the philosophiae moderator—where questions of Metaphysics, Logic, and Moral
Philosophy are dealt with in order, with the frequent
quotation of medieval authors. The questions are treated
more rhetorically than they would have been in the
Middle Ages, and this rhetorical tendency is further
illustrated by the exercise books which still remain in
the college library, containing Latin speeches, addresses
to imaginary juries, and the like. Another indication
of the widening of literary studies is the change of name
of the praelector Rhetoricae to praelector linguae Graecae
in 1628.
The college never thoroughly recovered from the
years 1640–60, when the ordinary constitution and
elections were suspended and when most of the old
fellows were expelled and new ones put in by the
Parliamentary Commissioners. The old conditions returned in 1660, externally at least, and it may be only
Exeter's misfortune or Wood's malice that he describes
the college in 1665 as 'much debauched by a drunken
governor'. Certainly the misfortune did not end here.
There were financial difficulties in 1675: a visitation (fn. 15)
carried out by the Vice-Chancellor and others on
behalf of the Bishop of Exeter found that too
much was being spent unnecessarily, that adequate
accounts were not being kept, and especially that
the money spent on new buildings had not been properly accounted for. Fifteen years later the unseemly
brawl over Rector Bury's alleged corruption and
Socinianism and the alleged incontinence of one of the
fellows, though not in itself of much importance,
revealed other irregularities and discords by the way.
During this time the medieval legacy gradually dwindled.
One of the early medieval institutions to disappear was
the chest which had been founded in 1316 for loans
to members of the college: this vanished from the
records in 1641. In 1717 the feasts provided in hall by
determining bachelors were commuted for sums of
money. (fn. 16) In 1726 the office of Concionator was left
vacant and never again filled.
Looking back it is easy to see the radical weaknesses of
the Petrean statutes: there was no change in the obligations of fellows commensurate with the change from a
limited to a lifelong tenure. The fellows had become in
some sort a teaching body while ceasing to be a strictly
resident one—for the firm insistence on residence in the
original statutes was not repeated in those of 1566, and
even college officers might have parishes to attend to.
Finally the responsibility for the studies of the undergraduates was loosely divided between the college and
the man's personal tutor. In 1733, (fn. 17) under a new
Rector, Joseph Atwell, an attempt was made to deal
with these evils: no absent fellow was to hold a college
office; no one was to hold more than one office unless
there was a dearth of suitable candidates; the stipends
of the officials were increased, partly by combining the
offices of Sub-Rector with that of Reader in Hebrew
and the office of Catechist with that of Reader in
Theology, and partly by exacting a fee of 5s. a quarter
from all undergraduates—fellows and others—to be
distributed among the officers of the college, and
2s. 6d. from all bachelors to be given to the Dean; then,
to supplement the statutorum defectus et inopia prescriptorum in the matter of studies, the regulations about
lecturing and performing exercises were made more
strict, and misbehaviour in lectures was to be punished
by the imposition of additional work instead of the
customary money fines. Yet already in 1739 the
Rector and five senior fellows were complaining that
notwithstanding these rules 'there appears to have been
great neglect in the officers, sometimes by not attending
at all, at others by staying up (at lectures) so small a
time as to render the exercise of little or no consequence'; they drew up some new rules, particularly as
to the length of lectures and the exercises required from
the students. It was the last attempt at reform before
the 19th century.
Something must now be said about the material
circumstances of this phase of the college history. The
first period had been marked by the smallness of new
benefactions: the second was marked by their liberality.
Petre's benefaction amounted to £90 19s. 3¼d. a year,
of which £79 11s. 2d. was absorbed by the creation of
new fellowships, additional payments to old ones, and
some small payments which he enumerated. Throughout
the 17th century there was a stream of new gifts, but
these were mainly for building purposes, and while
they did much to alter the appearance of the college
they had little effect on its constitution. Sir John
Maynard might find that these buildings were not the
'more essentiall part' of the college, but socially the
college of the 17th and 18th centuries is scarcely
conceivable without them and his views were not
shared by most donors. About £6,500 was contributed by various benefactors between 1616 and 1710
for the new buildings: the effect of these gifts in adapting the college to its new class of students and to the
tastes of the 17th century will be described in the
following article.
III. Since 1856. The changes, both external and
internal, which bring in the third period of the college
history go back to the early years of the 19th century.
Of the internal changes the most important was the rise in
numbers. These had fallen in the 18th century, and the
room book (fn. 18) of 1767 reveals that about a quarter of
the college was then unoccupied. This state of affairs
continued for the next twenty years, but by 1798
instead of 16 or 17 sets of rooms being vacant this had
been reduced to 7; in 1818 none was empty; by 1833
it was necessary to build new sets of rooms, and the
period of the modern expansion of the college had
begun. The entrance books tell a similar story: in the
1770's the yearly entrance was very erratic, varying
from 8 to 20 and with an average of 13; in the 1820's
the numbers are not only more stable but the average
is just double that of fifty years before. In 1850 there
were 139 members of the college in statu pupillari and
the annual entrance was rather over 40. There was
some decline in the 1850's, but the numbers then
remained fairly steady until they began to increase
again in the years immediately before 1914. Besides
the increase in numbers in the early years of the 19th
century, the student body was losing that connexion
with Devon and Cornwall which the fellows still retained: until the end of the 18th century, most of the
undergraduates came from the western counties, but
already by 1820, the ordinary entrants were not
specially connected with the west country or with any
one part of England. This fact alone largely accounts
for the abolition of territorial qualifications for fellows
and scholars (in the modern sense of the word) which
was accomplished in the statutes of 1856.
External influences were no less important in making
necessary some modifications in the statutes. Exeter,
like other colleges, was greatly affected in these years by
the rivalry between political reform and religious
tradition, and the attitude of the college towards the
reform of its statutes well illustrates the views of the
fellows on this question. The statutes which were
produced in 1856 (fn. 19) as a result of these discussions and
conflicts are at least as interesting as those of 1316 and
1566, but whereas the two previous codes were each
in operation between two and three hundred years, the
statutes of 1856 scarcely lasted thirty years without radical alteration, and in many ways they betrayed their lack
of substance from the beginning. They were intended
as a compromise between liberalism and secularism,
perhaps even as a harnessing of liberalism to religious
purposes: but they turned out to be only a stage in a
rapid change, over which the college had no control.
The college took the opportunity to make its own
statutes in 1856; those of 1881 and 1923. which supplanted them were made for it. Thus from 1881 the
development of Exeter is strictly parallel to that of
the other colleges: secularization; the admission of
scientific study beside the strictly literary, logical, and
theological courses of the past; the transformation by
which, from being a student body making somewhat
inadequate provision for teaching, the fellows became
a teaching body making some provision for 'research'—these main lines of development of the last sixty years
are the same at Exeter as elsewhere, though Exeter
took no lead in the change. All its energies in constitutional change had been exerted during the years
1853–6.
The Act passed in 1854 'for the good government
and extension of the University of Oxford' required
colleges either to remodel their statutes in the interests
of 'personal Merits and Fitness' or to accept the changes
proposed by a body of University Commissioners.
Already, in the previous year, the college had resolved
that it was 'desirable to consider the apparent difficulties
affecting the practical observance of the statutes' and
had approached Gladstone (at that time Member
of Parliament for the University and Chancellor of
the Exchequer) to see what powers were likely to
be granted by Parliament to overcome these difficulties. (fn. 20) When the Act was passed in the next
year, Exeter, Lincoln, and Corpus were the only
colleges which took up the task of making their own
statutes. While they were being made, Exeter was in
close touch with Gladstone and the statutes of 1856
reflect in a small sphere the liberal but unsecular views
which he maintained in politics. (fn. 21) The college made no
objection to the throwing open of fellowships or to the
creation of open scholarships. The fellowships were
opened to general competition and were to be awarded
on examination. The number of fellows was reduced
from 25 to 15 and with the revenues set free 22 scholarships were founded, (fn. 22) in part limited to men from the
west country, in part without any territorial limitation.
The eagerness of the governing body to co-operate in
increasing the educational efficiency of the college
appeared in the setting up of an 'Educational Council'
among the fellows, to 'regulate the studies of the
undergraduate members', to 'adapt these to the requirements of the University Examinations', to direct
the lectures in college, and to examine candidates for
admission as commoners 'in respect of intellectual
sufficiency'. But the fight came over the question of
secularization. Most colleges accepted the Commissioners' plan for retaining only a certain proportion of
the fellows in Holy Orders and allowing the rest to
continue as laymen; but Exeter objected to this and
carried its point that (fn. 23) 'inasmuch as the college is a
Theological foundation and the Fellows therefore have
been enjoined to study theology, the Fellowships shall
be vacated on the Fellows not taking Holy Orders'
after completing fifteen years from the date of election.
The only exception to this rule was that fellows employed as tutors might continue as laymen. The college
tried to insert a paragraph depriving any fellow of his
fellowship who contradicted 'the Christian faith by word
or writing' as held by the Church of England; but this
was rejected by the Privy Council and the college had
to be content with a general clause depriving any obstinate
heretic or anyone who ceased to be a member of the
Church of England. As a counter-balance to this the
obligation on the Rector of being in Holy Orders was
now made formal while previously it had only attached
to his position as vicar of Kidlington.
It was by these measures that the college sought to
preserve what was thought to be its original character,
while making the changes necessary for teaching
efficiency. But even if they had been allowed to
preserve this balance, the fellows themselves lost their
enthusiasm for it. Boase notes, with satisfaction, that
they 'welcomed the inevitable change' of the later part
of the century and were ready to anticipate the changes
imposed in 1881. Further research into the history of
the college brought the reassuring knowledge that the
clerical character of the college was an innovation of
the 17th century and that the college of the 14th
century could scarcely have been more secular. So what
had been achieved in 1856 was abandoned without a
struggle and apparently without regret. The attempt
to preserve the religious character of the college by
statute quickly broke down: already in the statutes
of 1881, which followed the Universities Act
of 1877, the obligation on fellows to take Holy
Orders or even to be members of the Church of
England was abolished; attendance in chapel
ceased to be compulsory (statutably at least) for
members of the college; and from 1923 the chaplain
was no longer necessarily a fellow. Meanwhile the
process of organizing the fellows of the college
as a teaching body continued: the 'Educational
Council' of 1856 which preserved the distinction
between the teaching and non-teaching fellows disappeared in 1923; while, with the obligation of all
ordinary fellows to teach, the special duties of the
tutors became more and more nominal and the fellows
of Exeter became in the main, as in other colleges, a
body of secular, professional teachers.
The Library. (fn. 24)
The Library has two important
manuscripts:
1. The Bohun Psalter, also known as 'The Mass
Book of King Henry VII's Queen Elizabeth and
King Henry VIII's Queen Katherine', illuminated manuscript bearing on folio 1 the inscriptions:
Thys book ys myn
Elysabeth ye quene.
Thys book ys myn
Katherine the qwene.
[Coxe xlvii.]
2. 14th-century manuscript containing Calendar,
Psalter, Canticles, Athanasian Creed and
Litanies, 'bene pictus et auratus'.
[Coxe xlvi.]
It also possesses some rare printed books and bindings
of which the following are the most notable:
The Statutes of the Stannary Court printed at
Tavistock in 1524. Unique.
Tyndale's New Testament (Antwerp 1534–5),
one of only three copies known.
Miles Hogarde's Assault of the Sacrament,
4° R. Caly 1554 [S.T.C. No. 13556]. Only copy in
England.
Kelmscott Chaucer, numbers 1 and 2, William
Morris's and Edward Burne-Jones's own copies.
Wotton bindings presented by Sir William Petre:
(a) St. Augustine, Opera Omnia, 10 vols. in 8.
Basel: Froben: 1541–3, fol.
(b) St. Jerome, Opera, 9 vols. in 4.
Paris: C. Guillard: 1546, fol.
(c) Vitruvius, Architectura.
Lugduni: 1552, fol.
Plate.
The college possesses the following outstanding pieces of English 16th-century gold and silvergilt work and 17th-century silver:
1. The gold Cup and cover given by George Hall,
Bishop of Chester. It has two handles, and is
decorated in repousse with lozenge-shaped gadroons, and engraved with flowers and an inscription.
2. A silver-gilt Ostrich Egg Cup with cover. The
base is engraved with ostriches, and scrolls with
inscriptions. The egg rests on the stem of three
ostrich legs, and is supported by hinged bands
engraved with shields of arms and mottoes. The
cover has three plumes, dolphin brackets, and at
the top an ostrich.
3. A Cocoanut Cup and cover.
4. *Two chalices, 1610; given by George Hollwaye.
5. *Two flagons, 1628, given by Hon. John Robartes, student of Exeter, 1625, 2nd Baron
Truro.
6. Two altar candlesticks, 1600–50, Spanish;
given by Amelia Jackson, wife of Rev. W. W.
Jackson, Rector, 1887–1913.
*The college was allowed by Charles I to retain
these pieces when, in 1642, it was compelled to hand
over all its objects in precious metal to the Mint in
Oxford.
Portraits.
For a list of portraits, see Mrs. Lane
Poole, A Catalogue of Oxford Portraits, ii, 64–78: with
one alteration, that the portrait of John Prideaux (op.
cit., p. 67, no. 12) is no longer a copy, but is now the
original, previously at Laycock Abbey; and one addition, the portrait of R. R. Marett, Rector, 1928–43, by
Henry Lamb.
Seal.
Pointed oval 60 mm. by 38 mm. In upper
centre the Virgin and Child in a canopied niche supported by fluted columns. Below, in the centre, the
kneeling figure of the founder Walter Stapeldon,
Bishop of Exeter, holding in his right hand a pastoral
staff* and facing sinister, flanked by (on dexter) two
keys, wards upwards, and addorsed, and (on sinister)
a sword upright. In the base a shield of arms: two
bends nebuly.
Legend (partly worn but probably): S. Rectoris Et
Scholarium de Stapeldon [? Hal] Oxon.
The background of the seal is diapered. On the
reverse is a small ring at the top of the seal, being 4 mm.
in diameter. The present 'stamp' now in use has the
legend: S. Rectoris et Scholarium de stapeldon hal'
oxon
|
| 1318–19 | John Parys. |
| 1322–5 | Stephen de Pippecote. |
| 1325–6 | John de Sevenaysshe. |
| 1326–7 | John de Kelly. |
| 1327–30 | Richard de Pyn. |
| 1333–44 | Henry de Tiverton. |
| 1334–5 | William Dobbe. |
| 1336–7 | William de Polmorva. |
| 1344 | John de Blankeswille. |
| 1354–June 1357 | Robert de Trethewy. |
| 1357–Spring 1359 | John Halle. |
| May—Oct. 1359 | John Wiseburg. |
| 1359–65 | Robert de Clyste. |
| 1365–6 | Robert Blakedon. |
| 1367 ? | John Otery. |
| 1368–9 | Thomas de Kelly. |
| 1370–1 | William Franke. |
| 1371–2 | John Dagenet. |
| 1373–4 | Robert de Lydeford. |
| 1374 | Martin Lydeford. |
| 1374–5 | John More. |
| 1375–7 | Thomas Worth. |
| 1377–8 | Thomas White. (fn. 26) |
| 1378–9 | Richard Browne. |
| 1379–March 1380 | Lawrence Stevine. |
| March—Oct. 1380 | William Talkarn or Talcaryn. |
| 1380–4 | William Slade. |
| 1385–9 | Thomas Dyre. |
| 16 Oct. 1389–2 April 1390 | Thomas Hendyman
or Hyndeman. |
| 2 April 1390–1 | Richard Mark or Marks. |
| 14 Oct. 1391–3 | Helias Stoke. |
| 11 Oct. 1393–4 | Robert Marschel. |
| 1395–1399 | John Gynne. |
| 11 Oct. 1399–1400 | John Jakys. |
| 1400–1 | Richard Penwyne. |
| 1401–2 | Geoffrey Prentys. |
| 1402–4 | John Cowling. |
| 1404–5 | John Schute. |
| 1405–6 | Thomas Noreys. |
| 1406–7 | William Penbegyll. |
| 1407–8 | William Fylham. |
| 1409–11 | William Grene. |
| 1411–13 | Walter Trengoff. |
| 1413–14 | Benedict Brente. |
| 1415 | William Fylham. |
| 1416–17 | John Alwarde. |
| 1417–18 | Henry Whitehead. |
| 1418–19 | John Alwarde. |
| 1419–22 | Ralph Morewyll. |
| 1422–4 | Edmund Fitchet. |
| 1425 | John Colyforde. |
| 1425–32 | William Palmer. |
| 1433–40 | John Rowe. |
| 1440–1 | John Rygge. |
| 1441–2 | John Lyndon. |
| 1442–3 | John Westlake. |
| 1443–7 (fn. 27) | John Evelyn. |
| 1449–53 | Richard French. |
| 1453–7 | Walter Windsor. |
| 1457–9 | William Mogys or Mogas. |
| 1459–60 | William Thomas. |
| 1460–4 | William Baron. |
| 1464–70 | John Phylypp. |
| 1471–4 | William Major. |
| 1475–14 March 1478 | Richard Bradleghe. |
| 14 March–14 July 1478 | William Mylplaysh. |
| 4 July 1478–9 | John Orelle or Oryal. |
| 1479–80 | William Meryfeld. |
| 1482–4 | James Babbe. |
| 1485–7 | John Smythe. |
| 1487–8 | Thomas Ruer. |
| 1488–20 Dec. 1494 | Richard Panter. |
| Lent-Oct. 1495 | Richard Roberd or Roberts or
Robyns. |
| 1495–9 | John Atwell. |
| 1499–1501 | Thomas Michell. |
| 1501–1502 | John Rugge or Rigge. |
| 1503–4 | Gerendus Raffe. |
| 1506–8 | William Bery or Bury. |
| 1512–Summer 1514 (fn. 28) | Symon Todde. |
| 1515–16 | John Rugge or Rigge. (fn. 29) |
| 27 Mar. 1518–8 Oct. 1519 | Thomas Vyvyan. |
| 1519–21 | William Smythe. |
| 14 Dec. 1521–6 Oct. 1526 | Philip Bale. |
| 1526–9 | Edmund Fletcher. |
| 1529–31 | John Bere. |
| 1531–4 | John Pekyns. |
| 1534–6 | John Bery or Bury. |
| 1537–9 | John Dotyn. |
| 25 Oct. 1539–42 | John French. |
| 17 Oct. 1542–9 Oct. 1543 | Henry Laurence. |
| 17 Oct. 1543–6 | Augustine Crosse. |
| 17 Oct. 1546–53 (fn. 30) | William More. |
| 1553–5 | William Corindon or Corydon or Corndon. |
| 17 Oct. 1555–6 | Stephen Marks. |
| 17 Oct. 1556–17 Oct. 1557 | Philip Randell. |
| 17 Oct. 1557–17 Oct. 1559 | Robert Newton. |
| 18 Oct. 1560–6 | John Neale. |
Perpetual Rectors
Whitsuntide 1566–deprived 12 Oct. 1570 John
Neale.
31 Oct. 1570–resigned 4 Oct. 1578 Robert Newton (see above).
21 Oct. 1578–d. 9 Mar. 1592 Thomas Glasier.
24 Apr. 1592 (fn. 31) –d. 17 Mar. 1612 Thomas Holland.
4 Apr. 1612–resigned 3 Aug. 1642 John Prideaux.
23 Aug. 1642–d. 2 Apr. 1649 George Hakewill.
7 June 1649–deprived 1 Sept. 1662 John Conant.
18 Sept. 1662–resigned 30 Apr. 1666 Joseph
Maynard.
27 May 1666–deprived 26 July 1690 Arthur
Bury.
15 Aug. 1690–d. 18 Feb. 1716 William Paynter.
8 Mar. 1716–d. 19 July 1730 Mathew Hole.
6 Aug. 1730–resigned 29 Jan. 1733 John Conybeare.
17 Feb. 1733–resigned 3 Mar. 1737 Joseph
Atwell.
11 Apr. 1737–d. 16 May 1750 James Edgcumbe.
5 June 1750–d. 29 Sept. 1771 Francis Webber.
22 Oct. 1771–d. 28 Mar. 1785 Thomas Bray.
15 Apr. 1785–d. 6 July 1787 Thomas Stinton.
23 July 1797–d. 19 Dec. 1807 Henry Richards.
7 Jan. 1808–d. 13 Oct. 1819 John Cole.
6 Nov. 1819–d. 7 Aug. 1838 John Collier Jones.
1 Sept. 1838–d. 27 Feb. 1854 Joseph Loscombe
Richards.
18 Mar. 1854–d. 23 Mar. 1887 John Prideaux
Lightfoot.
15 Apr. 1887–resigned 25 Mar. 1913 William
Walrond Jackson.
15 Apr. 1913–resigned 19 Sept. 1928 Lewis
Richard Farnell.
10 Oct. 1928–d. 18 Feb. 1943 Robert Ranulph
Marett.
26 Sept. 1943– Eric Arthur Barber.
Architectural
The present buildings of the
college fall into three groups
which date from, and whose
disposition and plan helps to Characterize, the three
phases in the history of the college described above.
I. The Medieval Buildings. From the first period
(down to the new statutes and benefactions of Sir
William Petre) there remains only a fragment: one
staircase of three stories and an entracne gate (known as
Palmer's Tower, and marked T in the Plan, p. 115),
which was formerly the main entrance into the college
and now contains the 1939–45 War Memorial. In
this period the college faced out into the lane beneath
the northern wall of the city; the buildings, as
they are still shown in the 16th-century drawings of
Bereblock and Agas, stretched for some 150 ft. along
this lane, occupying the three tenements with which
the college had been endowed in 1315 by Bishop
Stapeldon and his clerk Peter Skelton; behind this
façade were arranged on an irregular plan the hall, the
chapel, and the library. The library is the only one of
these buildings about whose erection we have any
exact information, which we owe to the building account
of 1383 still in existence. (fn. 32) There had been a library
before this date, for in 1375 the Rector accounted for
3s. 4d. for straw for covering the library; but the
building of 1383 was the one which continued in use
as the library until 1624 and, after being divided up
into rooms, it stood until 1708. There is a picture of
it in Loggan's view of the college of 1675, a building
running from north to south in the east side of the
present quadrangle. The library itself was on the first
floor with two chambers underneath it; it was lighted
by seven small windows on either side, and there was
a 'great window' at one end and possibly at both. Its
length cannot be determined with precision: in Loggan's
view it appears to be about 50 ft., but of these 25 were
due to Bishop Stafford in the early 15th century. The task
of building it in 1383 took from about Easter to Michaelmas and cost £57 13s. 5½d. Running at an angle from
the library was the chapel, which was already built in
the lifetime of Bishop Stapeldon: a licence was obtained
from the Bishop of Lincoln for building it in 1321 and
another for the consecration in 1326. Bishop Stafford
made a new porch at the west end about 1404 and
Rector Palmer lengthened it at the east end about
thirty years later. In 1624, when a new chapel was
built on the present site, it was turned into the library
and remained in use until it was destroyed by fire in
1709. (fn. 33) The hall jutted out behind the main buildings
into the middle of the present quadrangle. Here it
remained until it was replaced by the present hall in
1618: part of it continued to disfigure the quadrangle
for several years after this, but it was finally destroyed.
The rest of the site was occupied either by independent buildings like Checker Hall to the north of the
south-west corner, or by outhouses of various kinds
and a tennis court which occupied part of the site of
the present hall. Bishop Stafford, who was responsible
for so many improvements, had also provided the college with an entrance in Turl Street.
EXETER COLLEFE
Although so little now remains of the buildings of
this period a very clear picture of the state of the college
before its transformation in the 17th century can be
obtained from a survey of the college made by Rector
Prideaux in 1631–2. (fn. 34) The rebuilding of the college
had already begun, but it had not yet obliterated the
old plan, and the survey was made by one who remembered the days before these improvements. Although
by his day the attempt to cope with greatly increased
numbers by trivial and scattered additions had changed
confusion into chaos, it is probable that some of his
criticisms would have applied to any previous period
in the college history: the lane into which the college
faced was 'a stinking unpitched cart-way', a 'depraved
and incommodious place'; the rain-water 'in most
great gluts of rayn did overflow the colledg that there
was no passag in it', and it was not until Doctor Prideaux's time that the nuisance was somewhat abated by
the building of a drain through the city wall into the
ditch beyond. If this was the condition of the front part
of the college, that of the back was even worse: 'at the
entrying in, at the right hand, before the lower chamber
was a peece of an old wall, and then an enclosure
with pales before the tower windows, full of bones,
filth and nettles'. Some of these evils were the work
simply of nature and neglect, but the worst certainly
came from the greatly changed conditions of the college
for which no adequate provision had been made. There
were, in 1572, 112 members of the college and it is
possible that the buildings of that date could hold so
many; but this was only achieved by the addition of
'cock lofts' on every possible building. The most
notable example of the method and effect of these
additions was the old library. On top of the 14th-century building there was a two-storied wooden 'Nest'
erected by the enterprise of the head butler of the college,
Thomas Bentley, at the end of the 16th century. What
had been a work of private enterprise was also a source
of private profit: the butler had the revenues of it for a
term of years. Bentley in his turn leased the building to
Lord John Petre, who had the rent during his lifetime
and left the unexpired lease to the college. It is not
surprising in these circumstances that six chambers
and nineteen studies were confusedly crowded into
the available space. Elsewhere it was the Rector or
fellows themselves who made additions to their rooms,
no doubt to accommodate their pupils: Prideaux had
built new rooms 'when the Earle of Carnarvan, John
Roberts, sole son to the Lord Roberts, the Lord Wharton and Sir Thomas Wharton his brother, with Mr.
Lorenzo Carye the Lord Faulklands sonne were
togither pupills under him'; Richard Carpenter, a
fellow from 1596 to 1606, had a room with two
studies, to which he added a cockloft containing eight
studies overhead; and other fellows were responsible
for similar extensions. Rector Prideaux might well
turn with relief from this confused scene of private
improvements and private rights, which had made it
that 'the whole colledg was but a confused number of
blynd streets', to the new type of benefactor who took
in hand the heroic work of planned reconstruction,
who gave in a princely fashion and reserved nothing
for himself.
II. The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.
The hall was the earliest of the new enterprises.
The old hall had, according to Prideaux, long been
unable to entertain the company and, like the other
buildings, it had been fitted with its complement of
lofts, over the screen at the west end. Even so, it was
inadequate, and an old member, Sir John Acland, gave
£800 to make the new hall, where previously there
had been only an outhouse and two 'patched' studies.
The block of rooms (known as Peryam's Building, and
marked P in the Plan, p. 115) adjoining the hall, which
was built at the same time (1618), is perhaps even more
important in the architectural history of the college.
For it was the first block of living-rooms on the new
model, which was to be followed for the next hundred
years: outside it was solid and magnificent and inside
it contained an orderly arrangement of chambers with
two small studies opening into each. This was followed
by the building of the new chapel on the north side of
the quadrangle in 1623–4, at the cost of £1,400, of
which £1,200 was given by George Hakewill, a
former fellow and later Rector of the college. (fn. 35)
The chapel was destroyed in 1856, but scattered
fragments of the woodwork are still in existence. (fn. 36) As has
already been described, the medieval chapel now became
the library, and the old library, still with its monstrous
wooden superstructure, was turned into living-rooms.
No further building was undertaken until after the
Restoration, though there is evidence that the college
was still collecting money to continue its plans. In
1668 it gained a narrow strip of land along Turl St.
on lease from the city, and in 1672 the buildings to
the north of the Turl St. entrance to the college were
built. In 1699 a similar acquisition at the south-west
corner of the college allowed the closing of the quadrangle from the Turl St. entrance to the hall. This
period in the rebuilding of the college was closed by
the demolition of Bentley's Nest and its ancient substructure in 1708 (known as Armagh Building, and
marked A in the Plan, p. 115), and the erection in its
place of two staircases, on the new plan.
The quadrangle thus formed, with the exception of the
north side where the chapel and Rector's house stood, still
exists and remains the centre of the college. The buildings,
though extending over almost a century, are uniform in
plan and appearance: each block had one staircase of
four stories, of which the top one consisted of attics; the
other three floors each had two sets of rooms consisting of
a large bedroom and two or three studies opening into
it. This plan of attaching studies to a large chamber
was already being carried out in the 16th-century
additions to the college; but if the plan was old, the
orderliness was new, and in the new order there is a sign
of the changed relations between the college and its
junior members. They were no longer primarily the
pupils of a fellow who arranged for their accommodation as best he could by paring away his own space and
addingattics over his head; if not yet regarded as the most
important part of the college, they were yet sufficiently
a part of it for the college to include them in a single
plan for all its members. The accommodation in
college was not greatly altered as a result of all this
labour: about 100 people could be lodged in the new
buildings and perhaps 30 more in what remained of
the old. But the disordered additions which Prideaux
describes had in their own way made provision for the
increased numbers of the college. The great change
was in the roominess, convenience, and dignity of the
new buildings: there were no doubt many poor rooms
in the attics and in the old quarters, but these were now
hidden from view and not strewn about in conspicuous
disorder. Looking into the college from the main
entrance in 1708—the main entrance, which was now
on the site of the old postern on Turl St.—there was
already scarcely more of the medieval college in view
than is now to be seen. The old Rector's house was
still there in the north-east corner, but the original
row of tenements and the original chapel were hidden
from view by the most recent additions.
III. The Nineteenth Century. The new building of
the 19th century began modestly to meet the needs of
slowly increasing numbers, but in its later phase, which
synchronized with the drawing up of the new statutes, it
became the symbol of a cause. The first important addition to the college since 1708 (fn. 37) was the building on Broad
St., between the present Tower and the Ashmolean, of a
block of rooms in 1833–4. (fn. 38) The architect was a local
man, H. J. Underwood, who was also employed to
reface the Turl St. front of the college and who added
thus the Gothicdetail and oriel windows which are still to
be seen. His Broad St. building has a small but distinct
place in the development of the college. It is here first
that the 17th-century plan of tiny studies, of bedrooms
shared by two or three undergraduates, of rooms barely
furnished with tables, benches, and sometimes 'a place
to put books in fasted to the wall', was replaced by the
bedroom and sitting-room sets of the modern college:
this was the beginning of the progress in luxury which
Boase looked back on as one of the distinguishing marks
of the college of his day. In taste too, while the Underwood building shows no violent break from the 17th
century, it has the Gothic ornament on fire-places and
windows which made a revolution in the appearance
of the college twenty years later.
With the calling in of George Gilbert Scott in 1854
a much more ambitious phase in college building
began, in which practical considerations had only a
secondary place. It was just at this moment that the
college was drawing up and fighting the battle for its
statutes, and the two subjects alternate in the minutes
of college meetings between 1853 and 1856. On 28
June 1853, six days after the resolution to consider
alterations in the college statutes, it was decided to
rebuild the chapel on the site of the library and to
select either Butterfield, Carpenter, or Scott to make
a design for it; by July 1854 the plan had grown into
a decision to rebuild the chapel and library on their
existing sites, where they were to 'form the main
features of a design which should embrace the removal
of the Rector's House, of St. Helen's and Prideaux's
buildings and the erection of a new house of the Rector
and a new Tower and Buildings to the West of it
facing Broad Street'. This was the plan which was
given effect. The desire to rebuild the chapel seems
to have been the central motive and to have determined
the rest of the plan: the great difficulty was that the
17th-century chapel was thought to be too short, but
could not be lengthened without destroying the Rector's house. Hence the alternatives of either building
it on the site of the library or on the existing site with
the consequent destruction of the Rector's house, were
first discussed. But gradually as the plan grew, both the
Rector's house and library, as well as the chapel, were
destroyed to make way for new buildings. But this
plan was not easily decided on: despite previous
resolutions, we still hear in 1856 of 'repeated debates'
about the site of the new chapel. Meanwhile, in the
autumn of 1854, work had already been begun on the
western half of the Broad St. front. In June 1856, on
the same day as the Privy Council approved the new
statutes, Scott's design for the new chapel was accepted.
During this and the following years the tower and gateway in Broad St., the library, the Rector's house, and
the living-rooms abutting on the Broad St. buildings
and completing the quadrangle to the north of the
chapel were built in rapid succession, the work of the
same architect. In Oct. 1859 the chapel was consecrated
and the plan, which had grown so greatly since the
first decision of 1853, was complete.
These additions scarcely had the effect which was
intended for them: the elaborate entrance on the Broad
St. front led into a purely 19th-century and Gothic
quadrangle; but when all was finished, space was very
limited and the workmanship uneven. The chapel,
whose height was just tolerable when seen from the old
quadrangle, was out of all proportion to the size of the
northern quadrangle and the arrangement of the
buildings wasted even such space as there was. These
buildings therefore never had the unity and have never
become the centre of the college like the 17th-century
ones: they remain rather the symbol of an enthusiasm
as temporary as that which guided the drawing up of
the statutes at the same date, but they could not so
easily be overset by Parliamentary Commissions.
At the end of the 1939–45 war, considerable
alterations were made to the Rector's Lodging. The
back of the Lodging facing the Rector's garden was
altered from the Gothic style to one more in keeping
with the adjacent 17th-century Old Ashmolean. It
was also found possible to isolate and expose Palmer's
Tower in its original form. Within the old Gateway
at the foot of Palmer's Tower was placed the memorial
to the members of the college who fell in the 1939–45 war. The architect for all these alterations was
T. Harold Hughes.
The following is a list of the existing college buildings, arranged chronologically, with the date of erection, and the names of architects, benefactors, &c. The
Roman numerals refer to the periods in the history
of the college distinguished above.
Ia. Palmer's Tower: 1432, built at the expense of
William Palmer (Rector 1425–32). The sole surviving piece of the medieval college. The Benefactor's
Book says that he gave £100 for this work.
IIa. The hall and block of rooms adjoining its
east end: 1618; Sir John Acland (d. 1613) contributed
£800 towards the hall; Sir John Peryam £560 for the
living-rooms which were therefore called 'Peryam's
Mansions'.
b. The two staircases and rooms to the north of the
Turl St. entrance. The lease of a narrow strip of land
necessary for this building was obtained from the city
on 8 May 1668. (fn. 39) Wood, Colleges and Halls (ed.
Gutch, iii. III), says that most of it was built in 1672
but that the half at the west end of the chapel was not
completed until 1682. No doubt the financial difficulties mentioned above hindered the work. There were
many subscribers.
c. The Turl St. tower and buildings south of it,
filling the gap between the building of 1672 and the
hall: 2 July 1700–2 Nov. 1703. The lease of the land
to square the site was obtained 11 Aug. 1699 (Oxf.
City Properties, p. 272, O.H.S.). The subscribers
again were numerous.
d. The two staircases and rooms on the east side of
the quadrangle, on the site of the old library: 1708–10.
There were many subscribers: Narcissus Marsh, Archbishop of Armagh, gave £1,000.
IIIa. The Underwood Building to the east of the
tower on Broad St.: Aug. 1833–May 1834; architect,
H. J. Underwood; cost, £3,574 11s. 3d.
b. The building on Broad St. to the west of the
tower: Oct. 1854–5; architect, George Gilbert Scott;
cost, £3,997.
c. The small wood and plaster building between
the chapel and the city property (which now belongs
to the college); 1856. The windows of 'Prideaux's
Building', part of the Rector's house which had to
be removed when the chapel was built, were used
in this.
d. The tower and gateway in Broad St.: 1856;
architect, G.G. Scott.
e. The chapel: foundation stone laid 29 Nov. 1856;
consecrated 18 Oct. 1859; architect, G. G. Scott; cost,
£7,950.
f. The library: 1856–7; architect, G. G. Scott.
g. Rector's house and rooms adjoining it to the
north: 1857; architect, G.G. Scott.
h. The staircase and rooms between the chapel and
the Broad St. buildings: begun during the Long
Vacation 1858; architect G.G. Scott.