GLOUCESTER HALL AND WORCESTER COLLEGE

History

When the monasteries were finally dissolved, the supply of students for Gloucester Hall came to an end, and the site and buildings fell into the king's hands. In Dec. 1541 he granted it to John Glyn and John James, yeomen of the guard, to hold for life at a rent of 26s. 8d.; but on 30 Aug. 1542, when the bishopric of Oxford was founded with the cathedral at Oseney, it was decided that the bishop's residence should be 'the mansion or palace called Gloucester College'. (fn. 1) Wood states that Bishop King resided here, but the ordinations recorded in the Diocesan register mention Thame Part as his usual, perhaps his only, residence. On 13 Sept. 1547, by which time Christ Church had become the cathedral, there was a new arrangement of the endowments of the bishopric, and Gloucester Hall was taken away. A survey of the buildings made in 1559 (fn. 2) records that 'in the Bishop's time' (i.e. 1542–7) Sir John Williams took down 'the church' (i.e. the chapel), being 40 ft. by 20 ft., and sold it; and that about 1557 he 'pulled down the best part of the College', measuring 80 ft. by 40 ft., probably the hall. (fn. 2) In Nov. 1559 when the survey was made the only occupants of the buildings were 'two old priests that be pensioners', meaning two old monks who lived on their pensions. Within a few weeks it was in the hands of William Doddington of London. On 23 March 1560 he conveyed the site and buildings of Gloucester Hall to St. John's College in return for 'a certain sum of money' paid by Sir Thomas White. The amount was probably £113 3s. 4d., for that was the figure in the valuation made in Nov. 1559; the land, rather more than 5 acres, at 30 years' purchase, was worth £68 10s. and the stone and timber in the buildings were estimated at £44 13s. 4d. All were 'sore decayed', and one building 'doth daily fall down'. Seisin was taken by the college on 13 April, (fn. 3) and by 13 June it had been decided, no doubt by Sir Thomas White, that the new acquisition should become an academic hall in addition to the eight which dated from before the year 1500. On that date the college granted to William Stock, one of the fellows of St. John's College, a lease of the site and buildings for 20 years 'if he continue Principal there so long'; rent £7; Stock shall spend 100 marks in repairs during the next 5 years; he may not transfer his lease to another, and, if he ceases to be Principal, the college may appoint a successor without hindrance from Stock. (fn. 4) Anthony Wood's statement, (fn. 5) for which he produces no evidence, that Sir Thomas White settled 100 scholars or more in the hall and that most of them were maintained by his benefaction is incredible. He had not sufficient means to maintain 30 in his own college. His other statement that White spent large sums on the repair of Gloucester Hall is confirmed by Campion's words in 1567. (fn. 6)

For the early years of Gloucester Hall we have little evidence. Wood implies that he knew of some statutes of the hall made in 1560, but no one has seen them. (fn. 7) The records at St. John's College inform us that Stock had ceased to be Principal of the hall by Feb. 1561 and had become President of the college, the change having probably been made at Michaelmas 1560. He was President until Sept. 1564, when he once more became Principal of the hall. During the intervening four years we know that Thomas Palmer, M.A., a fellow of St. John's College, was Principal for a year, and Richard Eden, B.D., an elderly man, and formerly a monk, not a fellow but a pensioner of Sir Thomas White, was Principal in April 1563. (fn. 8) Stock remained Principal until 1576 and the hall seems to have been prosperous. A list of the members, made about 1572, (fn. 9) gives 73 names, of whom 8 were M.A., 13 were B.A., 43 undergraduates, 8 servants, and 1 resident, Sir George Peckham, who was a member of Lincoln's Inn, but had never taken a degree at Oxford. He had been allowed a lodging in the hall, which he had repaired at his own expense (Wood says at the cost of £100); and in 1573 the President and fellows of St. John's College, at the request of Sir William Cordell, agreed that when Stock ceased to be Principal, the college would covenant with his successor that Sir George Peckham should be allowed to retain his lodging 'upon the rent that he now pays'. We learn that Stock was granted leave by the Vice-Chancellor on 14 May 1575 to be absent for a year on business connected with Jesus College, and that his deputy would be Edmund Reynolds, or Alexander Reade, or Robert Blades. (fn. 10)

On 16 Jan. 1576 Stock resigned, (fn. 11) and Henry Russell, fellow of St. John's, was 'elected'. This leaves the point uncertain whether Russell was nominated by the college or by the Chancellor. About this time the Chancellor was claiming the right to nominate to the headship of the halls, and after his nomination the 'scholares' of the hall, i.e. the graduates, would elect his nominee. This may have been the case with Russell, but it is more probable that he was nominated by the college. On 12 April 1576 the college leased to Henry Russell all that had been leased to Stock; he was to hold for 21 years at a rent of £7 and was to expend £40 on building within 7 years. (fn. 12) In this deed the hall is called indifferently St. John's Hall, Gloucester Hall, and Gloucester College. In a return to the Government about the Recusants in the University in Nov. 1577 it is stated that Gloucester Hall is 'greatly suspected, and one Sir William Catesby lieth there'. He was living in the lodging of Sir George Peckham, and the parish register of St. Thomas's recorded that in July 1577 a daughter was born to Sir William Catesby 'in the lodging that Sir George Peckham repaired in Gloucester Hall and that the child was christened not by the vicar but by a popish priest'. (fn. 13) All the halls were considered by the authorities to be suspect in the matter of religion, in particular Gloucester Hall: Catesby is the only Recusant that we know of who lived in the hall, but William Catesby and William Percy, the second son of the Catholic 8th Earl of Northumberland, were members of it. (fn. 14)

The hall was prosperous at this time; there were 36 matriculations in 1575, 10 in 1577, 34 in 1578, 19 in 1581; it is therefore impossible to believe that there were only six residents in the hall in May 1579. (fn. 15) Either the number is incorrect, or the word 'commoner', in that return, must be used in a special sense.

About midsummer 1580 Henry Russell resigned, and was succeeded by Christopher Bagshaw, much to the indignation of the Earl of Leicester; (fn. 16) but in April 1581 Bagshaw sent his resignation to the Vice-Chancellor's court by the hand of Mr. Edmund Reynolds; and John Delabere, M.D., was 'elected by the scholars'; (fn. 17) from the history of St. John's College we know that the Earl of Leicester called him 'my servant' and probably he had nominated him. The college granted him a lease of Gloucester Hall in 1582 for 40 years at a rent of £7, and in Oct. 1592 he surrendered his lease and received a new one on the same terms for which he paid a fine of £8. (fn. 18)

On 8 June 1593 John Hawley, a fellow of St. John's College, aged 27, resigned his fellowship and became Principal of Gloucester Hall. He was a lawyer and assessor Vice-cancellario in curia per multos annos, i.e. he presided in the court when the Vice-Chancellor was absent. When the Bodleian quadrangle was completed after the death of Bodley, Hawley supervised the building and in 1613 was granted the degree of D.C.L. for his summas curas et maximos labores. (fn. 19) The yearly matriculations in Hawley's time were five or so on an average, not a third of what the hall could accommodate, and some of the vacant rooms were occupied by strangers, as we learn from the register of burials in the church of St. Thomas. Thus in Dec. 1609 Richard Catagre, M.A., who had been a fellow of All Souls before 1550, died in Gloucester Hall, aged 88. More noteworthy is the death of the serjeant of Abingdon in Feb. 1600 in the lodging of the Principal of Gloucester Hall, then occupied by Mr. Feteplace; still more noteworthy are the deaths in Gloucester Hall in 1616 of Joan Ingram, wife of Mr. Richard Ingram, and Anne Coles, widow; similarly, much later, in 1650 we have the death of Mrs. Susanna Holland, widow of Dr. Thomas Holland. (fn. 20) Gloucester Hall, with its many isolated lodgings, was more suited than other halls to supply a quiet retreat to elderly men and women. It is probable that among the lodgers was William Gent, of whom we are told that he spent £100 on the reparations of the hall. This statement is made by Wood, (fn. 21) but he gives no authority. It is recorded in the Register of the University (fn. 22) that William Gent 'esquire' frequented the Bodleian Library in 1604, to which he gave many books. He is mentioned in the will of Thomas Bodley as an intimate friend. There is no sign that he ever took a degree at Oxford.

On the death of Hawley (April 1626) Degory Wheare was appointed Principal, and under him the hall was very successful, the matriculations being sometimes more than twenty a year. (fn. 23) He, with a wife and several children, settled in the hall in 1621 and was, no doubt, one of the tutors or readers. He was a good scholar, and in Oct. 1622 was appointed the first Camden Professor of Ancient History, and on the death of Hawley was naturally selected by the Chancellor. A MS. preserved at Worcester College, called Liber Donationum, records what he collected in 1630 for improvements, especially for the building of a chapel. This was a matter which had been contemplated by Hawley, and for which he had received in 1608 from St. John's College the gift of 'six trees from Bagley Wood to be used for the chapel' of Gloucester Hall. (fn. 24) Wheare completed it at a cost of £90. The customary payments in the hall are described in a document of 1631. (fn. 25) All the rents of the rooms were taken by the Principal, but he was responsible for all repairs. He maintained two 'moderators or readers' (i.e. tutors), paying to each £5 a year; but it is probable that they also received fees from their private pupils. The servants of the hall were maintained by small payments from all the members. Although Wheare survived until 1647, the hall, like other halls, was deserted after 1642, when the supply of undergraduates dried up, and in 1644 part of the buildings were used for the forging and repairing of arms for the king.

In 1647 John Maplett was nominated Principal by the Chancellor, the Marquess of Hertford, who had not been deposed by the Parliamentarians, but within a few months both he and Maplett were ejected and Tobias Garbrand, M.D., was nominated by the Parliamentary Visitors. He belonged to an Oxford family which had come over from the Low Countries 100 years before, and was Calvinistic. How far Garbrand was able to revive the hall we do not know. The customs of the hall, described in a document of 1649, signed by the Principal, three master of arts, and one bachelor, (fn. 26) mention two 'readers' in the hall and other officials; on the other hand, the fact that the Government gave to Garbrand £50 to augment his income suggests that the hall was not prospering.

In 1660 Garbrand withdrew and Maplett returned; but in 1662 he also withdrew, and Byrom Eaton, D.D., was nominated. He held the living of Nuneham Courtney from 1660, and as he was appointed Archdeacon of Stowe in 1677 and Archdeacon of Leicester in 1683, in each case with a prebend, he was not dependent on the profits of the hall for his livelihood. He treated the hall as a convenient place of residence, and there can be little doubt that the buildings fell into disrepair. Wood says that from 1675 onwards there was not one scholar in the hall. In a return, (fn. 27) probably of about 1690, it is estimated that the headship of Magdalen Hall was worth £60 a year, St. Mary Hall £30, Gloucester Hall £20, although the Hearth Tax of 1665 (fn. 28) shows that the number of hearths in Gloucester Hall was 39, in St. Mary Hall 26, in Magdalen Hall 51. The Poll Tax of 1667 records that in Gloucester Hall there lived the Principal, his wife and 2 children, 3 servants, 3 of the degree of B.A., 8 or 9 undergraduates, 2 servants of the hall, a family named Ford with children, and a widow. (fn. 29) This is less than in any other hall. The Principal himself paid £1 on private means estimated at £100, a payment made by many heads of houses, but not by all. Wood and others describe the continuous decay of the hall, (fn. 30) and Eaton resigned in 1692, but lived 11 years more, retaining his ecclesiastical preferments.

On 15 Aug. 1692 Benjamin Woodroffe, D.D., was admitted Principal. He was certainly a man of much ability, worked hard, and spent his money liberally, but he accomplished little. He was Canon of Lichfield, Canon of Christ Church (1672–1711), Lecturer of the Temple, Chaplain to Charles II and James II, rector of St. Bartholomew at the Royal Exchange, with other preferment. Much was expected from his appointment. Wood in his Athenae says that 'being a man of generous and public spirit he spent several hundred pounds in repairing the place' and 'by his great interest among the gentry, made it flourish with hopeful sprouts'. He had married the sister of Sir Blewet Stonehouse of Radley, an heiress. In a letter of 23 July 1693 he speaks of five new members of the hall and the expectation of four others, (fn. 31) 'most of them the sons of persons of quality', and for a few years the numbers increased, but after 1700 they dwindled to nothing. The Principal had ceased to be interested in the hall as a hall and had other projects. So early as 1693 he had a scheme to make it a college for theological students of the Greek Church, who were to be sent from Greece and Syria for a course of six years, to be supported by charitable societies or the Levant Company. In 1698 the first students arrived; in 1707 the last of them went away. (fn. 32) The scheme was a failure, and cost Woodroffe £2,000, as he said. Part of this money was spent on erecting a building at the west end of what is now Beaumont Street, to house the Greeks; for by 1698 he had altered his plans about Gloucester Hall and did not intend that it should be a college for Greeks. The new building was long known as Woodroffe's Folly. (fn. 33)

His new plan was to turn the hall into an ordinary Oxford college. In 1696 he heard that Sir Thomas Cookes of Bentley, Worcestershire, planned to give, or leave, £10,000 towards the foundation of a college at Oxford, and immediately urged upon him that Gloucester Hall would make a suitable college. If the Principal of Broadgates Hall had been able to turn it into Pembroke College by means of a legacy of £5,000, Woodroffe planned to do the same at Gloucester Hall, and by 1698 had drawn up a set of statutes for a college to be called Worcester College. But there were other claimants for the money, and nothing had been definitely settled when Sir Thomas Cookes died in June 1701. He left a will which had been made in 1696 and naturally it made no mention of Woodroffe or Gloucester Hall; the will merely stated that the £10,000 was to found a college or to add to an existing college or hall in Oxford. There were thirty trustees, mainly bishops and heads of houses, and when they met in 1707, the majority voted that the money should go to Magdalen Hall; but a unanimous vote was required. (fn. 34) Meanwhile Woodroffe was engaged in most expensive lawsuits about his private property in Cheshire, and became bankrupt. In 1709 his Oxford creditors made an attempt to secure the sequestration of his canonry, and ultimately he was imprisoned in the Fleet for debt. He died 14 Aug. 1711.

In 1712 Richard Blechynden, D.C.L., who had been a fellow of St. John's College, was nominated Principal. He had become Canon of Rochester in 1711, and Canon of Gloucester in 1712. In a short time the trustees, under the will of Sir Thomas Cookes, were satisfied that Blechynden and Gloucester Hall were fitting objects for the bequest of Sir Thomas Cookes. In 1713 St. John's College sold the freehold of Gloucester Hall, and the college was inaugurated 14 July 1714. The bequest of Sir Thomas Cookes had now swollen to £15,000 by accumulated interest, and provided enough to maintain a Provost, six fellows, and eight scholars. There was no breach with Gloucester Hall; the few members of the hall became members of the college, and the Principal became the Provost, but like all principals of halls he took the rent of all the rooms except those of the Cookes's fellows and scholars.

The college was poor, as it always has been, but it received some small gifts immediately. (fn. 35) In 1717 Margaret Alcorne bequeathed £800, with which the college began the building of a chapel, hall, and library; the chapel was finished in 1791, the hall in 1784. But the chief benefactor was Dr. George Clarke of All Souls, who died in 1736; he is described on the cup that he left to the college as 'collegio munificentissimus benefactor tantum non fundator'. Not only did he provide funds to maintain six more fellows and three more scholars, but he left to the Library the whole of his own and his father's printed books and the bulk of his MSS., including his valuable collection of architectural drawings and early plays. To house his new scholars and fellows, some of the old buildings on the north side of the quadrangle were pulled down, and the eastern part of the terrace buildings was erected. Another benefactor was 'Mrs. Sarah Eaton', or as we should say Miss Sarah Eaton, the daughter of Byrom Eaton; she died in 1739 and left her estate to maintain more fellows and scholars. Ultimately the college invested the money in the purchase of the manor of Lyford, worth £400 a year, together with the advowson. In 1787 Mr. Kay left to the college £15,000 for the purchase of livings, with which the following were gradually acquired: Hoggeston (Bucks.), Blandford St. Mary (Dorset), Dyndor (Hereford), Tadmarton (Oxon.), Neen Solers (Salop), High Ham (Somerset), and Winford (Somerset). Other advowsons owned by the college are Denchworth (Berks.), Lyford (Berks.), Boylesdon (Derby), Whitfield (Northants).

We need refer here to two only of the later developments, the building of the attic story of the terrace buildings in 1926, and the erection in 1939 of a new block of 15 sets of rooms at the east end of the garden, as a result of a munificent donation to the college of £50,000 by Viscount Nuffield in 1937. The remainder of that donation was added to corporate funds, part of it being used to endow a new fellowship, and part to establish two exhibitions for those intending to study medicine.

The Library

The library is famous for its important collection of early plays and for its 17th-century manuscripts, including the Clarke papers and many plans and drawings by Inigo Jones, Hawksmoor, and Webb. It is also rich in 17th- and 18th-century printed books, including several volumes from Charles I's private library, and many volumes, perhaps the whole of Inigo Jones's library, of which some 45 have been identified. These include the 1601 edition of Palladio's famous treatise on architecture, annotated throughout by Inigo Jones. In 1938 the college received as a gift from Merton College a manuscript of the highest interest—a volume originally presented to Gloucester College by John Whethamstede, Abbot of St. Albans, in the first half of the 15th century. It is the only book in the present library that is known to date back to the preReformation foundation. (fn. 36)

Pictures.

Among the pictures possessed by the college are a whole landscape by Jacob van Ruysdal, a Last Supper attributed to Ricci, a Bassano, a fine Moucheron, flower paintings by van Huysum and by Verelst, a portrait of Camden presented by himself to Degory Wheare, a portrait of the school of Holbein of William Stocke and a portrait of Provost Gower by Gainsborough. And to these has recently been added a collection of oil paintings and water colours by William Turner of Oxford, the gift of the Reverend Dr. R. H. Lightfoot.

The college's portraits have been described by Mrs. R. L. Poole (Cat. of Oxford Portraits, iii, 255–69).

Plate.

The finest piece in the college's possession is a Grace-Cup, the legacy of Dr. George Clarke. Other interesting pieces are the two large silver tankards of 1696–7, the silver-gilt punch-bowl given in 1720, the soup-dish given in 1744, and two gilded goblets presented in 1775.

Seals.

The College uses a 'stamp' which reproduces the design of an 'older seal'. Oval, 43 mm. X 36 mm. Legend: Collegium Vigorniense. An achievement of arms, helm, crest, and mantling of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd baronet, founder. Arms: two cheverons between six martlets three two and one. Crest: out of a mural coronet an arm in armour holding in the hand a sword.

Principals of Gloucester Hall (fn. 37)

William Stocke. 1560–1.
Richard Eden. 1561–3.
Thomas Palmer. 1563–4.
William Stocke. 1564–76.
Henry Russell. 1576–80.
Christopher Bagshawe. 1580–1.
John Delabere. 1581–93.
John Hawley. 1593–1626.
Degory Wheare. 1626–47.
John Maplett. 1647 (ejected).
Tobias Garbrand. 1647–60.
John Maplett. 1660–2.
Byrom Eaton. 1662–92.
Benjamin Woodroffe. 1692–1711.
Richard Blechynden. 1712–14.

Provosts of Worcester College (fn. 38)

Richard Blechynden. 1714–36.
William Gower. 1736–77.
William Sheffield. 1777–95.
Whittington Landon. 1795–1839.
Richard Lynch Cotton. 1839–81.
William Inge. 1881–1903.
Charles Henry Olive Daniel. 1903–19.
Francis John Lys. 1919–46.
John Cecil Masterman. 1946.

The following are the principal documentary sources used for the section on the buildings:

A. Gloucester College Period. Eight Deeds as under (in chronological order): I. Chapter Library, Canterbury, O 139 (unpublished), Christchurch, Canterbury, to Westminster, 1371; II. Literae Cantuarienses, iii, p. 14, Christchurch, Canterbury, to Westminster, 1392; III. Snappe's Formulary (O.H.S.), p. 385 (no. 12), Malmesbury to Glastonbury, 1397; IV. Hist. MSS. Comm., Fourteenth Report, Appendix, Part VIII, p. 182, Malmesbury to Worcester, 1412; V. Snappe's Formulary (O.H.S.), p. 383 (no. 10), Malmesbury to Bury St. Edmunds, 1424; Va. Annex to above, ibid., p. 384 (no. 11); VI. Hist. MSS. Comm., loc. cit., pp. 182–3; Malmesbury to Worcester, 1440; VII. Bodleian Charters, Wilts., no. 13 (unpublished), Malmesbury to Norwich, 1472; VIII. Harleian MS., 308, f. 87b, Bury St. Edmunds to Hyde, 1528.

B. Gloucester Hall Period. Early History of St. John's College (O.H.S.), pp. 433–4. Royal Valuation of the site made in 1559; grant made in 1560 to William Doddington (Worcester archives, Iron Chest), which incorporates the substance of the valuation. CO. Wood, City of Oxford (O.H.S.), ii, 248–63; CH. Wood, Colleges and Halls (Gutch edition), pp. 629–39; Loggan, Oxonia Illustrata; BB. The Benefactors' Book of Gloucester Hall (from 1630; in the college library); R. Reports on the condition of the buildings, dated 29 March 1713 (Worcester archives, cupboard C¹, parcel A, 8).

C. Worcester College Period. CP. Sundry plans, elevations, &c., among the Clarke Papers (in the college library); MB. The College Minute Book (from 1724; in the possession of the Provost); Williams, Oxonia Depicta; Skelton, Oxonia Antiqua Restaurata; WA. A plan of the old provost's lodgings, dated 1717, and various papers relating to the building of the library and the Clarke chambers (in the Worcester archives, cupboard C¹); CH. Gutch in Wood's Colleges and Halls, pp. 629–39; a drawing of the SE. corner of Pump Quad, dated 1786; a drawing by Turner of the south front of the south range and old kitchen, dated 1820; IF. Sundry account books and bills relating to the Improvement Fund, c. 1817–24 (Worcester archives, cupboard C³); DB. Daniel and Barker, Worcester College.

Buildings

The site of Gloucester College was acquired in two halves. In 1298 Sir John Giffard of Bromsfield granted to the Benedictine Order 'all the lands and tenements with their several appertinences which I possessed in Stockwell Street in the suburb of Oxford'. These had previously, in 1283, been granted by him to Gloucester Abbey and had been occupied by a cell of that house; hence the popular name of the college. The land was now conveyed to the Abbot of Malmesbury to be administered for the good of the students of the order. The buildings on them were apparently meagre and soon became ruinous; none probably survived for long. In 1321 the presidents of the general chapter of the Canterbury province of the Benedictine Order acquired through the Bishop of Norwich an adjacent site on Stockwell Street, hitherto occupied by a Carmelite priory, together with the buildings on it, which are said to have comprised a church, refectory, dormitory, and certain other buildings. It has been conjectured that an 'ancient chapel' and 'ancient schools', alluded to in 1397, which apparently stood on the north and south sides of Pump Quad, may have been part of the Carmelite buildings. Neither of these survived the 15th century. (fn. 39)

As a result of the Dissolution of the monasteries Gloucester College came into the possession of the Crown. It passed through the hands of various grantees, who dismantled the greater part of the buildings, until in 1560 it was sold to Sir Thomas White, who conveyed it to his new foundation, St. John's College, as part of the endowment. By midsummer 1560 it was let as an academical hall, commonly called Gloucester Hall. During the next century and a half various minor alterations were made, but no new buildings were erected or old ones demolished. In 1713 the leasehold of the site was acquired by the trustees of Sir Thomas Cookes for Worcester College; the freehold was bought in 1743. From 1720 onwards large parts of the ancient buildings were demolished to make way for new classical edifices. (fn. 40)

Worcester College, South-east Wing: continuation of plan opposite.

The buildings of Gloucester College fell into two main categories, the public buildings maintained at the charges of the Benedictine Order, and the chambers of the several monasteries, which they built and repaired at their own expense. The public buildings are stated in 1367 to have comprised 'a hall, pantry, buttery, kitchen together with a bakehouse'; (fn. 41) whence it appears that the Carmelite church and dormitory had been destroyed or put to other uses. It is doubtful if any of these buildings survived to the Dissolution. A new kitchen with three rooms annexed was built in 1423. (fn. 42) This complex, though not mentioned in the royal valuation of 1560 and therefore probably by then dismantled, may well have been restored and may be identical with 'the kitchen and larder and a room over' recorded in a report of 29 March 1713. (fn. 43) These continued to serve their original purpose till 1844, when they were converted into undergraduates' rooms. (fn. 44) They are the block lying to the south of the two easternmost chambers of the south range (nos. 11 and 12). A huge chimney-stack at the west end testifies to the original purpose of the building, but otherwise there is little ancient save the walls. It seems always to have been in two stories. It has on the south front two windows of two lights and two of one on the ground floor and on the first floor, respectively; all these are now in the Gothic taste, having been remodelled c. 1820—the Turner drawing of that year shows all save two in their ancient condition. One ancient window survives at the west end on the first floor. A top story was added, apparently in 1824, also in the Gothic taste. (fn. 45)

The hall mentioned in 1367 is proved by deeds dated 1397 and 1424 (fn. 46) to have occupied the same site as the 'Refectorium' of Loggan. This building seems, however, to judge by its architectural style, of rather later date. It is recorded in the valuation of 1560 as being in good condition; the dimensions are given as approximately 60 by 30 ft. Hearne, (fn. 47) who calls it 'a noble fine Room', gives the measurements as 63 by 33 ft. It was of four bays, lit by tall two-light windows with four-centred heads. The hearth was presumably in the centre of the floor under the louver. The screens were at the north end. In about 1609 the gallery was converted into a chapel, which also housed at its west end the library of the hall. (fn. 48) The four-light window shown in Loggan over the door was evidently opened to light this little chapel. The hall was demolished in 1720. (fn. 49)

Gloucester College
Existing walls (traced from Ordinance Survey) —
Destroyed walls (hypothetical)
1. (a–d). Bury St. Edmunds.
2. Glastonbury.
3. Malmesbury.
4. St. Augustine's, Canterbury ?
5. Ramsey ? or
6. Winchcombe?
7. —
8. Pershore and Eynsham.
9. —
10. St. Augustin's, Canterbury.
11. Hyde (formerly Bury).
12. Tewkesbury.
13 (a, c, d). Worcester (formerly Winchcombe).
14. Abingdon.
15. Westminster (formerly Christchurch, Canterbury).
16. Gloucester.
17. Norwich.
18. St. Alban's.
19. —

In a deed dated 1424 (fn. 50) allusion is made to the 'new chapel constructed at the common expense of the order', and from this document it is plain that it occupied the site labelled by Loggan 'Ruinae Antiquae Capellae'. Its dimensions are given by the valuation of 1560 as 40 by 20 ft., but these figures are too small—to judge by Loggan 50 by 35 ft. would be nearer the mark; it was already then a ruin. Its plan was peculiar in that its east wall was pierced by a door, flanked by two single lights. The door was perhaps intended to give direct access to the chapel to the general public on certain feasts—All Souls chapel has a door on to the street which apparently served this purpose—but it seems odd that the public should enter behind the high altar. Another alternative is that this door opened into a vestry occupying the eastern bay of the chapel; a vestry adjoining the chapel is recorded to have been built by Abbot Whethamstede of St. Albans in 1426. (fn. 51)

In the above-mentioned deed space is reserved 'for a common library to be built over the lower chambers on the aforesaid site', and from an annex to this deed written within the next five years it would seem that this library had already been built, and that it occupied the place labelled by Loggan 'Ruinae Antiquae Bibliothecae'; (fn. 52) Abbot Whethamstede contributed £60 to its erection. (fn. 53) Its dimensions (or rather those of the chambers beneath it) are given as 46 by 18 ft. It was in five bays lit by two-light windows. It was apparently already a ruin in 1560.

There is no mention in any ancient document of another public building which must have existed—the latrines. They were perhaps the small building west of the south range of chambers which is shown in Loggan. The position, some way from the other buildings in the water meadows, is suitable, and the building is connected by a walled pathway with the main quadrangle. The latrines were, it appears, almost within living memory, in this quarter.

The area between the hall on the west and the street on the east and the chapel on the north and 'the new chamber conceded to the scholars of the monastery of Glastonbury' on the south was granted in 1424 to Bury St. Edmunds. (fn. 54) Bury built on this site (a) two chambers under the library, measuring 22 by 18 ft. and 24 by 18 ft.; (b) a hall and chamber over, 30 by 18 ft.; (c) an upper and lower chamber next the street, 19 by 18 ft., and (d) an upper and lower chamber next to Glastonbury, (fn. 59) by 18 ft. (fn. 55) The southern boundary of the Bury site is to this day clearly marked by a stone party wall and straight joints on both east and west; in Loggan's day the Bury buildings were also higher than the Glastonbury. As the frontage from this boundary to where the south wall of the chapel was cannot have measured much over 90 ft., it would appear that only (a), (c), and (d) lay on the street, and that (b) was the building running east from the south end of the hall. Of these buildings (a) are shown as ruins in Loggan and probably were so by 1560. (b) was then still in good condition, being described in the valuation as 'sex minutas structuras sive le litle lodgings ex parte australi dictae aulae adjacentes, unde duo deorsum et quattuor earundem sursum existentes et continentes in longitudine 30 pedes et in latitudine 16 pedes'; the hall and upper chamber had been partitioned. Neither (c) nor (d), nor any other building in the south-east corner of the college, seem to be mentioned in the valuation, which merely specifies 'totum ilium atrium vocatum le basse court' without valuing the materials. (fn. 56) It may be presumed, therefore, that the buildings had been dismantled by 1560, though restored subsequently. In block (a) Loggan shows two windows uniform with those of the library on the first floor; on the ground floor the windows had been partially blocked owing to the rise in the street level: (b) and (c) must have been demolished before 1784. (fn. 57) Block (d) still stands. Of the two east windows which lit the upper room one survives without its tracery, and the other has been blocked; the small window which perhaps lit the head of the stair is also blocked; the ground-floor windows were again already partially blocked in Loggan's day and have now been filled in. On the west the medieval door, with four-centred head and a blank shield over, and a cinquefoil-headed light above it survive; the window of the first-floor room is also ancient. Between the ground-floor rooms of (c) and (d) ran a passage; the doors at either end of it, though filled in before Loggan's day, can still be detected. This passage is mentioned in the deed of 1424 and its annex as a public entry into the college. (fn. 58)

The ground between the street on the east and the east front of the Malmesbury chamber on the west, and the south front of the hall and the 'old chapel' (which probably occupied the site of the Bury hall) on the north and south front of the old Glastonbury chamber and the 'old schools' on the south was granted in 1397 to Glastonbury. (fn. 59) The Abbot of Glastonbury later complained that his rights were infringed by the Bury grant of 1424, (fn. 60) and in fact block (d) of the Bury complex seems to lie on his ground. Howbeit Glastonbury had an ample space comprising all the southern half of Pump Quad. There is no structural division between the party wall with Bury and the south end of the old kitchen, and it is impossible to say how it was partitioned. On the street front, of the three upper windows shown by Loggan the central one survives without its tracery, and the other two are blocked; once more the ground-floor windows were partially blocked in Loggan's day and are now filled in. The western half of the south front is now masked by the modern kitchen, and offices with undergraduates' rooms over, built in 1844. (fn. 61) In the remaining half there are two ancient chimney-stacks, and between them on the ground floor a medieval two-light window; farther east there is a seventeenth-century window of three 'tudor' lights one being blocked. Facing on the quadrangle there is set diagonally across the south-east corner a medieval door with four-centred head and above a cinquefoil-headed light. Otherwise the only ancient window is the westernmost on the first floor. Internally a number of medieval ceiling-beams survive on the ground floor, and a section of panelled ceiling on the first floor. One of the first-floor rooms has early eighteenth-century wainscoting. In 1824 an upper story was added to Pump Quad, greatly to the detriment of its appearance. (fn. 62) Anthony Wood, (fn. 63) it may be noted, saw two shields in this quadrangle. One, described as 'gutté, a cross humetté trunked with two water pots in base', has vanished and cannot be identified. The other, 'a cross patonce with a rose in the first quarter', is evidently a misreading of the Glastonbury shield, which was recently on the wall of the new kitchen and now adorns no. 10.

There remain on the south side of the college the range of six chambers facing the main quadrangle. These are perhaps the 'septem cameras nostras cum pertinentibus quamlibet earundem continentem per aestimationem in longitudine 16 pedes et in latitudine 12 pedes' of the valuation; that there may have been a seventh to the west is indicated by the fact that the present west wall is a lath and plaster partition. If so, they were in 1560 in good condition. They have been well kept ever since and their north frontage, which is of ashlar, is almost as it was in the Middle Ages. The southern frontage has been less respectfully treated, many of the windows having been modernized. Internally the staircases and partitions have been entirely remodelled, and, in nearly all, rooms have been inserted in the attics, lit by dormers. A few already appear in Loggan, many more in Williams. In the early 19th century most of the dormers on the north side seem to have been removed, and those on the south were enlarged and multiplied and given their present Gothic windows and barge-boards. (fn. 64)

The easternmost chamber (no. 12) is shown by the deed of 1397 (fn. 65) to have belonged to Malmesbury, and the coat of that house still stands over the door. (fn. 66) This door, with four-centred head and label and blank shields in the spandrels, is exceptionally wide and may in the Middle Ages, as now, have provided access to the kitchen behind. (fn. 67) The lower room is lit by two windows of two lights to the north. To the east was a large chimney-stack. The moulded ceiling-beams survive. This room is now united with the narrow room to the south which joins the Malmesbury chamber to the old kitchen; this narrow room is lit on the east by an ancient window. The whole room was, between 1720 and 1784, the hall of Worcester College, (fn. 68) and has since, less a passage on the west, become the buttery. The upper room is lit on the north by two ancient windows, which have lost their mullions, and on the east by a single light; it has a fine carved plaster ceiling with wooden ribs. This room has been united with the east first-floor room of the old kitchen and the intermediate room, which is lit by two single lights on the east. The whole is lined with late-17th-century panelling and now forms the J.C.R. It is possible that this room was the chapel of Worcester College till the new chapel was finished. 'The old college chapel and offices adjoining' were in 1822 converted into '3 Setts of Rooms', (fn. 69) and the present J.C.R. was till recently partitioned into two sets; the third was presumably the other half of the old kitchen first floor.

Over the door of no. 11 is a shield bearing a plain cross. This might be either St. Augustine's, Canterbury (sable, a cross argent) or Norwich (argent, a cross sable). The latter is practically out of the question, since Norwich owned a chamber elsewhere from before 1400 till after 1492. The former is known to have occupied a chamber elsewhere in 1528, but may have held this chamber earlier; the coat, however, may belong to some other house, or the shield may have been moved here from elsewhere. The chamber is curiously planned. The door, with four-centred head and label and trefoiled spandrels, is in the centre, with a two-light window with label on either side; above are two similar windows and between them, now blocked, a single light; on the south there is only one ancient window, first floor west. This arrangement suggests a miniature college staircase. The arrangement of the ancient ceiling-beams on the ground floor show, however, that each floor must have been one room.

There is no clue to the identity of the next three chambers. (fn. 70) No. 10 has its door, with four-centred arch and label and foliage in the spandrels, to the east and a two-light window to the west; over the door is a single light, over the window two similar windows which have lost their mullions. In the south wall are a chimneystack and to the west, on either floor, a large window, to the east, on either floor, two single lights; one of these has been modernized. The upper room has late17th-century panelling. No. 9 is planned like no. 11, the door (four-centred with label and quatrefoiled spandrels) being in the centre between two bay windows of two lights; these bays extend to the upper floor, but here the windows have lost their mullions. On the south there are on either floor a two-light window (west) and a single light (east): here again the ceilingbeams, which survive on both floors, show that each was a single room. No. 8 has the door, with fourcentred arch and label, on the west with a two-light window over. To the east the windows are set in a sunk panel extending over both floors: the lower, of three lights with cinquefoil ogee-heads, is still in its original state, the upper has been gutted; between the windows is ornamental panelling. At the back this chamber has a projecting wing to the west. This wing has on the ground floor an ancient window facing east, blocked but retaining its mullion. In the south wall of the chamber proper there is an ancient window on the ground floor. Internally there are some ancient ceilingbeams and the attic room has early-17th-century panelling.

The last chamber, no. 7, has over the door a little niche flanked by two shields. That to the east, surmounted by a mitre, bears a W, a comb, and a ton; this rebus was borne by William Compton, Abbot of Pershore (1504–27). (fn. 71) That to the west bears three chalices for the abbey of Pershore. (fn. 72) The door, with four-centred head and label and blank shields and foliage in the spandrels, is to the east; to the west is a two-light window with label. Above are two windows which have lost their mullions. In the south wall is a chimneystack, flanked on the upper floor by ancient windows. Medieval ceiling-beams survive on the ground floor. The upper room has early-18th-century panelling.

On the north side of the college fewer medieval buildings survive, but documentary evidence is abundant. In a deed dated 1528 (fn. 73) Bury St. Edmunds ceded to Hyde all the chambers called Littybury, being between the chamber of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, on the east and that of Tewkesbury on the west. The Tewkesbury chamber is also mentioned in a deed of 1412, (fn. 74) which granted to Worcester (a) a ground-floor room 'continens in longitudine viginti et quattuor pedes et dimidium a camera Wynchelcombie versus boriam et in latitudine viginti et unum pedes', together with (b) a 'camera superior ejusdem fundi' 52 ft. long, 'versus cameram Wynchelcombie', and (c) a small lower chamber, 12 by 22½ ft., 'immediate situata inter edificium de Tewkesbury et Wynchelcombie'. A later deed (1440) (fn. 75) cedes to Worcester (d) a lower room, 20 by 12 ft., situated directly beneath the upper chamber already belonging to that house. From this it would appear that there was a range running north and south with Tewkesbury at one end of it, comprising on the upper floor one long room (b) of 52 ft., and on the ground floor three rooms. How these were arranged is obscure. On the most natural reading (a) was the northernmost and (c) the southernmost and (d) was the Winchcombe chamber between them; but such an arrangement, which would put Tewkesbury at the south end of range, will fit none of the known buildings. If 'a camera Wychelcombie versus boriam' may be translated as 'from the Winchcombe chamber (which is) on the north', the order of the ground-floor rooms will be inverted and in that case Tewkesbury, Hyde, and St. Augustine's might have occupied the present common-room block and Worcester a building extending from this block to the north end of the hall. Loggan, it is true, shows only the northern half of the hypothetical Worcester building, and the valuation of 1560 mentions a building on the north side of the college, 20 by 18 ft., which is probably this northern half. The valuation, however, also records a 'structuram sive le lodging adjacentem predictae aulae', 20 by 12 ft., and this building can only have adjoined the north end of the hall. The length of the block, 52 ft., seems to fit the space exactly.

Loggan shows a curious little gabled structure on the south end of the surviving half of the Worcester building; this is perhaps the clock-house which Wood (fn. 76) records as marking the north front of the old chapel. This building must have been demolished in 1720. The common-room block does not seem to be recorded in the valuation and had therefore no doubt been dismantled by 1560; the medieval walls nevertheless survive intact. Internally there is no structural division, but it is at present divided into three sections. The two easternmost bays comprise the old Bursary below and a set above with late-17th-century panelling, and the next bay is the staircase. Each room has two ancient windows on the north; the corresponding windows on the south have been blocked; the light on the street front has vanished. On the south of the staircase bay the lower window is now a door and the upper has been modernized; on the north is a small medieval window on the first floor, and a later door on the ground floor. The central section comprises the common room below and an upper common room above. Both have late-17thcentury panelling, and the former is probably the 'large common room lately wainscotted and sash windows' mentioned in 1711. (fn. 77) These rooms have each two windows to the north, flanking a central chimney-stack; the lower windows have been modernized and converted into doors. The corresponding windows on the south have all been blocked. At the south-west corner of the common room is a very large blocked doorway. From its size it might be supposed to have opened on to a passageway giving access to the little court between the old chapel and the common-room block from the lane which flanked the college on the north. No trace of a corresponding doorway in the north wall survives. Over the doorway a medieval window remains, the sole survivor of the eleven shown in Loggan. The northern section comprises the wine-cellar below and guest-room above. In the south wall, which was a party wall with Worcester chamber, there are no ancient windows save a tiny light squeezed in beside the doorway mentioned above. In the north wall are one old window above and two blocked lights below. The whole block had already by Loggan's day acquired an attic floor; the present dormers were remodelled in the 1820's in the prevailing Gothic taste. Adjoining the common room to the north on the street front stands a four-centred arch adorned with three shields; the coats are Ramsey (south), St. Albans (centre), and Winchcombe (north). (fn. 78) The arch has since Loggan's day been filled with a wall pierced by a door. It opened on to the lane which skirted the north front of the college and led to a meadow called Longsport. (fn. 79)

The north-west range of chambers seems to be alluded to in the valuation of 1560 as 'all that our site and our piece of land', 80 by 40 ft., 'whereon diverse other structures (sive le lodgings) were once built and erected, lately cast down and devastated by John Williams knight, lately Lord Williams of Thame'. No doubt the walls remained standing, but it must be borne in mind that the chambers may not have been rebuilt exactly as they formerly were: in particular the gap in the range shown by Loggan does not seem to correspond to the medieval entry, which was doubtless a passage like that in Pump Quad. It is possible also that the shields recorded by Wood (fn. 80) had been displaced in the course of dismantling and restoring the chambers; their position as given by Wood does not tally with the medieval documents.

A deed of 1472 (fn. 81) confirms to Norwich (which had held the site for at least seventy years) (fn. 82) an upper and lower chamber with two studies annexed, already built by that house; this chamber is stated to have been bounded on the east by the Gloucester chamber, on the west by the north end of the St. Albans chamber, on the south by the quadrangle. The deed furthermore grants to Norwich the land between the St. Albans, Norwich, and Gloucester chambers on the south and a ditch to the north, reserving a right of way to Longsport; this strip of land is stated to have been 66 ft. long from east to west. From this it appears that the St. Albans chamber must be the building set transversely (north and south) in Loggan. In another deed, dated 1371 and confirmed in 1392, (fn. 83) Christchurch, Canterbury, cedes to Westminster its chamber, which is stated to lie 'juxta portam inferiorem' between Abingdon on the east and Gloucester on the west, the quadrangle on the south and the lane on the north. The range Norwich, Gloucester, Westminster, Abingdon, probably completely filled the space between St. Albans and Tewkesbury. If so, half of Abingdon, abutting the common-room block, has survived. It now has no ancient features, having been ruthlessly Gothicized in 1822 when an attic story was added. (fn. 84) The remainder of this range was demolished in 1753, (fn. 85) and nothing is known of it save what can be seen in Loggan.

The St. Albans chamber and that beyond it formed from 1560 the principal's (later the provost's) lodging. (fn. 86) They were demolished in 1773, but in addition to Loggan there are views of the south front in Williams and in Skelton, and in the Worcester muniments a plan survives dated 8 Feb. 1716 (1717). (fn. 87) St. Albans acquired this site next to Norwich under Abbot John de la Moote (1396–1401), having previously occupied a wooden building near the kitchen. The chamber was begun at once and was completed by Abbot William Heyworth (1401–21); an oratory (capellula) was added by John Whethamstede (1421–40). (fn. 88) The building was 50 by 20 ft. externally. The door was in the middle of the east wall; there was a two-light window at either end, and smaller windows east and west of the south end. The north wall was in 1717 pierced by a door, flanked by two fire-places, but the door at any rate cannot have been medieval. In the upper floor we know only of two windows, both of two lights, one at the south end, the other in the east wall.

The last chamber was even larger, measuring 55 by 22 ft. externally, and highly ornate: to judge by its style it dated from the early 16th century. On the south front the door stood in a little porch which was carried up to form an oriel window above. On either floor there were to the west of this projection a two-light window and a single light, to the east three windows of two lights and a single light, differently disposed on the two floors. In the north wall one similar window survived on the ground floor in 1717, but the easternmost third of this wall was by then masked by a 'vaulte', and the westernmost third had been cut away when the kitchen and a room over were built. This projecting wing had already been added in Loggan's day; the kitchen had two windows of two lights, one to the north and one to the west. There were already in Loggan's day attics over the whole building. The half-timbered building to the north of this chamber was the stable.

The new buildings of Worcester College were begun in 1720 from the proceeds of the Alcorne bequest (£798 0s. 3d.). (fn. 89) From sketches and notes now in the library (fn. 90) it would appear that the central block comprising the library, chapel, and hall was designed by Hawksmoor, and that the west front of the library was modelled on a building at Saintes. There is a sketch of a building like this front but more ornate labelled in Hawksmoor's hand 'Le Pont de Xaintes', and another design has the note 'Another way not so good as ye Arc de Xaintes' in the same hand. The final designs of the whole block have notes again in Hawksmoor's hand: 'Vide the antiquity at Bordeaux.' (fn. 91) These designs closely resemble those in Williams, but the spiral stair is crowned with a 'Bell Tower' ('vide the Tower of Andromachus at Athens'). Many of the drawings are addressed to Dr. George Clarke, who took a keen interest in the new buildings. The work proceeded slowly and seems to have stopped before 1728, when William Townesend, the builder employed, sent in a bill for £545 1s. 9d. (he had already been paid £132 in 1722); (fn. 92) the main fabric of the cloister and library was apparently by now almost complete. In 1733 Clarke came to the rescue, covenanting to leave £1,000 to the college in his will, and on the strength of his bond Dr. Bourchier lent this sum at once. (fn. 93) Work was not, however, resumed till 1735, when Townesend's estimate for completing the hall, chapel, and library for £2,200 was approved by Hawksmoor. (fn. 94) Even after this the work was long protracted, the first payment for the library being made in 1746. (fn. 95) The hall and chapel had to wait a generation longer.

The library is a long narrow room and rests on a vaulted arcade of nine bays, open to the north, west, and south; the east wall is pierced by three doors leading into the hall (north), the chapel (south), and the main entry (centre). The library itself has nine west windows, corresponding with the arches below; those in the central section, which projects slightly and is crowned with a pediment, are round-headed and more ornate than the other six, which are square-headed. Internally the north, east, and south walls are lined with shelving in two stories with a gallery. The entry, which is vaulted, is flanked on the north by the porter's lodge, also vaulted, and on the south by a fine spiral stone stair in a circular well crowned by a dome. This stair gives access to the lobby of the library (over the entry) and to two rooms over the lodge. The street front of this block shows a round-headed door flanked by two similar windows on the ground floor, with two ranges of square-headed windows above. It is crowned by a pedimented gable now containing the clock.

The hall was at length completed in 1784 and the chapel some years later. (fn. 96) The original design for these buildings, whereby either was to have a Palladian window in each of its three sides, was not adhered to. Either has a Palladian window, enriched with a festoon, in its east wall, but on the walls facing the entry three plain windows: the outer walls were left blank. Attics were also introduced, lit by seven small windows, one in the east end and three a side; the hall has a vaulted cellar, which is part of the original design. Furthermore both buildings were made wider than originally planned on their outer sides; their west doors are thus not now centrally placed. The architect responsible for these changes was probably Henry Keene, who was in charge here for some years before his death in 1776. (fn. 97) His place was taken by James Wyatt, who designed the plaster decoration of the interiors. (fn. 98) The hall has an enriched carved ceiling and a Corinthian colonnade across its west end. The chapel ceiling is further enlivened by a central saucer dome, and the walls are adorned with Ionic pilasters and columns. In 1837 the college thought of making its Beaumont Street front more interesting; two sets of designs, by Charles Barry and Edward Blore, are extant. (fn. 99) The chapel was redecorated in 1863–4 and the hall in 1877, both by William Burges. (fn. 100) The iron railings (now removed) across the front were presented by Provost Cotton in 1870. (fn. 101)

Plan For Rebuilding Showing Dr. Clarke's Block Hatched, As Actually Built. (Clarke Papers, no. 20.)

In the original design of the college as depicted in Williams the central block was to be flanked by two long detached ranges of rooms stretching from the street back to two square blocks, one of which, the north-west, was to be the provost's lodging. On the south side this design has never been completed nor has the part of the north range immediately north of the central block ever been built. The remainder of the north range has been built, though not in accordance with the original design. A beginning was made in 1753 when money left by Dr. George Clarke, who died in 1736, at last after interminable legal difficulties became available. Clarke had left £3,000 'for building 9 chambers be tweene the library and (the old) Provost's lodgings at Worcester College and with what remains of that summe for finishing the Chappell and Hall'. He originally directed that these chambers should be built 'according to the plan and elevation in the aforesaid book of Oxonia Depicta', but later, finding that the frontage was inadequate, himself drew a new design. (fn. 102) The south front is on the same lines in both designs, but in the later the windows are closer together; in plan the two small rooms attached to each set are in the later design placed at the back instead of at the side of the principal rooms, and the block is therefore appreciably thicker. Articles were signed on 7 June 1753 with John Townsend, mason (£1,000), and William Blattsoe, carpenter (£608 13s.), (fn. 103) and the building, the easternmost staircase and a half of the north range, was completed a few years later. Clarke, it may be noted, left no design for the north front, and Townsend seems to have supplied one himself with the approval of the trustees. These chambers were occupied by the six Clarke fellows and three Clarke scholars.

The other two staircases were built in 1773–6 from moneys accruing from the Sarah Eaton bequest; (fn. 104) the twelve chambers accommodated the seven Eaton fellows and the five Eaton scholars. The westernmost staircase and a half correspond in plan and elevation to the Clarke building. The easternmost half stair is three instead of two windows wide, and externally forms a projecting bay on the south crowned with a pediment. An attic floor was added to the whole range in 1926. The present provost's lodging was also built from the Eaton bequest at about the same period as the adjacent staircases; the trustees were empowered to spend up to £8,600 on both buildings. (fn. 105) The architect employed was Henry Keene, whose designs are preserved in the library. (fn. 106) The lodging is a square block, four stories high, the ground floor being on a level with the cellars of the adjacent staircase, which are built on an artificial terrace. There are three windows to each floor on the north and south. The principal front is to the west, where an elegant double stair from the first floor to the garden forms part of a central architectural feature crowned by a pediment. The three upper floors are uniformly planned around a central stairwell; the top floor is not, however, approached by the main stair but by backstairs in the north-east corner of the building; it was perhaps designed for nurseries and servants' accommodation. The principal rooms have dadoes and mantelpieces of original date; a few of the grates are also ancient. The ground floor comprises a central vaulted cellar surrounded by offices. The Memorial Hall (originally the kitchen) forms a wing projecting from the north-east corner of the lodging, and the stables form a parallel wing farther east.

The college early began to acquire the land surrounding its site. In 1741 it purchased from Mr. Thomas Wrench for £850 'the whole garden on the south side of the college', (fn. 107) and in 1744–5 it acquired from St. John's the 'gardens and meadows situate to the north and west of Worcester College'. (fn. 108) In 1813 it was decided 'that the Garden on the south side of the college, late in the occupation of Mr. Tagg, Gardiner, be kept in the hands of the College, for the use of the Fellows'. (fn. 109) Four years later 'the college having suffered great inconvenience from the near approach of floods frequently leaving behind them an offensive and unhealthy effluvium at the same time a plan having been suggested for the remedy of these inconveniences', the said plan was adopted. (fn. 110) What it was is not stated, but it may be suspected that the lake was now dug. The garden was laid out in the year following 1817, as sundry note-books and bills testify. (fn. 111) 'The two small meadows on the west front of the Provost's lodging' were allocated to the Provost in 1813, (fn. 112) and in 1858 'the walks and lands parallel with the Terrace' were added to his grounds. (fn. 113) The present cricket-ground was drained and levelled in 1897. (fn. 114)

In 1939, as a result of a benefaction from Lord Nuffield, a new building was erected at the east end of the garden at a cost of £18,500: the architect was W. G. Newton.

The interior of the 18th-century building recently used as the kitchen and scullery of the Provost's Lodgings was completely remodelled in 1949 to make a Memorial Hall, with three sets of undergraduates' rooms over it.

In 1951 wrought-iron gates and railings were erected at the entrance of the college to replace the 1870 set removed in 1937. The new gates and railings were designed by Mr. R. Fielding Dodd on the basis of a drawing in the College Library, marked 'Gough, London', which dates from the first half of the 18th century. It would seem that gates and railings of this type were envisaged as part of the original plan for the remodelled front of the college.

Footnotes