An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Cambridge. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1959.
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'Peterhouse', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Cambridge( London, 1959), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/cambs/pp156-167 [accessed 3 September 2024].
'Peterhouse', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Cambridge( London, 1959), British History Online, accessed September 3, 2024, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/cambs/pp156-167.
"Peterhouse". An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Cambridge. (London, 1959), , British History Online. Web. 3 September 2024. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/cambs/pp156-167.
Peterhouse
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Peterhouse Arms
(34) Peterhouse stands on the W. side of Trumpington Street. It was founded in 1280 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely, in the dwelling-place of the secular brethren of the Hospital of St. John. The College was moved to the present site, S. of the church of St. Peter (now St. Mary the Less), in 1284. When Hugh died in 1286 he bequeathed money for the purchase of land S. of the church and on this was built the existing Hall; the chambers were provided at first by two earlier hostels on the site and these it seems fronted on the street.
The North Range of Old Court, containing chambers, was being built in 1424–5. The West Range contained on the first floor the old Library that was contracted for in February 1430–1 by John Wassyngle of Hinton; the Kitchen at the S.W. angle of the Court was built in 1450. Little St. Mary's, being used by the College as the Chapel, was linked to the N. range by the existing Gallery about the middle of the 15th century, though the lower part of the Gallery has been assigned to c. 1350. The building E. of the Hall, including the Parlour, now extended to form the Combination Room, and Master's Lodge above, was built or rebuilt between 1460–64; the turret staircase, which gave access from the Master's Lodge to the Hall, is probably an addition made in the 16th century. The new Library further E., with the Master's Gallery over, was built in 1590–94 in accordance with the wishes of Dr. Andrew Perne, Master 1554–89; the extension of it eastward was begun in 1633.
Under Dr. Matthew Wren, Master 1625–35, much building was undertaken. The site adjoining Trumpington Street was cleared and the Chapel built on the E. to W. axis of Old Court with arcaded walks with galleries above to N. and S. The Chapel was begun in 1628 and consecrated though not completed in 1632; Dr. John Cosin, Master 1635–44 and 1660, faced the walls in stone and in 1665 gave £60 for so facing the E. end. Some damage was done to the fittings and carvings by William Dowsing in 1643. The arcaded walks and galleries were rebuilt in 1709, 'according to a paper delivered by Mr. Grumbold', and 1711.
The range N. of the Chapel built by bequest of Dr. John Richardson in 1632 was pulled down in 1738 and a new range, Burrough's Building, erected further to the N. from the design of James Burrough, being finished in 1742. The walling and gates towards the street were added in 1751, and in 1755 the W. porch of the Chapel was removed. The extensive refacing of the ranges of Old Court, on the courtyard side, was carried out in 1754–55 from the designs of James Burrough.
The rooms under the Perne Library were converted into a Porter's Lodge, Lecture Room, etc. in 1821. In 1825–26 the two ranges of Gisborne Court, W. of Old Court, were built to the designs of W. McI. Brooks by T. Tomson, and the W. side of the old W. range altered to accord with them; this was done from funds supplied by the Rev. Francis Gisborne. In 1870 the oriel and buttresses were added to the Hall together with the screen, panelling and a new roof from the designs of Gilbert Scott; the decorations and windows of the Hall are by William Morris, Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown and Philip Webb. Fen Court W. of Gisborne Court was erected in 1939.
The house now the Master's Lodge on the E. side of Trumpington Street, opposite the College, was built in 1702 by Dr. Charles Beaumont, Fellow, who, dying in 1726–7, left it for this purpose to the College.
The Hall and Buttery of Peterhouse retain remains of the original building of c. 1290 and are structurally the oldest college buildings in Cambridge. The Chapel, built during the ascendancy of Archbishop Laud, is of considerable architectural interest. The Perne Library contains bookcases by William Ashley that are the prototype of others in the University; among the other fittings, the panelling and the staircase to the Library are noteworthy. The interior of the Hall is a remarkable example of the Gothic Revivalism of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood.
The early 18th-century Master's Lodge is a largely unaltered example of the best builders' domestic architecture of the period.
Architectural Description—The College buildings are grouped round three courts, First Court to the E., Old Court in the middle and Gisborne Court to the W. The First Court (80 ft. average by 95 ft.) has, towards the street, two stone gateways of 1751 (Plate 218) with round-headed archways, flanking Tuscan pilasters and pedimented entablatures; the gates are of wrought-iron with plain vertical bars and scroll-work and with grilles of fan-pattern in the arch. The former wall between the gateways was removed in 1848 and replaced by railings with plain uprights and spiked cresting similar to those then existing between the N. gateway and Burrough's Building.
The Chapel (63¼ by 26 ft. including the Ante-chapel) stands in First Court projecting centrally and axially from the E. side of Old Court (Plate 216). It was built in 1628–32 and George Thompson was the freemason employed; the name of the designer is not known. It was originally of clunch faced with brick and was subsequently faced with ashlar, the E. end being finished soon after 1665; only in the N.W. bay, in the N. arcaded walk, is the original brickwork exposed. The E. wall (Plate 218) has octagonal turrets at the angles finished with embattled parapets and ogee cappings with carved finials; the gable has a shaped raking parapet of Flemish character and a panelled centrepiece with a pediment and a carved gable-cross; below the centrepiece is a carved cartouche with a mitre and the arms of the See of Durham impaling John Cosin. The E. window is of five trefoiled lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head with a moulded label; flanking it are niches with enriched cartouches below the bases and rounded heads with scrolls and ogee crocketed finials; higher up, over the haunches of the window, are two small cartouches with the arms of the See of Ely and the College. The N. and S. walls, which were probably also refaced in ashlar after the Restoration, are divided into four bays by semi-octagonal buttresses similar to, but smaller than, the turrets at the E. end; the walls are finished with a moulded cornice and a plain parapet with moulded capping. Each bay has a window of similar detail to the E. window but of three lights with a four-centred head.
The W. front (Plate 217) has an arcaded lower part, rusticated in the side bays, and an upper part wholly of rusticated masonry. The arcading was presumably partly recased and altered either when the adjoining arcaded walks were rebuilt in 1709–11 or, more probably, when the porch was removed in 1755; it has three four-centred wall-arches with moulded archivolts and enriched keystones springing from attached Roman Doric columns, single at the ends and coupled between the bays. The columns stand on pedestals and the mouldings and decoration of the latter are continued across the side bays as a dado. The soffit of the middle arch has strapwork enrichment of Jacobean character and the doorway below has Gothic moulded jambs (p. 393) and a four-centred arch in a square head with plain shields in the spandrels. Above the arcade is an 18th-century entablature with bracketed projections. The upper part of the front has fluted Corinthian pilasters at either end on enriched pedestals and finished with entablature-blocks and ball-finials. The involved shaped gable has scrolled enrichments and a square-headed centrepiece with scrolled cresting, flanking ball-finials and a cherub's head at the apex surmounted by a wrought-iron weather-vane. The W. window is of three trefoiled lights with vertical tracery in a four-centred head with a label; flanking it are niches with rounded shell-heads, carved brackets, pinnacles, and ogee crocketed finials; above the window is a clock-face with semicircular cornice on brackets, perhaps of the 18th century, and replacing an earlier niche.
Inside the Chapel (Plate 208), the single-storey Ante-chapel is divided from the body of the building by a screen returned to enclose two staircases to the organ-gallery above. The main roof is continuous from end to end and in four and a half bays divided by braced collar-beam trusses. It is wainscoted under the rafters and level with the collars, thus presenting a ceiling of three-sided form. The curved braces to the principals form four-centred arches with ornamental bosses and billets, carved pendants in the centres of the free trusses and moulded pendants to the wall-trusses; the wainscot in each bay comprises twelve bolection-moulded panels each enclosing a rayed oval design (Plate 25). The roof has a deep entablature against the side walls that is returned under the trusses, where it is supported on large carved consoles on wall-posts standing on moulded stone brackets, and under the intermediate ribs, where the consoles are small and plain. In 1735 the roof was examined with a view to removal or repair; it was evidently retained and repaired. The interior of the Chapel was restored in 1821–2; although the woodwork exhibits a use of both Classical and Gothic features likely during the period c. 1630, the extent to which it was reconstructed in the 19th century is now difficult to determine.
Fittings.—Bell: one, said to be inscribed 'Cum moveo Admonio 1622'. Benefactors' Table: Previously in Ante-chapel, now preserved in Burrough's Building—enriched and eared oak frame with cornice, broken pediment and enriched pediment in middle, with faded list of benefactors on paper, probably 18th-century. Communion Rails: forming three sides of rectangular enclosure, of oak, with turned balusters, moulded rails and panelled standards, probably 1731–2. Doors: in W. doorway—of oak, in two leaves, in upper panels a carved achievement-of-arms of Wiseman with a wyvern crest and motto 'Sapit qui Deum Sapit', and a cartouche with grapes and fruit and the inscription 'Anno D[omi]ni 1632', the lower part of the door with Gothic panelling with dentilcornice, parts are old, including the cartouche with the date, but much is modern; in doorway in S. corridor—panelled and with cock's head hinge, 17th-century. Gallery: see Screen. Glass: In E. window—large Crucifixion scene (Plate 215) including the two thieves and with the Virgin, Mary Magdalene, soldiers and crowd below, deep blue sky setting; in tracery, small figures of Apostles and two other saints, presumably St. Paul and St. Matthias; most probably by Bernard Van Linge, the main scene after Rubens' 'Coup de Lance'; the glass was hidden during the Commonwealth. The side windows by Professor Ainmüller of Munich were inserted 1855–8.
Monuments and Floor-slabs. Monuments: In Ante-chapel—on N. wall, (1) of Joseph Beaumont, S.T.P., 1699, Master, marbled and gilded oak wall-tablet with inscription-panel flanked by enriched Tuscan pilasters with scrolled strapwork wing-pieces and an entablature with curved broken pediment framing a pedestal supporting a later cartouche, apron carved with garlands of flowers; inscription perhaps added to earlier feature (see Monument (2)). On S. wall, (2) of Samuel Horn, M.A., 1634–5, Fellow, similar to (1). Floor-slabs: In Ante-chapel —(1) of Joseph Beaumont, S.T.P., 1699, Master, Prebendary of Ely, with defaced achievement-of-arms; (2) of Charles Beaumont, S.T.P. 1726–7, youngest son of preceding, Fellow, vicar of Stapleford, with achievement-of-arms of Beaumont; (3) of Bernard Hale, S.T.P., 1663, Master of the College, Archdeacon and Prebendary of Ely; (4) of Thomas Richardson, S.T.P., 1733, Master; (5) of John Whalley, S.T.P., 1748, Master, provided by Edmund (Keene), Bishop of Chester, in 1770; (6) of Francis Barnes, S.T.P., 1838. Organ: On gallery at W. end—case, of oak, with panelled lower part and sides, front with tall central and shorter flanking towers of pipes, all on foliated corbels and with carved and pierced pelmets below deep crowning entablatures, the two intermediate panels in two heights, the lower height with pierced carving, the upper with a scrolled cornice linking the towers, on lower part of front the inscription 'Dono dedit Hor. Mann, A.M. Soc. Com. 1765', the organ built by Schnetzler and enlarged in 1871. Panelling: Flanking reredos and returning along N. and S. walls as far as the stalls, bolection-moulded panelling with dado, dado-rail and entablature, early 18th-century. See also Screen and Stalls. Paving: of black and white marble squares set diagonally, early 18th century. Reredos: of oak, of three bays, the middle bay projecting and with fluted Corinthian columns and pilasters on pedestals supporting an enriched pedimented entablature with scrolled cartouche in the tympanum, entablature continued over the side bays, the latter with fluted Corinthian pilasters at the outer angles and containing enriched eared panels with scrolled tops, probably erected 1731–2, with a modern tabernacle-frame in the middle bay containing a late 15th-century French wood Pietà, with St. Mary Magdalene and St. John, given as a memorial to Eileen (Power) Postan.
Screen and Gallery. Screen: at W. end—consisting of double partitions with central archways with moulded heads and ornamental key-blocks opening into a small vestibule; the semi-circular E. arch with moulded imposts and Gothic traceried spandrels with carved cusp-points on the E. face and traceried spandrels with blank shields on the W. face; the elliptical W. arch with similar spandrels with shields on both faces but with thin boards, presumably modern, bearing the arms of the College and of Wren added on the W.; the cove of the stallcanopies is continued across the screen over the E. arch and has carved pendants; in the same archway are gates with cinque-foiled Gothic panelling below and balusters above, seemingly largely modern. The vestibule has a panelled soffit with a carved central pendant. The W. partition returns to enclose N. and S. staircases to the Gallery; the W. face and the rest of the Ante-chapel are lined with Gothic panelling with cinque-foiled heads and carved cusp-points and spandrels; some of the cusped heads of the panels are original, of c. 1632. The woodwork described above contains much 19th-century work, particularly on the W. face of the screen. Gallery: The soffit, forming the ceiling of the Ante-chapel, has bolection-moulded panelling with a rose in the middle of the side bays and two more ornate panels before the opening in the Screen; the beams are supported by two oak columns with original caps and modern bases; the middle part of the soffit where presumably was a well or a ceiling at a higher level is modern. The N. Gallery-staircase has, at the top, turned balusters and newels with turned knobs incorporating a small bench with turned front legs; the S. staircase has a 19th-century enclosure at the top. The Gallery-front is formed of close panels below a moulded rail and Gothic open panels above, the latter with framing similar to that of the panels in the Ante-chapel and almost certainly of the 19th century. See also Stalls. Staircases: see Screen. Stalls: of oak, twelve on each side and three on each W. return, with shaped divisions with scrolled elbow-rests and moulded tops supporting turned and banded shafts on which rests the fascia of the ribbed and coved canopy, the fascia being in the form of an entablature with dentil-cornice and with blocks with blank shields over the shafts. The 17th-century Gothic panelling at the back, similar to that in the Gallery, is badly fitted to the stalls and may be an insertion. The desks have freestanding turned and banded shafts at the ends of the book-boards, and fronts with balusters above close panels, and fixed benches. The two stalls for the Master and the ViceMaster flanking the entrance are more elaborate than the remainder, with shaped projecting canopies and added 18th-century panelled enclosures; they have carved misericordes, on the N. a lion's head, two birds and flowers, on the S. a cherub-head, two female half-figures and flowers; the panelling behind the Master's stall has carved cherub-heads in the spandrels. The lower benches have long desks with balusters and panelling to the fronts and posts with turned knobs at each end; further W. and returned are similar benches and desks, and the latter also with original fixed benches with shaped elbow-rests. The date of the woodwork is presumably c. 1632 but much seems to have been repaired, reworked or renewed. Stalls and enclosures to match the foregoing have been added subsequently in front of the long desks, but before 1835 (see Cantabrigia Illustrata); those to the E. are modern. Miscellanea: On Gallery-front, gilded carved wood figure of St. Peter, late 17th-century, possibly S. German. Attached to the desks, brass candlesticks with turned stems, one and two branches, and grease-pans, early and late 18th century.
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Peterhouse
Flanking the Chapel are arcaded walks with galleries above; that on the N. was rebuilt in 1709 and that on the S. in 1711. The arcades are symmetrical towards the W. but the N. walk extends one bay further than that on the S. The ground storey has a round-headed arch in each bay with a keystone, moulded imposts and, between the arches, an attached Roman Doric column on a panelled pedestal and supporting a continuous entablature. The upper storey is ashlar-faced and finished with a small cornice and, on the W., an embattled parapet; each bay contains a square-headed two-light window with moulded architrave.
The erection of Burrough's Building, on the N. side of the First Court, was decided upon in 1733 and a design prepared by James Burrough, but the range was not built until 1738–42. It is of three storeys with cellars; the walls are of brick with Ketton stone facing on the S. side and the E. end and with a moulded plinth, heavy cornice and balustraded parapet; the roof is tiled. All the windows contain double-hung sashes. The S. side is symmetrically designed, with a rusticated ground storey, ashlar-faced upper storeys and a moulded plat-band at the first-floor level. The central entrance-doorway has a round head, plain keystone and moulded imposts continued across the wall-face; it is fitted with a six-panel door. The six windows have heads and imposts similar to those of the doorway. On the first floor are seven windows with eared architraves, bracketed sills and pediments, these last alternately curved and straight. On the top floor are seven square-headed windows with eared architraves and bracketed sills.
The E. end has a wall-treatment similar to that of the S. side but is finished with a pediment, which breaks through the plain parapet-wall and contains a cartouche flanked by palms in the tympanum. On the ground-floor is a round-headed niche and on the top floor a single window, both treated similarly to the window at the same level on the S. front; on the first floor is a Palladian window with Ionic pilasters and entablatures to the side-lights. The N. front is of brick in Flemish and English bond with a chamfered plinth and a platband, cornice and parapet, and ranges of five windows on each floor; the windows have moulded and eared architraves, except those on the ground floor, which have semicircular heads and large plain keystones. The easternmost window on the top floor has an iron fixture said to have been for a ropeladder and set up for the poet Gray. Two of the ground-floor windows are sham.
The Interior of the building retains many of the original fittings; the following, unless otherwise described, are of the date of the building. The staircase is lined with moulded panelling with a panelled dado and soffits to the stairs and landings; the stairs have turned balusters, two to a step, scrolled brackets, a moulded and ramped handrail and square panelled newels. A carved cartouche painted with the College arms and surmounted by carved cross-keys, previously on the N. wall of the first landing, has recently been removed. The doorways of the staircase have eared architraves, pulvinated friezes and cornices. The rooms on the ground floor have moulded panelling and cornices; in the two main rooms the cornices are dentilled and the fireplaces each have an eared architrave, pulvinated frieze carved with bay-leaves and cornice enriched with acanthus-ornament, with an eared and enriched panel in the overmantel.
The Ward Library (fn. 1) consists of three rooms on the first floor; the rooms E. and W. of the staircase have moulded panelling and fireplaces; the fireplace in the E. room has a marble surround; the overmantels have each an enriched eared panel. The room at the E. end (Plate 49) contains two panelled partitions to form a central apartment with arches opening into closets to N. and S. The panelled walls of the apartment are divided into bays by fluted Ionic pilasters on pedestals with the cappingmouldings continued round the room; the pilasters support an entablature above which is a panelled upper frieze with scrolls over the pilasters and an enriched crowning cornice; the restored plaster ceiling is divided into panels by broad bands of guilloche-ornament and has cartouches above the Palladian window in the E. wall and the fireplace in the W. wall. The fireplace has a moulded and enriched round-headed surround and a shelf on console brackets with foliage garlands and a scallop-shell; above is an enriched panel with a shaped head breaking through the Ionic entablature, which last provides the springing for a semicircular arch-moulding over the panel. The arches in the N. and S. walls are round-headed, with panelled responds, moulded imposts and archivolts and scrolled key-blocks. The closets are panelled similarly to the main rooms of the Library. The two rooms at the W. end of the building have moulded panelling and plain cornices.
Stored in the cellars is a large panel (about 5½ ft. by 2 ft.) of early 17th-century glass, perhaps by Bernard van Linge, and possibly representing part of the subject of Christ washing the Disciples' feet. In different rooms are more of the panel-portraits described below with the Hall, including John Warkeworth, 1498, Thomas Denman, 1500, Robert Smith, 1565, Henry Wilshaw, 1578, and Edward, Lord North, 1564.
The South Range, containing the Perne Library, is in continuation of the S. range of Old Court and is described with it.
Old Court (151 ft. by 86 ft.) is totally enclosed (Plate 216). The main South Range includes the Hall and Butteries on the S. of Old Court with the Kitchen on the W. and the Perne Library block beyond on the E. The Hall (55¾ ft. by 25¼ ft.) was built c. 1290 and appears to have been originally a rubble building of five bays, including the Buttery, with freestone dressings. About the middle of the 15th century the windows, at least on the S. side, were replaced by taller ones and the Hall appears to have been considerably heightened, the heightening being faced with clunch ashlar. The N. wall was refaced in 1755 and in 1870 the whole building was restored by Gilbert Scott; to this second date belong the present facing, oriel and buttresses on the N. side, the buttresses, except the westernmost, and the small rebuilt annexe on the S. side, and the parapet and tiled roof.
The only ancient feature on the N. side is part of the jambs of the original N. doorway to the screens; the jambs are moulded and the doorway has a renewed two-centred arch with a label (p. 393). When the new windows were inserted in the N. wall in 1870 traces are said to have been found of the old windows. The lower part of the S. wall retains the original coursed rubble up to the level of the sills of the windows, with an ashlar base-course that may be seen above the ground in the first and third bays from the E. The original rubble of the first bay shows no break; the second bay shows a large modern patch; in the third bay the rubble shows no break in the lower 4 ft. but has a filling in the middle above of similar rubble. The fourth bay has original rubble flanking the doorway; in the fifth bay the rubble has been much patched and altered but on the W. is an original two-stage buttress with Barnack stone dressings and with Barnack stone quoins to the angle of the wall above. The patch below the window in the third bay is reputed to represent the blocking of an original window, but there is now no further evidence of this. On the W. side of the second buttress and on both sides of the third buttress are vertical lines of decayed ashlar which may represent the junctions of the original buttresses. The upper part of the wall is faced with decayed clunch-ashlar probably of the 15th century up to the modern parapet. The doorway at the S. end of the screens is partly original and has jambs and two-centred arch of two chamfered orders and a label similar to that of the N. doorway and partly old. The three Hall windows E. of the S. doorway are of the late 19th century.
In the Interior of the Hall is a S.E. doorway probably of the late 14th century with moulded jambs and two-centred arch in a square head with a label and cusped spandrels, the E. spandrel containing a blank shield; the label-stops are carved with a hart gorged with a crown couched and lodged within a paling, and a lion passant, the latter of doubtful antiquity. The fireplace is an early 16th-century insertion and has stop-moulded jambs and four-centred arch in a square head with foliated spandrels, one with a monster's head, the other with an Italianate shield; flanking it are simple upright panels and above it is a frieze of quatre-foiled and sub-cusped panels enclosing two Tudor and two rayed roses and a rayed fleur-delis; the cast-iron fire-back bears the arms of James I and the date 1618. In the W. wall of the Hall are two doorways, both perhaps original but much restored; they have moulded jambs and segmental-pointed heads, the northern head being largely original, and renewed labels. In the same wall, further S. is a blocked serving-hatch with moulded jambs and four-centred head perhaps of the late 14th century. Below the Hall is a modern cellar.
A series of 16th-century and later panel-portraits with the names and dates of those portrayed painted on them was until between 1752 and 1756 incorporated in the panelling in the Combination Room; they are now distributed about the College and eighteen are in the Hall. Those fixed on the daispanelling are as follows, on the N., from the top, (a) Hugh de Balsham, 1284, (b) John Whitgift, 1560, (c) John Cosin, 1634, inscription added since c. 1745, (d) Joseph Beaumont, 1665; on the S., (e) Edward I., 1283, (f) Andrew Perne, 1589, (g) Bernard Hale, 1660, (h) Charles Beaumont, 1726. Those fixed on the late 19th-century screen are, from the N., (a) John Holbroke, 1430, (b) Henry Hornebie, 1516, (c) Thomas Burgen, 1520, (d) Simon Montacute, 1344, (e) Robert Slade, 1616, (f) John Blithe, 1617, (g) Simon Langam, 1396, (h) John Edmondes, 1527, (i) Edward, Lord North, 1564, (j) [John] Lownde, 1519. They are more fully described in Willis and Clarke, I, 64–8. (See also Burrough's Building and Perne Library.)
The Buttery (13¾ ft. by 25 ft.) is included in the same building as the Hall and occupies the W. bay. The walling and buttresses are described with the Hall. The N. window is of the date of the Hall windows further E. Just E. of the S.W. buttress are straight joints in the rubble indicating blocked openings; further E. is a 15th-century window with casement-moulded jambs and four-centred head but now without division; close W. of and partly destroyed by this window is the W. jamb of an earlier, perhaps late 13th-century, opening. Below the 15th-century window is a two-light square-headed window perhaps of the 17th century and above is a three-light square-headed window with a brick relieving-arch presumably of the 15th century, but it has been altered and, further, entirely restored. Below the building is a cellar approached through a modern doorway in the S. wall by a short stair outside. In the W. wall of the Buttery is a doorway with chamfered jambs and four-centred head, probably of the 15th century, and a modern arch opening into the kitchen-block.
A Buttery-annexe between the Buttery and Kitchen so far as it retains ancient features is of the 15th century, but earlier than the Kitchen. Traces of the former S.W. quoins remain in the S. wall and a former plinth stopped at this point. The N. wall to the Court was largely or completely rebuilt in the 18th century; it has Ketton stone ashlar facing, with a dentilled cornice and a parapet. The windows, one below and two above, have moulded architraves and sash frames with thin glazing bars; the two attic windows are of timber with hipped roofs. The N. doorway to the 15th-century spiral staircase is of that date and has hollow-chamfered jambs and four-centred head. At the W. end is an 18th-century sham doorway with eared architrave. The S. wall is of rough rubble incorporating some brick. On the ground floor is a much altered 15th-century window, now cut down to form a doorway, originally of two lights with casement-moulded jambs and three-centred head subsequently renewed in brick; the upper floor retains a window of the same date and originally of the same form but with the stone head removed and the opening carried up to the brick relieving-arch. The wall is finished with an early 19th-century brick cornice and the dormer-window is of the same period; the roof is tile-covered.
Inside the building, an opening providing access to the 15th-century staircase has been blocked and is now represented by a recess in the dividing wall; in the S.W. canted side of the same wall is a low opening, now blocked, with a four-centred head presumably to a cupboard below the stair. The staircase has an old grip-handrail to the lower part. In the W. wall of the annexe and revealed during recent alterations is a tall blocked archway with a four-centred head. On the first-floor the stone wall E. of the staircase, being the end wall of the Hall-block, has a 15th-century doorway with moulded jambs and two-centred head partly cut away. The room to the E. has 18th-century fielded panelling with a dentil-cornice, and the rooms to the W. retain two old doors.
The Kitchen-block in the angle between the S. and W. ranges of Old Court was built in 1450 and the S.W. corner retains the original quoins. On the S., the walling, brick cornice, windows and dormers are similar to those immediately to the E. in the Buttery-annexe but the two original windows on the first floor retain their mullions and pointed heads to the two lights. The Kitchen (formerly 22¼ ft. by 25 ft.) has recently been extensively remodelled and the whole of the S. wall, including a 15th-century doorway and two windows, removed and the open fireplaces in the E. and W. walls altered or destroyed; the accompanying plan shows the previous arrangement.
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Kitchen before alteration.
Removal of the plaster from the W. wall revealed the N. jamb and springing of a small fireplace adjoining and cut in the dressings of the large fireplace and also two relieving-arches spanning the length of the wall and presumably for two original fireplaces; the two flues survived, the northernmost adapted to serve the later fireplace. In the E. wall, a tiled recess indicated the position of the blocked opening recently uncovered in the Buttery-annexe and described above. The S.E. doorway to the adjoining passage has an old segmental-pointed rear-arch. In the N. wall a doorway, probably of the 15th century, has now been blocked as has the wide opening next to it cut through the wall but perhaps once a third fireplace. In the S.W. angle of the room is a recess of doubtful purpose previously spanned by a half-arch.
The rest of the S. Range, to the E. of the Hall, is of three periods, the westernmost section of 1460, the middle of c. 1590 and the E. extension of 1633, all of two storeys with attics. The oldest section extends to about the middle of the arcaded walk on the N. side and to beyond the two windows E. of the rectangular projection on the S. side. The N. front is faced with ashlar of 1870 with an embattled parapet, windows and doorways of that period, except the part under the arcaded walk which has ashlar facing of 1711 and a 15th-century doorway with moulded four-centred head and chamfered jambs restored in the 18th century. The adjoining doorway (p. 393) is in the part of the building of c. 1590. The attics have timber dormer-windows and the roofs are tiled. The S. front has walls of small orange-coloured rubble with some brick; the copings of the embattled parapet and the dormer-windows are of the late 19th century. Next to the Hall is a small octagonal turret of brick with stone dressings, except the lower 4 ft., which are of rubble with original dressings, the dressings above being 19th-century restorations; it is carried up above the roof and finished with an embattled parapet; the 19th-century top has square openings. The date of the turret is discussed below in relation to features inside. Further E. is a two-storeyed oriel-window, entirely of 1868–70. Further E. again is a chimney-breast with splayed sides; it is original up to the parapet and carried on above the parapet in red brick with crow-stepped capping and a modern shaft. The square projecting bay containing a doorway has some original quoins; on one of them on the S.W. angle is cut a rectangular bracket with the underside splayed back to a point and, next to it, in the re-entrant angle, is a small pointed loop, now blocked. The doorway and all the windows are late 19th-century restorations except the 16th-century window over the doorway, which is of three four-centred lights, partly restored and partly of clunch, and set in a large patch of ashlar perhaps representing an earlier window. The lower window W. of the projection and the two windows E. of it have original brick relieving-arches and the window above the last retains part of the original clunch head. On the roof are four 19th-century dormer-windows.
The middle section of the range has the N. front faced in ashlar with embattled parapets and dormer-windows all of 1870, as are the two more easterly doorways and all the lower windows; the doorway under the arcaded walk is of the late 16th century and has moulded jambs and four-centred arch under a square head with restored labels. The S. front is faced with orange-coloured rubble composed of larger stones than that to the W.; the late 19th-century embattled parapet is of ashlar, the chimney-stacks are of brick and rebuilt and the three dormer-windows in the tiled roof are of the 19th century. The six windows on the ground floor of one, two and three lights have been entirely renewed externally and the doorway at the W. end is modern. On the first floor are four original clunch windows each of three four-centred lights in a square head and all partly restored with freestone.
The easternmost section, of 1633, is of red brick with stone dressings and modern or restored parapets; the roof is tiled. On the N. front the doorways and windows are of 1870 externally. The junction with the older work is immediately W. of the second window from the E. On the S. front is a chimney-stack, old up to the shafts. The ground storey has three two-light and the upper storey two three-light windows, all partly restored but similar to those in the 16th-century block; the junction with this earlier work is between the third and fourth windows. The attics have two dormer-windows similar to those further W. The E. end is set on the skew, following the street-line (Plate 218). It is gabled and has a modern doorway on the ground floor. The upper floors have a two-storeyed oriel-window, three-sided and resting on moulded brick corbelling and finished with a stone cornice; the corbelling has a dentilled top member and the top courses are continued along the wall in a label-like way, with the ends returned; the lower window is of three stone transomed lights on the face and one on each return; the upper is similar but with no transom; between the windows is a panel with the date 1633.
The Interior of the range contains in the block of 1460 the Combination Room (41 ft. by 25 ft.) on the ground floor; it was doubled in size, partly by the addition of the oriel, in 1868–70 in the course of almost complete refitting by the firm of William Morris. In 1946 the room was stripped and the floor above strengthened; the old W. moulded ceiling-beam (p. 396) was then replaced and G. G. Scott's panelling reset. The fire-place is said to have been found behind the 19th-century wainscot during alterations; it has renewed jambs but the head appears to be old though perhaps reset; it is corbelled out at the sides and the joggled lintel is continued with a small curve at the two ends. The doorway to the spiral staircase is concealed on the N. face but retains part of the old arch. It seems probable that the staircase is not part of the original 15th-century work but an early 16th-century addition; this is indicated by the fact that the doorway from the first floor (the former Master's Lodge) is partly covered by the walling of the turret and above the doorway is part of a horizontal weathering that would only relate to a roof prior to the erection of the present turret; it is possible that the doorway was approached by an open external staircase with pent roof. The windows of the staircase are old internally, and at the foot of the stairs is a deep locker with rebated reveals and segmental head. The doorway to the former Lodge has moulded jambs and two-centred head with a label and a defaced stop. The doorway to the attics is of the 16th century and has moulded jambs and lintel and an old plank door in three vertical panels on the outer face. The bell, from Malines, in the top of the turret is inscribed 'Peeter Vanden Ghein heft mi ghegoten MDXLVIII'.
The Little Parlour (18¼ ft. by 19¼ ft.) on the first floor is lined with panelling, mostly modern but incorporating some of the early 17th century. The corridor on this floor has an old exposed ceiling-beam. The room at the E. end of the 15th-century block has a wide recess in the projecting bay with an arched and plastered head; it is possible that this formed the oratory in the former Lodge. The late 16th or early 17th-century panelling lining the room is made up with modern work and finished with a 17th-century panelled frieze and modern cornice; above the fireplace is a restored 17th-century overmantel of two bays with panelled pilasters and an entablature. In the E. wall is a doorway with chamfered jambs and splays, which is perhaps a 15th-century window cut down to form a doorway. At the E. end of the corridor is a late 16th-century doorway of stone with moulded jambs and four-centred arch in a square head. The attic-floor has a roof of five bays with six collar-beam trusses; three retain their original chamfered and curved collars. The 16th-century doorway in the E. wall has chamfered jambs and four-centred head.
The interior of the blocks of c. 1590 and 1633 has at the W. end the staircase to the Perne Library (Plate 66). The staircase is of the late 16th-century and of well type with the balustrade continued round the landing of the first floor; it has panelled newels with turned finials and pendants, moulded close strings and handrails, and turned balusters linked by stretchers under the rail shaped to form three-centred or round-headed arches with foliated spandrels of Gothic character; the staircase is largely of pine, with some oak, but appears to be mostly original. The rest of the ground floor has been much modernised but has some exposed ceiling-beams and a small amount of 18th-century panelling. On the first-floor landing the late 16th-century door to the room S. of the staircase is of nail-studded battens with moulded fillets planted on and strap-hinges. The Perne Library occupies the whole of the rest of the first-floor; the doorway to it has a 17th-century panelled frieze, brackets and a dentil-cornice; the six-panel door is hung on strap-hinges.
The Perne Library (76 ft. by 25 ft.) (Plate 209) is of eight bays with plastered beams and a modern ceiling. In the S. wall are two stone fireplaces; the western is of the late 16th century and has stop-moulded jambs and four-centred arch in a square head; the eastern is of c. 1633 and similar to the foregoing but with partly chamfered jambs (Plate 40); both have 17th-century oak eared architraves and overmantels with panelled side-pilasters. Each overmantel has a large panel with moulded surround flanked by carved fruit pendants and containing an elaborate tabernacle-framing supported on a shaped apron with dentilled shelf; the tabernacle-frame has flanking pilasters enriched with roses and carved pendants on the faces, scrolled and banded side-pieces and an entablature with frieze-panel and broken pediment (cf. the panelling in the Fellows' Building, Christ's College). The timber lobby to the entrance doorway in the middle of the W. end and the cupboards and wallcases flanking it are designed as a unity (Plate 41); the lobby has panelled outer and inner doors and a Doric entablature surmounted by a painted and gilded cartouche containing the College arms and flanked by seed-cobs and scroll-work; on each side are bookcases divided into sections by panelled pilasters and with a continuous Doric entablature; two sections, perhaps to contain archives, are hung with eight-panel doors, the six upper panels being open and fitted with turned balusters; set against the cases are locker-seats with panelled fronts. The side walls and window-embrasures have moulded panelling, partly restored, with panelled pilasters at intervals.
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Peterhouse, The Perne Library
The main bookcases, six on each side and projecting at right angles from the walls, are treated similarly to the W. wall-cases and the free ends are panelled. All originally had benches against them; the bench-ends consist of carved scrolls each with a pendant of fruit and leaves of varying designs. Except in the westernmost bay on both sides, the next on the S. and the second bay from the E. on the S. the benches themselves have been removed, but the bench-ends remain except in the two E. bays on the N. and the E. bay on the S. The bookcases, or many of them, were heightened at some uncertain date but all have now been restored to the original form; some cases at the W. end had curved pediments and dissevered parts of these survive. On many of the panelled pilasters are traces of former shelf-lists. At the E. end are wall-cases similar to the projecting cases but without benches or bench-ends. This end of the room is finished square with the side walls, leaving a wedge-shaped space behind the panelling. The oriel-window is flanked by panelled pilasters with pendants of leaves and fruit and supporting Doric entablatures continued into the windowreveals; the soffit of the recess is irregular and has a panelled oak ceiling, partly restored, with rosettes at the intersections of the framing and a large central pendant with a grape-cluster. Round the recess runs a bench with a panelled back finished with a plain strapped capping and bench-ends similar to those of the bookcases. In the middle is a panelled desk with panelled and carved pilasters and enriched mouldings. Triglyphs are spaced along the face of the step up into the recess. The bookcases and woodwork at the W. end of the Library were made by William Ashley and set up at intervals between 1641 and 1648 and the other panelling and overmantels are of much the same date but not to the same design.
Suspended from the ceiling are three brass candelabra, each with two tiers of six branches attached to a turned baluster with a globe at the lower end; they may be of the 18th century. Stored in the Library are more of the panel-portraits described above with the Hall, including Ralph Ainsworth, 1544, Edmund Hanson, 1516, Thomas Lane, 1472, William Martin, 1519, Widow Wolfe, 1540 (see also Burrough's Building). The attic floor has some old doors and the roof is of collar-beam type.
The West Range of Old Court is of two storeys with attics; the roof is slate-covered. The E. front was refaced in 1754 in ashlar and has a dentilled cornice and parapet; the middle part, comprising three bays, projects slightly and is pedimented; in the tympanum is a round opening with moulded architrave. The ground floor has ten and the upper floor eleven windows all with architraves and containing double-hung sashes; on the roof are nine hipped dormer-windows. The archway to the passage through the centre of the range has a round head, moulded imposts and flanking pilasters terminating in shaped brackets supporting a pedimented entablature. The W. front was extensively refaced in 1826, when Gisborne Court was built, and is in the revived Gothic style of the period; the opening to the central passage retains internally an 18th-century archway with segmental head. Towards the N. end of the range the original facing is preserved and is rough-cast. Here is a much weathered 15th-century doorway with jambs and two-centred arch of two chamfered orders, which probably gave access to a passage through the range; N. of it is an original window of two pointed lights in a square head. The first floor in the same area has two windows, the northern original and of three pointed lights in a square head with casement-moulded jambs, the other probably of the 16th-century and of two four-centred lights with casement-moulded jambs. The chimney projection further N. has original S.W. quoins below but the upper part is of 18th-century or modern brickwork. In the roof are two 18th-century dormer-windows.
The N. end of the W. range, which is not distinguished externally from the adjoining N. front of the N. range, is in rubble with most of the quoins of the N.W. angle remaining and with two patches of 17th-century brickwork enclosing two solid-framed two-light transomed windows. The upper floor has a late 15th or early 16th-century window of three four-centred lights in a square head with casement-moulded reveals, and in the roof is a dormer-window.
The Interior of the W. range, which originally contained the Library on the first floor, is substantially of the 15th century. It retains two original windows in the W. wall on the ground floor, behind the facing of 1826; these are both of a single light with segmental-pointed head; one is in the room adjoining the Kitchen, the other in the closet W. of the circular staircase; the two windows between them have recently been found to have been contrived within original splays. In 1438 Reginald Ely, 'lathamus', was employed upon the construction of the staircase to the Library. During the alterations of 1953–4 in this area, already mentioned, the circular stone staircase was found not to be bonded into the external wall of the range, though of similar material and construction, thus corroborating the two phases of building, 1424–31 and 1438, implied by the documentary evidence. The 15th-century doorway under the staircase has chamfered jambs, slightly ogee moulded head and a battened door; the staircase is carried over it on a somewhat skewed arch to the cross-wall to the N. In the Kitchen-office, removal of the modern plaster has revealed in the W. wall a late 16th or early 17th-century stone fireplace with four-centred head and, on the timber-framed N. wall, much damaged early 17th-century painted arcading of round-headed arches divided by columns supporting a frieze containing scroll-work, all in blue, black and red. The wall-painting has since been destroyed; it was similar to that preserved at Queens' College in the E. range of Walnut Tree Court built between 1616 and 1619. The room N. of the passage through the range has a fireplace with an 18th-century eared surround and a dentilled cornice.
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Peterhouse, The Old Library
On the first floor the middle part of the range, now divided up into rooms, formed the old Library (19½ ft. by about 46½ ft.) entered by the doorway in the middle of the cross-wall N. of the stone staircase, with hollow-chamfered jambs and four-centred head with a shield in the centre, recently painted with the College arms. The roof of the Library extended to three and a half bays, the half-bay being at the S. end; the main tie-beams, which are slightly cambered, are hollow-chamfered and the subsidiary longitudinal beams and wall-plates are all moulded (p. 396); the ties formerly had curved braces of which only one remains against the timber partition of the N.W. staircase. The position of the N. end of the Library is marked by a broad beam across the Sexcentenary Clubroom where a former cross-wall has been removed. Much evidence of the original arrangement of the Library windows has been preserved in the W. wall. They are placed two to a bay with one window in the half-bay; this last has been altered in the 19th century, and of the two windows in the next bay the first has been destroyed for the late 16th-century fireplace and the second is indicated only by a patch in the wall-panelling; in the next bay the splays of the first window are preserved in a cupboard and the splays and four-centred head of the second survive in the Clubroom, but the opening is blocked by the 1826 addition and the sill has been cut down to the floor; in the last bay the first window of two pointed lights in a four-centred head is preserved entire but again blocked, and the second is indicated by the splays bordering the blocking in the W. wall of the adjoining staircase.
The existing partitions in the old Library were no doubt inserted shortly after the building of the Perne Library in c. 1590 and the panelled room at the S. end was then formed. In the latter the panelling has a frieze carved with guilloche-ornament; the fireplace is modern but flanked by fluted and enriched pilasters supporting an overmantel of three bays and two tiers of enriched arcaded panels; the bays are divided and flanked by fluted and carved Ionic pilasters supporting an enriched entablature with guilloche frieze similar to that of the rest of the room. Immediately outside the S. wall of the old Library is part of an original truss of the roof of the S. part of the range; it has a hollow-chamfered tie-beam with a curved and hollow-chamfered brace; the brace at the W. end has been broken away. The northern three bays of the Clubroom are ceiled at a slightly lower level than the old Library and represent the extent of the room which occupied the N. end of this floor; the cross and longitudinal beams and plates are moulded and the two N. bays have an 18th-century wood dentil-cornice, the last representing a subsequent subdivision of the room. In the W. wall is a late 15th or early 16th-century clunch fireplace with hollow-chamfered jambs and four-centred arch in a square head with intersecting mouldings. The room is entered off staircase 'D' in the N. range by a 15th-century doorway with hollow-chamfered jambs and two-centred head. The attics contain some 18th-century doors.
The North Range of Old Court has the S. wall refaced in 18th-century ashlar and here the design, except for the doorways, is uniform with that of the side bays flanking the pedimented centrepiece on the W. side of the court. On the ground floor are sixteen windows, nineteen on the first floor and fifteen dormer-windows in the roof, all similar to those of the W. range. The three doorways have eared architraves. The composition is one of regular repetition of features without any vertical articulation of the wall-face.
The N. front has a chamfered plinth and plain eaves and the walling is a patchwork of decayed rubble and brickwork. The chimney-stacks and the whole facing of the eastern part of the wall are of reddish brick but there is no reason to suppose that these differ in date from the rest of the work, since isolated bricks and lacing-courses in the rubble are of precisely similar brick; much later patches and repairs in brick do however occur. The roofs are slate-covered. The end of the W. range forms a flush face with this front of the N. range and has been described; further E. the ground-floor windows, unless otherwise described, have square-headed lights and moulded labels. and are of the 15th century; their arrangement and number of lights are shown on the plan. The first window, lighting the room under the stairs, is of the 17th century with chamfered reveals and a lowered sill and the second has a label with diagonal stops returned upon themselves. Between the next two windows is a blocked two-centred 15th-century arch with both the jambs and the W. half of the head remaining and the rest replaced by a modern chimney; it opened into a former passage through the range. The fourth window, next to the arch, has one light blocked; the next is of the 17th century and of two plain square-headed lights. The seventh window was formerly of three lights but the two western lights were lengthened in the 18th century and the mullion removed; between this window and the modern window next to the E. the wall-facing changes from rubble to brick. The two E. lights of the ninth window and both lights of the two-light window next to the E. are blocked; the next window is entirely modern externally and the two windows beyond, the first with casement-moulded reveals and pointed head, the second of one cinque-foiled light in a square head, are both blocked. Some of the other windows may have had cusped heads to the lights, if so the cusping has been removed.
On the first floor most of the windows are of the 15th century, with four-centred lights, some in square heads, and all are very much weathered. Again reading from the W., two single-light windows light staircase 'D'; one is probably of the 16th century and has an elliptical head and the other is a round-headed loop with moulded reveals, perhaps of the 17th century. The next window is of the 16th century and of two four-centred lights with casement-moulded reveals; of the next five windows, the first, fourth and fifth are each of one light, the fourth is blocked, and the second and third are each of two lights, the third with a modern mullion. The ninth window was perhaps of two lights but is now-blocked and without the mullion; the next and the following are both of one light and the first is blocked; the twelfth is of the 17th century and of two lights with a solid frame; of the five remaining windows the two first and two last are of two lights; the first has been entirely restored and the third is a 17th-century light with a solid frame set in an older opening; immediately E. of the first and between the third and fourth are traces of two windows with two-centred heads. One of the chimney-projections rests on corbelling and all the chimneys are modern above the eaves. In the roof are eleven 18th-century dormer-windows, including the one over the W. range.
The Interior of the N. range comprises sets of rooms and in them are various heavy exposed ceiling-beams. On the ground floor the room W. of staircase 'C' is lined with early 17th-century panelling with frieze and dentil-cornice; three of the four doors have projecting cases with panelled and bracketed over-doors and dentilled cornices; the doors are panelled and two have wrought-iron cock's-head hinges. The modern fire-place is flanked by pilasters supporting a banded shelf and an overmantel in two panelled bays divided and flanked by columns on pedestals with a bracketed entablature enriched with small roses. The room E. of the same staircase is lined with simple late 16th-century panelling with a cornice. The timber-framing of the staircase-wall is exposed.
The room W. of staircase 'B' is lined with late 17th-century bolection-moulded panelling with dado-rail and cornice; the doorway in the E. wall has a bolection-moulded architrave, cornice, broken pediment and pedestal; the two doorways in the W. wall and the overmantel have bay-leaf enrichment. The inner room has 18th-century panelling with a cornice and panelled beam and a bolection-moulded fireplace-surround. The circular stone staircase 'B' has a 15th-century moulded corbel under the squinch in the S.W. angle tapered back on the underside; the staircase, in common with other early staircases in the College, extends only to the first floor in stone and the upper part is of timber with exposed timber-framing.
On the first-floor the room E. of staircase 'D' has a 17th-century panelled outer door hinged to fold. The room is lined with early 17th-century panelling with a cornice and frieze with spindle ornament; the doorcases project and have panelled entablatures with spindle ornament and are hung with eight-panel doors. The fireplace has a bolection-moulded stone surround of c. 1700 flanked by 17th-century wood pilasters supporting a banded shelf; the overmantel is of three enriched bays with pilasters, enriched entablature, a plain panel to the middle bay and small enriched panels to the sidebays with jewel-ornament. In the N. window are two round quarries, one painted with an apple-tree growing out of a tun, 16th-century, the other set inside out and much weathered. The room W. of staircase 'C' has early 17th-century panelled shutters to the windows. The room E. of the same staircase has 15th-century exposed moulded ceiling-beams. The room W. of staircase 'B' has some 17th-century panelling and the fireplace has an 18th-century eared surround. The room E. of the same staircase is lined with 18th-century fielded panelling with a dado-rail, cornice and three panelled doors. The Gateway and Gallery between the College and St. Mary the Less, now being inaccessible from the S., are described with the church.
Gisborne Court (Plate 39) (86 ft. by 94 ft.) lies to the W. of Old Court. It is bounded on the E. by the W. range of the latter and on the N. and S. by ranges built in 1825–6; the W. side is open. The cost of the work, including remodelling the front of the W. range of Old Court where it faces Gisborne Court, was met from funds supplied by the Rev. Francis Gisborne. The buildings are in the Tudor-Gothic style; the architect was W. McI. Brooks and the builder Thomas Tomson of Cambridge Both the N. and S. ranges were originally narrower for about half their length; in the second half of the 19th century their western halves were widened to N. and S. respectively. They are of two storeys with attics and contain sets of chambers; the walls are of white brick with stone dressings and the roofs are slate-covered.
The remodelled E. side of the Court is symmetrically designed; to preserve the symmetry, many of the windows are shams while the mediaeval windows, as described above, are screened. It has a gabled and parapeted middle bay flanked by wider bays with embattled parapets, and a narrower bay at each outer end. The narrow end bays have stepped parapets to the gables and are both flanked by semi-octagonal brick buttresses continued above the parapets as octagonal turrets with embattled caps; the S. bay consists only of a screen-wall and several of the turrets conceal chimney-flues. The middle bay projects slightly and has two windows on both the ground and first floors, the lower of two four-centred lights in a square head with a label and the upper of two four-centred lights with a pierced spandrel in a four-centred head. Between the upper pair is a canopied niche with a pedestal supported on a half-angel holding a shield of the arms of Gisborne; the gable is flanked by small octagonal stone turrets partly supported on the backs of carved beasts at the parapet-string; it has a square block at the apex, with a traceried panel inset in the face, which forms a base for two conjoined octagonal chimney-stacks. The two wider bays have windows arranged uniformly on each floor; two-light windows similar to those at the same levels in the centre bay flank a window of one two-centred light, in a square head on the ground floor and a two-centred head on the first floor, with a label. The outer bays both have, on the ground floor, a doorway with moulded jambs and a four-centred opening in a square head with blank shields in the spandrels and a moulded label and, on the first floor, a window of three four-centred lights in a square head with a label. In the two gables are shields carved with initials, on the N., F.B. and M.C. below, for Francis Barnes, Master of the College, on the S., S.T. and B.C. below, for Samuel Tillbrook, Bursar of the College.
The North and South Ranges have generally the same elevational treatment to the Court; the plinth, string-courses and the parapets are continued round from the E. side of the court; the parapet has alternate tall and short merlons. The inward-facing fronts each centre on a doorway with a large window above under a small parapeted gable. The doorway has a four-centred arch in a square head with traceried spandrels and a label with three traceried panels above, the outer with quatrefoils and the middle panel with an octofoil enclosing a shield-of-arms, on the N. range of Parke and on the S. range of the College. The window is of three transomed and four-centred lights in a four-centred head with the parapet-string carried over it as a label; in the gable is a blank shield. The two flanking two-light windows on both floors are similar to those at the same levels on the E. side of the Court. Close to the W. is a semi-octagonal buttress continued above the parapet as a turret and similar to that in the angle of the Court; the two frame the foregoing features in a symmetrical composition. Between the W. buttress and a similar buttress on the W. angle of each range is an octagonal stair-tower flanked, on the E., by a two-light window on each floor, and, on the W., by a one-light and a two-light window on each floor, all similar to those at the same levels on the E. side of the Court. The stair-tower is carried higher than the main parapet and embattled; it is lit by two square-headed single-light windows with labels, and in the E. face is a doorway with chamfered jambs and a two-centred head with a label with stops carved with leaves and a shield-of-arms, on the N. range of the See of Ely (the first arms of the College), on the S. range of the crossed keys of St. Peter (the second arms of the College).
The N. front of the N. range has brick strings at first-floor level and below the eaves; on both floors are ranges of segmental-headed windows. A semi-octagonal buttress masks the angle where the range originally narrowed.
The S. front of the S. range has plinth, strings and parapet as on the N. front; to the E. is the face of the original building; the projecting W. half is the subsequent widening. At all the angles are polygonal buttresses continued up as turrets. In the middle of the upper floor of the original building is an orielwindow with splayed sides supported on moulded corbelling; it is of three transomed lights on the face and one on each return and has a pierced parapet; on the apron-wall is a carved shield-of-arms of Hale. The main wall behind the oriel is carried up as a small gable containing a two-light window; this last, and the five windows on the ground floor and the four on the first floor are similar to those at the same levels to the Court. The later front has paired windows, four in all, on each floor and two brick dormer-windows.
The Interiors of the N. and S. ranges both have four sets of chambers on each floor. The easternmost staircases are each approached through a lobby with round-headed entrance-arch with plain archivolt and keystone and plain responds with moulded caps and bases. The stairs are of stone with plain wrought-iron balusters and handrails. Each set of chambers has panelled inner and outer doors and the principal rooms have simple plaster cornices, panelled window-shutters and four-panelled doors to the bedrooms. The fireplaces are of stone and have simple panelled surrounds.
The Grove is an open area to the S.W. of the college and the boundary-wall to the W. is said to have been rebuilt in 1501–2; it is, however, certainly not all of one date, apart from the modern repairs and rebuildings. To the W. and N.W. of the S. range of Gisborne Court the wall is much patched and rebuilt. S. from the same building is a length of reused ashlar with red brick at the top and with later work to the S. The next section is all of one date with much patching; it extends to the angle and includes the return-wall to the W. and part of the continuation to the S. The structure was originally of bands of clunch with brick lacing courses; the part S. from the return-wall must have formed part of the former tenniscourt, which is undated but presumably of the 16th-century; it is supported on the W. by six later brick buttresses and two modern concrete props. The next stretch has been largely rebuilt except towards the S.; the short return-wall is mostly of the 19th century. The rest of the walling is largely of clunch but in it is a stretch mainly of red brick in which is a 16th-century stone doorway, now blocked; this has chamfered jambs and a four-centred head with a label and, above, a square cusped panel enclosing a shield-of-arms of Bishop Hotham, recently refaced in Roman cement. Reset over the door-head on the inside is part of a cusped panel with the arms of Bishop Alcock, recently entirely renewed. The S. wall is partly of stone, partly of red brick, and partly of later brick and now extends eastward as far as the area of land sold in 1823 as a site for the Fitzwilliam Museum.
On the N. boundary of the College and incorporated in the S. wall of the Museum of Classical Archaeology is a length of 16th-century brick walling containing an opening, now blocked, of which rather more than half survives; it has a four-centred arch turned in 9-inch bricks. Reset in the 19th-century boundary-wall at the N.W, angle of the College is a low 16th-century doorway, now blocked, with chamfered jambs and four-centred head with a brick relieving-arch.
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Peterhouse, The Master's Lodge
The Master's Lodge (Plate 300) on the E. side of Trumpington Street, opposite the College, was built in 1702 by Dr. Charles Beaumont, Fellow, who, dying in 1726–7, left the house to the College as a Master's Lodge. With the exception of a small twostorey addition on the N., the house remains much as it was built. It is of three storeys with a basement; the walls are of red brick with stone dressings and the roofs are tiled. The front has a brick and stone plinth, moulded plat-bands between the storeys, rusticated stone quoins and a bracketed timber eaves-cornice with attached iron rings, perhaps aids to windowcleaning. The plain rectangular windows are symmetrically arranged and have moulded sills and flush frames with later sashes. The central doorway has a bolection-moulded surround and two-fold eight-panel doors; it is approached by a short flight of steps. The E. front is similar in treatment and detail to the W. front but on the band between the upper storeys is the date A.D. 1702. The cornice is continued round the building and the stone bands are continued across the N. but not the S. sides; on the S. is a brick band between the upper storeys. Both N. and S. walls have a central recessed bay with the main cornice mitred round it.
The Interior of the building contains much original panelling and two original staircases. The hall is lined with moulded and fielded panelling with a dado and cornice and a marble bolection-moulded surround to the fireplace; the floor is of stone slabs set diagonally. The arch to the staircase is semicircular and has panelled responds, moulded imposts and key-block. The N.W. room, now divided, is lined with bolection-moulded and fielded panelling with dado and cornice and moulded surround to the fireplace. The S.E. room is lined with oak panelling similar to the last described and with a panelled overmantel. The main staircase (Plate 67), the southernmost, has turned and twisted balusters, three to a step, newels of four grouped balusters and moulded and bracketed strings. The staircase-hall is lit by two identical windows in the S. wall and retains the original plaster ceiling divided into panels by bolection mouldings. The secondary staircase rises to the top floor and has heavy turned balusters, close strings and newels with turned pendants. On the first floor two rooms contain original painted deal panelling with panelled dados and cornices. In the S.W. room is a moulded surround to the fire-place and a panel above.
The forecourt of the house has two original brick gate-piers with cornices and ball-finials; the wrought-iron gate was made in 1928.
The Outbuilding, N.E. of the house, is of two storeys; the walls are of brick and timber-framing plastered externally. It was built probably in the 16th century and was originally of three bays. No doubt the first floor projected on the E. and W. sides, but the projection was under-built in brick in the 18th century when another bay was added to the N. The ground floor retains the original chamfered ceiling-beams and flat joists; in the S. room is a reset stone fireplace-surround of the early 18th century. On the upper floor the original tie-beams and wall-posts show the mortices for former braces.