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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'Queens' College', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Cambridge( London, 1959), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/cambs/pp167-178 [accessed 3 September 2024].
'Queens' College', 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/pp167-178.
"Queens' College". 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/pp167-178.
Queens' College
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Queen's College Arms
(35) Queens' College stands between Queens' Lane and the river. It was founded here in 1448 by Queen Margaret of Anjou on land where Henry VI by charter of 1447 had intended to place his College of St. Bernard. Andrew Docket, the first President, was primarily concerned in the foundation from its inception and was founder in all but name; he had previously been nominated President of St. Bernard's College by the king. Henry annulled his foundation-charter and Royal licence was granted to his queen to establish a College dedicated to St. Margaret and St. Bernard. It was further endowed by Queen Elizabeth Woodville in 1465. At the Suppression the area occupied by the College was greatly enlarged by the acquisition of land to the north belonging to the Carmelite friary; this was bought and conveyed to the College by the President, Dr. Mey, in 1544. Previously in 1541 Mey had bought the building materials of the friars' house.
The foundation-stone was laid by Sir John Wenlock, Queen Margaret's Chamberlain, on April 15th, 1448, at the S.E. angle of the old Chapel. The E. range, containing the Gatehouse, the N. range, containing the Chapel and Library, and the E. part of the S. range of Front Court were built in 1448 and the rest of the S. range and the whole of the W. range, containing the Hall and Kitchen, in 1449. The strong presumption is that Reginald Ely was master-mason. The contractors for the timber-work were John Veyse, draper, and Thomas Sturgeon, carpenter, both of Elsenham in Essex, Veyse no doubt being a guarantor; their contracts include a brief specification for the existing roof over the Hall.
The range incorporating a covered walk on the W. of Cloister Court was built probably shortly after the middle of the 15th century and stood as a separate building until the walks on the N. and S. sides of Cloister Court were added, presumably c. 1494–5. In 1564 a range was built in Pump Court. At some date in the 16th century the existing timber Gallery and upper storey, forming part of the President's Lodge, were built over the N. walk of Cloister Court; there seems to be no sufficient reason for assigning this building to c. 1537–41; all the surviving detail is of much later date, being more appropriate to the Presidency of Dr. Humphrey Tindall (1579–1614). The range on the E. side of Walnut Tree Court was erected in 1616–19.
The new buildings forming the S. and W. sides of Pump Court were built from the designs of James Essex in 1756–60; these were the only parts completed of a scheme for rebuilding the whole of the river-front of the College. Between 1789 and 1793 a new staircase planned by Carter was added on the N. of the President's Lodge, and in 1804 an addition on the N. of the N. range of Front Court was made. In 1886 a range of chambers was built on the N. side of Walnut Tree Court, followed by the new Chapel, designed by Bodley and Garner, in 1890 and a further range N. of the new Chapel in 1912. The modern buildings W. of the river were erected in 1935–6 from the designs of G. Drinkwater. The old Chapel was fitted up as the War Memorial Library in 1951–2.
At Queens' College the Cambridge college court is seen for the first time fully developed; the buildings are amongst the best-preserved examples of mediaeval collegiate architecture in the University. The structure of the President's Lodge and the Cloister Court are highly remarkable; the covered walks round three sides of the latter are in the nature of pentices rather than true cloister-alleys.
Architectural Description—The ranges round Front Court and the W. range and the covered walks of Cloister Court are built of brick and clunch; in Front Court the brickwork is a facing to infilling of clunch or chalk rubble. The Gallery and the storey above in the President's Lodge are of timber-framing with lath and plaster panels. The E. range of Walnut Tree Court is of brick with stone dressings. The buildings by Essex and the 18th and 19th-century additions are of white brick. The roofs are covered with modern tiles and slates.
Front Court (98 ft. by 84¾ ft.) is entered through the Gatehouse placed off-centre in the E. range and which, with the rest of the range, was built in 1448. The Gatehouse is of brick with stone dressings and of three stages, with an octagonal turret at each angle, a chamfered plinth and restored embattled parapets. On the E. (Plate 251), the entrance has a four-centred moulded arch in a square head with the mouldings (p. 394) dying out against the plain splays of the jambs, a label with stops carved as demi-angels holding scrolls, and, at the apex of the arch, a half-length figure of a priest holding a scroll; the traceried spandrels enclose quatrefoils framing blank shields. The dressings of the arch and the sculpture have been much recut, if not renewed. The archway is fitted with original oak doors of two leaves with a wicket; a second wicket has been cut subsequently. Each leaf is in two heights of four vertical ridged panels in chamfered framing and retains the original wrought-iron strap-hinges and locking-bar. In the stage above are two windows each of one light with moulded reveals, four-centred cinque-foiled head and label and entirely restored externally; between them is a niche with a moulded bracket on a corbel carved with a leopard's head, side-standards supported on separate smaller corbels and a canopy with ribbed vault and a crocketed spire. The third stage has a single window, similar to those below, and on the parapet-string are two carved gargoyles. The turrets have single-light windows with cinque-foiled heads.
The W. face (Plate 228) is generally similar to the E. face but the turrets are larger. The archway is partly restored and has splayed jambs and a moulded four-centred arch with a label (p. 394) and grotesque head-stops. The second stage has a largely restored window of two pointed lights in a four-centred head with pierced spandrels and moulded reveals; this and the other similar windows in the Court may once have had cinque-foiled cusping similar to that remaining in the original windows on the N. side of the N. range. The third stage has a window uniform with that below but with a label. On the parapet are two gargoyles, one the head of a man, the other of a grotesque. The turrets have a number of small loop-lights and some larger openings with square heads all more or less restored. The N. doorway in the N. turret has chamfered jambs and a two-centred head with a label, all renewed.
Inside the Gatehouse, the Gatehall (18¾ ft. by 12 ft.) has, in the N. wall, modern openings to the Porter's Lodge and, in the S. wall, an old doorway with chamfered jambs and four-centred head. It is covered by an original ribbed stone vault (Plate 297) in two bays springing from vaulting-shafts with moulded octagonal bases and caps. The vault has moulded main, intermediate and lierne ribs with two large carved bosses, of St. Margaret and St. Bernard, at the main intersections; the remaining bosses are smaller and carved with foliage and fruits. The rooms over the Gatehall are approached by a newel-stair in the N.W. turret with original stone steps with renewed treads, except above the level of the second floor where they are of clunch and much worn.
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Queens' College, Plan
The Muniment Room on the first floor is entered through a clunch doorway with four-centred head at the top of a short flight of brick steps entered from the newel-stair through a similar doorway. The room has a quadripartite vault with chamfered plastered brick ribs springing from moulded clunch corbels and with clunch intersections; the floor is paved with original plain tiles with yellow and green glaze. It contains two 17th-century presses, one of oak and the other of pine, with panelled fronts and wrought-iron hinges, one with cock's-head terminals. Entry to the room above is similar to that below but the inner doorway is of the 18th century and the framed door has fielded panelling.
The East Range N. and S. of the Gatehouse is of two storeys with attics. The modern eaves-cornices here and on the other 15th-century ranges reproduce those shown in Loggan's view of the College, which were subsequently replaced by embattled parapets. The E. wall is continued to form the end wall of the N. range and contains the E. window of the old Chapel under a gable flanked, on the N., by a square turret with stone quoins and one and two-light windows with cinque-foiled openings under four-centred heads, all renewed externally. Further S. is a second square turret of three stages with a modern parapet with embrasures and an old gargoyle-face on the parapet-string. All the windows are restored externally and most of them have cinque-foiled heads; immediately N. of the second turret are two single-light windows on the ground floor, the northernmost modern, and a third window on the first floor. Between the second turret and the Gatehouse the ground floor contains a single-light modern window and a window of two cinque-foiled lights in a square head with an old relieving-arch; on the first floor is a modern window, similar to that below, and a window of two cinque-foiled lights with a quatre-foiled spandrel in a four-centred head with moulded reveals; the chimney-stack is modern. This part of the range N. of the Gatehouse has two renewed dormer-windows of timber.
The E. wall S. of the Gatehouse has on the ground floor, five windows; from N. to S., the second and fourth are modern, the northernmost is of one cinque-foiled light in a square head and the third and fifth are of two similar lights in a square head; all, except the modern windows, have been entirely restored but have old relieving-arches. On the first floor are five windows symmetrically arranged; the middle one is of two cinque-foiled lights with a quatrefoil in a two-centred head, the rest are single cinque-foiled lights and all are entirely renewed externally. The chimney-stack and two dormer-windows are modern. The turret at the S.E. angle is of three storeys with an embattled parapet; an oblique wall in the reentrant angle on the N.E. face with a four-centred brick arch on the ground floor, now blocked, terminates and is roofed over below the main eaves. On the ground floor, in the E. face, is a small renewed light with two-centred head and, in the S. face, a light with a segmental-pointed head, chamfered reveals and a square label, all original but much weathered; on the first floor is a later rectangular light, modern externally, and on the parapet-string a lion-headed gargoyle.
The W. face of the E. range, N. of the Gatehouse, has in the centre a doorway with an original four-centred moulded head and label and renewed chamfered jambs; flanking it are single-light windows and, beyond, two-light windows, originally all with cinque-foiled lights in four-centred heads but with the cusps now removed; one of the single-light windows is entirely modern externally. The four windows on the first floor are similar but renewed; above are three 18th-century dormer-windows. S. of the Gatehouse, on the ground-floor, are four original openings set closely together, consisting of a doorway similar to that further N. between two single-light windows with a two-light window to the S., all with brick relieving-arches; the outer faces are plastered and the cusps of the windows have been removed. On the first floor are two single and one two-light windows, as before, and on the roof are two 18th-century dormer-windows.
The Interior of the E. range, N. of the Gatehouse, contains the Porter's Lodge and sets of rooms. The Lodge has an original stone fireplace with a chamfered four-centred head. In the N. end wall of the range are two plain recesses formerly opening through into the Chapel. The ceiling-beams and wall-plates are moulded and chamfered. The staircase is modern and the upper floors are without ancient features; the roof is ceiled. S. of the Gatehouse, the range contains on the ground floor an original clunch doorway with four-centred head to the S.E. turret and moulded ceiling-beams and plates. On the first floor a room is lined with early to mid 18th-century fielded panelling with dado and cornice; the fireplace has a plain clunch surround with two bolection-moulded panels over; the doors are panelled and retain their original brass locks. The part N. of the stair retains an original timbered partition and moulded wall-plates; at the head of the stairs, on the attic floor, is a late 18th or early 19th-century balustrade.
The North Range, built in 1448, contains the old Chapel occupying the full height of the eastern half; the remainder is of two storeys with attics and contains the Library. The E. range of Walnut Tree Court abuts on the N.E., a small rectangular 19th-century annexe projects from the centre on the N. front and the W. end of the same front is gabled.
The former Chapel (67 ft. by 19¾ ft. including the Antechapel) was licensed for services in 1454. The interior was refitted in 1773–5 under the direction of James Essex when a plaster ceiling was inserted and cedar panelling, which in Cole's time, 1742, was on the E. wall, was removed to the Antechapel; the latter has now been replaced by later panelling. In 1845 the plaster ceiling was removed and the decayed earlier roof above replaced by a modern copy. Extensive refitting was done in 1858–61 by Bodley. After 1890, when the new Chapel was built, it was used for various purposes until fitted up as the War Memorial Library in 1951–2. The E. window is of five ogee cinque-foiled lights with vertical tracery in a four-centred head with moulded reveals and a label with headstops all renewed; a transom was removed between 1858 and 1861 and the lower part blocked with brick. In the N. wall are two completely restored windows with original relieving-arches; they have three cinque-foiled ogee lights with vertical tracery in a four-centred head with a label; immediately to the W. of the westernmost is a large relieving-arch with later brick blocking below and set in brickwork of a different character from that of the walling to the E. Loggan shows a small gabled annexe approximately in this position, now demolished, and the different brickwork is probably a refacing. The former Ante-chapel is lit from the N. by a window with three pointed lights in a four-centred head under a narrower relieving-arch; on the first floor is a blocked single-light window with a clunch head and jambs under a wider relieving-arch.
The three S. windows of the old Chapel are similar to those on the N. with a blocked doorway below the easternmost. The former Ante-chapel window is similar to that opposite, but with moulded head and reveals, and above it on the first floor are two windows, of a single light and two lights, similar to those in the W. face of the E. range and with part of a wide relieving-arch centrally over them; the E. light of the two-light window is blocked internally. It seems that the body of the Chapel was at first one bay longer and that shortly after completion a floor was inserted in the W. bay and the Antechapel formed; this necessitated the removal of the large westernmost windows in the N. and S. walls and the insertion of the present windows, only the original wide relieving-arches remaining to indicate the first arrangement.
The S. archway to the passage leading to the old Chapel has chamfered jambs, moulded four-centred head and a restored label; above it is a single-light window similar to that further E. over the Ante-chapel and these two, which now light an eastward extension of the Library (see below), flank a large painted sundial with the Signs of the Zodiac and tables of calculations below. The sundial is probably of mid 17th-century origin, but renewed in or shortly before 1733 and subsequently repainted. The wooden turret on the roof standing on a square base containing a clock was constructed to Hare's designs in 1910, it is octagonal with open traceried sides and ogee lead-covered dome surmounted by a wrought-iron weather-vane incorporating the College crest of a demi-eagle.
The Interior of the old Chapel had in the S. wall openings, now blocked, to the organ-chamber inserted into the N. end of the E. range in 1858–61. Vestry and organ-loft were formerly in a building projecting on the N., as at Christ's College. Round the room is a modern gallery. Stairs at the W. end lead to the Library-annexe over the former Ante-chapel; chambers in this position were converted for use in part as a President's pew in 1773, the rest of the space being incorporated in the Library. The mid 15th-century W. doorway has stop-moulded jambs and four-centred head. The mid 19th-century timber ceiling is five sided, boarded and panelled and with moulded and embattled wall-plates; the painting is said to reproduce the pre-existing colour-scheme. The former Ante-chapel is lined with panelling with a dado and moulded cornice fitted in 1773–5; the W. door-case has side pilasters and a panel above; a doorway in the N.W. corner opens into a ringing-recess with plaster barrel-vault. The Chapel-passage has plaster pilasters with caps of Gothic design at the junction between the 15th and early 19th-century buildings and a plaster ceiling from end to end with a moulded cornice enriched with plaster paterae, all of 1804.
Fittings, except where stated, removed to the late 19th-century Chapel—Bell: on old Chapel, one, by Miles Graye, 1637. Brasses and Indents: (1) of [John Stokes], S.T.P., 1568, President, with inscription-plate, marginal inscription and indent of figure; (2) of priest in cope, head missing, with part of scroll and indent of inscription-plate, c. 1480; (3) (Plate 5) of Robert Whalley, 1591, Fellow, with figure in civil dress, scroll, achievement-of-arms quarterly of nine, of Whalley, Leake, Stockton, Kirton, Hatfield, Selioke, Warde, Francis, and Mallet, inscription-plate and mutilated marginal inscription with one corner-plate remaining engraved with a cockatrice displayed; (4) of figure in academic dress with indent of inscription-plate, early 16th-century, with added inscriptions: to Martin Dunstan, 'servus' to Andrew Docket, 17th-century, and to Laurence Catelyn, S.T.P., 1680, Fellow. Glass: In old Chapel—in tracery-lights of E. window, small figure subjects, the Annunciation, St. George, two bishops, and St. Andrew, angels and sacred monogram above; in tracery of N.E. window, St. Margaret and St. Bernard; in tracery of N.W. window, a martyr, St. Catharine, a bishop, St. Cecilia; all in similar style and probably the remains of windows by Barnett of York inserted 1846–8. In tracery-lights of S. windows, angels playing musical instruments, remnants of glazing by Hardman, mid 19th-century.
Monuments and Floor-slabs. Monuments: (1) of David Hughes, S.T.B., 1777, Fellow, wall-tablet of wood with painted cornice and scroll-cresting; (2) of Henry James, 1716–7, Fellow, Regius Professor of Theology, white marble wall-tablet with foliated frame and cartouche containing the arms of James; (3) of William Sedgwick, 1760, President, white marble walltablet; (4) of John Darell, 1771, Fellow-commoner, white marble wall-tablet with pedimental head; (5) of Thomas Sowerby, 1808, Fellow, white marble wall-tablet with pedimented cornice. Floor-slabs: In old Chapel, (1) of Robert Powell, 1690, Fellow; (2) of Richard Bryan, 1680, Fellow, Vice-President, slate; (3) of John May, 1749, Fellow, slate; (4) of Samuel Edwards, 1730, slate; (5) of Isaac Carew, 1742, Fellow, slate; (6) of Edward Kemp, 1671, slate; (7) of John Davies, 1731–2, President, with defaced achievement-of-arms. Paintings (Plate 222): In late 19th-century reredos, painted panels from triptych, of the Betrayal, the Resurrection, Christ appearing to the Apostles after the Resurrection, Rhenish, probably Cologne, late 15th-century.
Westward from the old Chapel, the N. side of the range, W. of the 19th-century annexe, shows an area of clunch masonry with traces of a projecting building now removed. The seven restored windows on the ground floor are insertions, but indications of the earlier fenestration remain; the easternmost window is of two lights and of the late 17th century, the following three are of one and two rectangular lights with chamfered reveals and mullions and of the early 17th century. Over the W. half of the fourth is the relieving-arch of an original two-light window and, proceeding westward, are the E. jamb and part of the pointed head and relieving-arch of an original single-light window cut into by a later opening now blocked and with a two-light stone-mullioned and transomed window with architrave probably of 1686 in the blocking. Two windows similar to the last flank the chimney-stack and replace wider windows. On the first floor are four original windows to the Library and a fifth further W. each of two cinque-foiled lights with a quatrefoil in a four-centred head and with chamfered reveals; two others, one of which is blocked, are masked by the 19th-century annexe. Flanking the chimney-stack on the W. are two late 17th-century mullioned and transomed windows similar to those below; in the gable, lighting the attics, are two 16th-century windows each of two four-centred lights in a four-centred head, rendered outside. On the roof over the Library are four 18th-century dormer-windows. The chimney-stacks are modern.
The annexe of 1804 is on the site of an earlier building; the latter, with a small tower or bell-turret, is shown in Loggan's view of the College. It is of white brick with stone dressings. The N. doorway has chamfered jambs and a four-centred head. The ground-floor windows are of two rectangular lights with chamfered reveals and mullions, and those on the upper floor are of two cinque-foiled lights with a pierced spandrel in a four-centred head.
The S. side of the range, W. of the old Chapel block (Plate 221), has on the ground floor one single-light and three two-light windows and a blocked doorway; all originally served sets of rooms and are similar to the corresponding features on the W. side of the E. range. The original Library is lit by a range of six two-light windows uniform with those below and faced with plaster; the two single-light windows in the E. extension (see below) have been described with the exterior of the former Chapel.
The Lower Library (44¼ ft. by 18¾ ft.) was formed about the middle of the last century, the pre-existing partitions being removed and the upper floor supported on cast-iron columns. It contains a number of oak presses with desk-tops and panelled ends with shaped heads given in 1819. The Library (67¾ ft. by 20 ft.) on the first floor is approached by a staircase in, and contemporary with, the annexe, with close-strings, turned balusters, square newels and moulded handrail. The room (plan p. 175) retains original moulded ceiling-beams and plates and the old flooring of broad oak planks. An eastward extension, marked by a step, was made from the remainder of the set of rooms converted into the President's pew in 1773. At the W. end (Plate 41) is early 17th-century shelving with a central doorway with a pierced balustraded door to a cupboard above and both flanked by tall superimposed Doric and Ionic pilasters with straight sides and the faces decorated with fluting and strapwork ornament; at the head is a plain frieze with square jewelled blocks at intervals.
The five projecting bookcases and two half-cases on either side retain in the lower parts the oak bases with heavy moulded feet and the shaped ends of the 16th century desks; the dentilled and jewelled entablatures and panelled upper portions with a return of the entablatures, shaped cresting and urns are additions assigned to Andrew Chapman, 1612–3; in the 18th century they were heightened by the insertion of plain boarding in the ends and the addition of three pinewood shelves. Under the windows are 18th-century pinewood cases.
The N. windows contain reset 15th-century glass, said to have come from the Carmelite friary, consisting of heads of friars in medallions, ten in all, set in quarries diapered with flower-sprays in silver-stain, all in borders of quatrefoils or oakleaves, and with fragments of black-letter inscriptions, including 'otus Badrl' and 'Magr~ Thome Wett' in Italian capitals. The range has an extensively renewed timber roof with collars and braces.
The gable towards the W. end defines the rooms contained in the external angle between the N. and W. ranges; the Combination Room is on the ground floor, with the President's Study above and a bedroom in the attics. The absence of alignment, apparent here on the plan, coincides with the juncture of the two periods of building, and may be so explained; subsequent alterations make the detailed sequence of construction difficult to determine. The rooms each have a window splayed across the N.W. angle of Front Court, the lower probably of 1686 with transom and mullion, the upper of the 16th century, of two transomed lights with four-centred head, and restored. In the W. wall on each floor is a window similar to the other late 17th-century windows on the lower floor. Off the N.W. angle is a rectangular turret probably incorporating some of the walling of an original and similar feature but apparently altered and in part rebuilt before the completion of the N. covered walk of Cloister Court in which it is incorporated; it now stands only to the height of the lower floor and contains a small room with a 17th-century two-light window in the S. wall.
The Combination Room (Plate 64) (31 ft. by 21¼ ft.) has an open timber ceiling with original moulded ceiling-beam and plates with applied modern cornice-mouldings. The walls are lined with bolection-moulded oak panelling with dado and moulded cornice made by Austin in 1686; over the 17th-century fireplace with square moulded head and jambs and bolection-moulded wood surround is a moulded shelf with bolection-moulded panel above flanked by panelled pilasters; the projecting moulded doorcases have moulded architraves, entablatures and frieze-panels; the doors are in two bolection-moulded panels and retain early brass rim-locks. The heraldic glass is mostly early 19th-century and probably by Charles Muss: in the N.E. window, of the Earl of Stamford, Grey quartering Booth, and of Thomas Harrison, Fellow, 1794, Harrison impaling (unidentified 18); in the centre window, of Henry VI impaling Margaret of Anjou, 15th-century, of Queens' College, 18th or 19th-century, and of the College impaling Isaac Milner, President, dated 1821; in the N.W. window, of Simon Patrick, Bishop of Ely; in the S.E. window, of Joseph Jee, B.D., Fellow, and of John Davenant, S.T.P., President 1614–21, Bishop of Salisbury; in the W. window, of the Royal Foundresses, Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret of Anjou, in quatrefoils with crowns above and inscriptions in scrolls below.
The President's Study on the first floor is divided from the Library by a narrow vestibule with an original timber-framed W. partition-wall. The open timber ceiling has a moulded beam and renewed moulded wall-plates. In the S. wall is a recess containing a round-headed niche with a loop opening into the Hall. The walls are lined to two-thirds of their height with panelling now made up with much modern work; some was originally in the Hall and removed presumably during the alterations of 1732–4. It consists of three heights of linenfold panels with a deep frieze containing panels carved with antique heads in wreaths and shields-of-arms retaining much original colouring (Plate 65). Accounts dated 1531–2 for the work survive. The timber was bought from Lynn; the carvers were Giles Fambeler and Dyrik Harison and the painter John Ward. The arms on the E. wall are of (2) Holland impaling Tiptoft, (4) Green impaling Rolfe, (6) Tiptoft impaling Spencer, (9) as (6), (11) Wentworth impaling Spencer (reversed), (12) Holland impaling Tiptoft and Charlton quarterly, (13) Roos impaling Spencer, (15) Humburlton, and (18) as (6); on S. wall, (22) as (6), (26) obscured, (27) as (2), (30) as (4), (33) as (4) and (36) as (6); on W. wall, (39) St. Aubyn, (41) St. Aubyn impaling Tilney, (44) as (13), (46) as (41), (49) as (4) and (51) as (11); on N. wall, (54) as (41), (57) Humburlton, and (61) as (11). The attic above, now called the Founder's Bedroom, was fitted up in the 16th century; the windows, both with graffiti on the splays, and the fireplace with flat three-centred head are of this date.
The West Range, S. of the Combination Room, contains the Hall, with the Screens, Butteries and Kitchen to the S., and was built in 1449. The Hall (Plate 221) (27¼ ft. by 52½ ft. including the Screens) is of five bays. In the E. wall of the N. bay, high up, is the relieving-arch of a window shown in Loggan's view of the College of c. 1688 and blocked probably in the 18th century. Continuing southward, the next bay contains the three-sided oriel-window, with restored three-stage buttresses, pinnacles and parapets and, in each face, a restored two-light transomed window with cinque-foiled openings and vertical tracery in a flat four-centred head with a label; extensive restorations to it were made in 1854. In each of the two following bays is a large window of three lights with tracery in a four-centred head with a label; both were designed by Thomas Johnson in 1854 to replace very similar but smaller features. The doorway to the Screens-passage has restored splayed jambs, an original moulded two-centred head (p. 393) and a modern label; it is fitted with a 15th-century oak door of four vertical panels with trefoiled ogee heads with flowers and beasts on the cusp-points, crocketed finials and blind tracery above, all surrounded by a border of quatrefoils and trefoil-headed panels partly restored. Over the doorway is a stone achievement-of-arms of the College in a tabernacle-frame with Ionic side-pilasters and pedimented entablature supported on head-corbels of the Foundresses; it was carved by Thomas Graye in 1575 and painted originally by Theodore.
On the W. side of the Hall, at the N. end, is a broad shallow projection with a stair in the S. end added probably shortly after the completion of the range and subsequently raised to the full height of the building; in it is a restored 17th-century doorway with moulded jambs and segmental head with plain spandrels; the one and two-light windows with two-centred or square heads are much restored. In the second and fourth bays are windows similar in design and origin to those in the opposite wall; they flank a boldly projecting chimney-stack of two weathered stages, which is rebuilt above eaves-level. In the fifth bay the original doorway to the Screens-passage has stop-moulded jambs, renewed at the base, and a four-centred head (p. 393); it is protected by a porch added prior to the contruction late in the 15th century of the adjoining S. covered walk of Cloister Court.
The porch has an open archway on the N. with four-centred head of two continuous chamfered orders, a doorway on the S. with four-centred head of three continuous chamfered orders and a doorway on the W. with segmental head and splayed jambs; the last two doorways are rebated for doors opening outward, presumably into pre-existing structures. The N. and S. walls have 18th-century wood cornices and the W. gable has bargeboards of the same date; in the gable is a plain round light, which is shown cusped in an engraving of 1842.
The Interior of the Hall was very much altered by James Burrough in 1732–4 who destroyed the arch-braces of the original roof and inserted a flat plaster ceiling, added new panelling, and simplified the windows. The roof was opened out again and restored in 1845–6 to the designs of Dawkes, architect; he also replaced the tracery in the windows, which was altered again in 1854. The original fireplace was uncovered and restored in 1861 when tiles by William Morris and Ford Madox Brown were added, the heraldic decoration above it being designed by Bodley, who, in 1875, added the wood cresting when carrying out the present colour-decoration of the Hall.
The restored mid 15th-century roof (Plate 226) is divided by trusses with moulded and embattled cambered tie-beams into three bays of which the N. and S. bays are each divided into two subsidiary bays. The tie-beams are carved on the vertical faces with roses and stylised leaf-ornament; they have mid 19th-century braces below forming four-centred arches with traceried spandrels and springing from short wall-posts supported on 19th-century stone angel-corbels. The trusses and two subsidiary pairs of principals have arch-braced collar-beams and king-posts with curved struts. Under the sub-principals are small false hammer-beams carved as angels holding crowned shields charged with the initial letters of the patrons and Foundresses of the College (Plate 226); they have been restored but are for the most part original. The wall-plates are moulded and embattled. The whole roof was coloured in 1875 on the basis of traces of original colouring said to have survived; the gilded lead stars are original.
The oriel-window is semi-octagonal internally and entered through a tall four-centred arch with moulded head and hollow-chamfered and shafted jambs, the last with moulded capitals and bases; the side walls have blind window-light stone panelling; in the angles are vaulting-shafts for a lierne vault with hollow-chamfered ribs which have foliage bosses at all the intersections. The much-restored fireplace in the W. wall of the Hall has a moulded triangular head with spandrels carved with Tudor roses and banded stylised leaf ornament, chamfered jambs and flanking colonnettes with moulded bases and caps. All the windows are filled with heraldic glass by Hardman, of 1854, with the arms of the Presidents and Benefactors of the College.
The back and side walls of the dais are lined with panelling of 1732–4 by Essex, with carving by Woodward. It consists of a centrepiece with coupled and attached Corinthian side-columns framing an eared and enriched panel and supporting a pedimented entablature with 'Floreat Domus' painted in the frieze, a modillion-cornice, and the arms of the College in a cartouche in the tympanum; the pediment is surmounted by the College crest and two urns. The side bays and the returns on the side walls contain large bolection-moulded panels and Corinthian pilasters supporting a continuation of the main entablature; the capitals of the order are linked by frieze-like panels containing looped garlands of foliage and fruit. In the W. return bay is a doorway with moulded and eared architrave, scrolled frieze, and curved pediment, which is matched by a similar but sham door in the E. return. The panelling of the E. and W. walls, up to the window-sills, and the Screen are of the same date and workmanship as the foregoing; they are divided into bays by panelled pilasters on a high continuous moulded plinth with conventional acanthus capitals continued as an enriched crowning member to the rest of the panelling. In each bay is a bolection-moulded and fielded panel, except in the centre three of the five bays of the Screen; these three contain round-headed arches with panelled responds, moulded imposts, carved spandrels and archivolts with cartouches at the apices. The centre cartouche contains the third shield-of-arms of the College (a boar's head with the cross-shaft of St. Margaret and the crozier of St. Bernard), the others the College crest. The outer arches frame doorways fitted with wrought-iron scroll-work gates, contemporary with the Screen, and the centre arch contains a serving-hatch and a solid panelled tympanum. All the 18th-century woodwork is painted dark green with gilded enrichments. The S. face of the Screen is similar to the N. face but plainer. The three doorways in the back wall of the screens have been wholly renewed; the westernmost retains an original door similar in construction to that of the main gate. Over the Screens is a gallery with balustraded front; access to it is through a doorway in the middle of the S. wall with an 18th-century door-case with eared architrave and pediment supported on console-brackets.
The remainder of the W. range is of two storeys with attics and contains the Kitchen and the Butteries on the ground floor and rooms above. The windows on each side, except those otherwise described, are original but, in common with most of those to this Court, with the cusping removed during the 18th century; some cusping has been restored subsequently. On the E. are three two-light windows to the ground floor and three, similar, on the first floor, with a single-light window with four-centred head in the S.W. angle. On the W. is a buttress-like projection flanked, on the ground-floor, by a two-light window to the N. and a wide 18th-century window under an original relieving-arch to the S. and, on the first floor, by a single-light and a two-light window to the N. and a single-light window to the S. The projecting staircase-bay next to the S. was enlarged in the 18th century in white brick; it rises above the main eaves and has a hipped roof; the openings are of the 18th century or renewed. Continuing southward is an original two-light window high up in the ground floor, a restored window on the first floor and an original chimney-stack with crow-stepped weathering; the lower part of the stack is built up against the S.W. angleturret. On the roof-ridge of this range is a late 19th-century bell-cote over the screens; the bell is inaccessible.
The S.W. angle-turret, known as Erasmus' Turret from his occupation of it, is of four storeys, with an embattled parapet; in the ground floor, on the S., is a restored window of two pointed lights in a four-centred head with a small brick light over; in the floor above is a blocked window; the remaining one and two-light windows on each floor in the N. and S. walls are original or of the 17th century and more or less restored.
Inside, the Kitchen and Butteries have been modernised but retain one original ceiling-beam. The main room on the first floor is lined with 18th-century fielded panelling with dado and dentil-cornice; this room was fitted for use as a chapel in 1773 while the old Chapel was being altered. The Erasmus Room to the S. has a dado and doors of 18th-century fielded panelling and a restored open timber ceiling with moulded beams. The attics retain an original timber-framed partition and the collar-beam roof is exposed; they are lit by 18th-century dormer-windows.
The South Range contains sets of rooms served by staircases 'B' and 'C'. The junction between the two dates of building is clearly marked by a line in the brickwork between the third and fourth windows; the work of 1448 stopped at this point and was continued westward a year later. On the N. side the doorways and windows are similar to those towards the Court in the E. range; their arrangement on the ground floor is shown on the plan. On the first floor the arrangement is very similar but with the third window over 'B' doorway, the ninth over 'C' doorway, and without a window over the westernmost ground-floor window. On the roof are eight 18th-century dormer-windows.
The S. side (Plate 228) between the S.E. and S.W. angleturrets is divided into three unequal bays by a shallow buttress in two weathered stages to the E. and a wide garderobe of shallow projection further W. The junction between the two stages of building is immediately W. of the third window W. of the buttress. In the brickwork of the lower part of the later walling are diapers of darker bricks, now scarcely perceptible. At the western end is the gable-end of the W. range of Front Court which is of the same build with the W. portion of the range. On the ground floor the original two-light windows have square heads and all are extensively restored; the two under the gable are shown by the original brick relieving-arches above to be modern replacements of smaller windows; the small rectangular lights, the fourth of which is blocked, are insertions of the 17th century, and at this time similar windows were inserted in the garderobe when it became disused, excepting one original window where shown on the plan, of one light with rounded opening and spandrels in a square head; just over the W. reveal of the latter and over the E. reveal of the fifth window are two 17th-century windows, the first now blocked. The first-floor windows are for the most part of one, two and three lights with cinque-foiled openings in four-centred heads, all almost wholly restored. They are placed over the large windows below, except the third, now blocked, rather to the W. of the corresponding window below and the sixth, immediately W. of the garderobe projection; the garderobe has at this level one small rectangular light, perhaps original, and a larger inserted 18th-century window. Under the main eaves are two small round-headed single-light windows, one immediately W. of the buttress, the other over the weathered head of the garderobe projection. In the roof are twelve 18th-century dormer-windows and in the gable two restored windows of one and two lights similar in detail to those on the first floor. The bases of all the chimney-shafts are original; the shafts were rebuilt in paler brick probably in the 18th century.
Inside the S. range the ground-floor rooms retain original moulded ceiling-beams and the staircases much of their original timbered containing-walls. Most of the doors are of 18th-century fielded panelling. In the room E. of staircase 'B' is an original stone fireplace with a chamfered four-centred head and in the room E. of the middle partition an 18th-century stone fireplace-surround with fluted key. The two rooms over the foregoing are lined with 18th-century fielded panelling with dado and dentil-cornice and eared panels over the fireplaces; in the second room are two original ceiling-beams; the bedroom and study have original timber-framed partitions E. and W., the former much renewed, and an early 17th-century pinewood panelled partition dividing them. The moulded wall-plates on the N., S. and W. walls are original; on the E. is a plain head-rail. At the head of staircase 'C', on the first floor, are the remains of the original garderobe with a barrel-vault and lamp-niche. The room on the first floor W. of the same stair is lined with 18th-century fielded panelling with dado and moulded cornice and with a bolection-moulded panel over the fireplace; the fireplace has a plain white marble surround. At the top of the early 19th-century continuation of this staircase is an opening fitted with a 17th-century panelled door with wrought-iron hinges to a floor now removed. In the attics are some old timber-framed partitions.
Cloister Court, of irregular shape (average 89 ft. by 69 ft.), lies immediately to the W. of Front Court. The North Range (Plate 220) contains on the ground floor a covered-walk with open arcading to the Court and on the first floor the Gallery of the President's Lodge, with rooms above. The late 15th-century arcaded walk has a brick-built S. wall; in it are seventeen openings with four-centred arches of two continuous chamfered orders; the first and ninth opening, the latter higher than the others and with a third order, are continued down to the ground to form doorways. The N. wall is of clunch and brick and the two walls together support the timber-framed building above, which is jettied out some 2¼ ft. on either side. Earlier supports to the middle and W. projecting bays on the S. were replaced by the existing free-standing oak columns in or about 1911. In the pavement of the walk is a slab inscribed 'I. Poley. Bursar 1695', presumably the date of the paving. Adjoining the walk on the N. is a low early 18th-century addition, now including the boiler-room, lit by large windows with casements containing leaded quarries.
A superstructure of some sort seems to have been erected about 1537 but no work clearly of that period is now visible. The date of the existing building containing the Gallery is not certainly determinable but the carved brackets supporting the walls and window-projections belong to a later date than 1537. All these features may be assigned to the Elizabethan period. Furthermore, the survival under the roof of a dormer-window on the E. side of the W. range of Cloister Court with mid 16th-century mouldings indicates that the roof was completed after the time, during the Presidency of Dr. John Stokes (1560–68), when the 'master's upper-chambers' in the W. range were being built. Again, much panelling is known to have been installed in the time of Dr. Humphrey Tindall (President 1579–1614). About 1911 the plaster was stripped from the timber-framing and the latter extensively restored.
The S. side of the timber-framed superstructure is symmetrical, with a semi-octagonal projecting bay in the middle and one three-sided bay at each end, the easternmost rising as an octagon above the roof. It has the jetty supported on timber console-brackets carved with foliage which are placed in total disregard of the spacing of the arcade below. Closely-set timber uprights rise from a moulded bressumer to the height of the heads of the Gallery windows where a small moulded cornice is carried across the face as a string; the studding is continued up in equal spacing and with one range of horizontal timbers to a rail at the wall-head on which is a moulded eaves-cornice. The only diagonal timbering is in the centre bay. The ornamental cappings of the projecting bays shown in Loggan's view of the College were removed and flat roofs substituted in the 18th century. The E. bay is now of three storeys and the others of two, the octagonal top storey of the E. bay finishing in a cornice and framed parapet; the windows on the S.W. face of this bay on each floor are modern replacements. The Gallery window returned round the full width of the middle bay consists of two transomed lights in each face and one on each short return, with moulded frames and mullions and all partly restored; the window on the top floor is similar but without transom. The W. bay has a S.E. window of two transomed lights on the lower floor and a restored two-light window above. Centrally between the bays and lighting the Gallery are two large projecting windows, both of four transomed lights on the face and one on each return, supported on carved console-brackets and with a cornice and modern pediment level with the wall-string; over them are similar windows, but lower and without pediments, lighting the upper floor. Between the upper windows and the bays are small two-light windows, except in the westernmost space.
The N. side (Plate 221) has at the E. end a N.E. wing and at the W. end the brick projecting bay containing the main staircase in the President's Lodge; the latter was added between 1791–3, during the Presidency of Dr. Milner, and planned by Carter; beyond is the N. end of the W. range of Cloister Court. The general treatment is similar to that of the S. side. In the reentrant angle to the E. is a three-sided projecting staircase-bay with an early 17th-century round-headed timber doorway in the N. face. The doorway has spandrels carved with a putto and two lions and fluted Ionic side-pilasters on pedestals supporting a restored pedimented entablature; it contains a panelled and nail-studded door with 18th-century glazing in the head. In the W. face of the bay is a modern doorway and the two-light windows on the upper floors are largely modern. The main wall-face is divided unequally into two by a brick chimney-stack; towards the outer ends are projecting windows on the two floors similar to those at the same levels on the S. Centrally between the lower western window just described and the stack is a semicircular bow-window to the Gallery supported on two large scrolled brackets; it is of seven transomed lights with moulded frames and mullions. The late 16th or early 17th-century chimney-stack has, on the ground floor, a large arched recess with semicircular stone head with jewel-ornament on the key, a weathering at eaves-level and three tall octagonal shafts, the westernmost a subsequent addition.
The N.E. wing is generally uniform in treatment with the N. range. The ground floor is of 16th-century brickwork with a moulded plinth and refaced on the W. and the timber-framed superstructure stands on moulded plates. The N. end is gabled and the shaped ends of the head-rails of the side walls project at eaves-level and have pierced pendants. The projecting bay on the N. is semicircular; it starts at first-floor level, rises the height of the two upper storeys and has windows the full width on the first and second floors, each of seven transomed lights; the semicircular conical roof of slightly ogee profile against the gable-end is shingled and has a carved wood finial. The E. and W. windows are largely modern. In the E. wall is a late 17th-century doorway S. of the projecting chimney-stack; this last has had the upper part rebuilt. A number of rainwater-heads are of the 18th century.
The bay containing the main staircase in the President's Lodge rises the full height of the range and has a hipped roof. In the N. wall, on the first floor, is a double-hung sash-window with semicircular head set in a recessed wall-arch of the same form. Across the face of the ground floor is an early 19th-century loggia.
The Interior of the N. range contains heavy chamfered ceiling-beams across the covered walk. The Gallery (Plate 224) (79¼ ft. by 12 ft.) on the first floor is panelled from floor to ceiling with late 16th or early 17th-century oak panelling divided into bays by enriched and fluted Doric pilasters on pedestals, with carved lions' heads on the entablature-blocks; the panels are small, in five heights, with moulded muntins and rails, a moulded plinth and an entablature with reeded frieze. The original fireplace has moulded stone jambs and a four-centred arch with sunk spandrels in a square head; over it are two enriched oak panels divided by a strip-pilaster with scale enrichment, with a band of guilloche-ornament below. The doorways have been altered to some extent to take 18th-century doors and the panelling has been patched in pine. The windows have been much restored; in the S. oriel-window is a quantity of 16th and early 19th-century heraldic glass: in the E. light, of (1) Andrew Docket, President 1448, (2) John Jenyn, President 1519, (3) Simon Heynes, President 1528; in S.E. light, of (1) Thomas Wilkinson, President 1484, (2) Robert Bekensaw, President 1508, (3) William Mey, President 1537, (4) Grey quartering Booth, perhaps late 19th century, (5) John Stokes, President 1560, (6) Thomas Peacock, President 1557; in S. light, of (1) the College, with '1589' in a strapwork panel, and of that date, (2) Humphrey Tindall, Dean of Ely, President 1579, quartering Felbrigg, (unidentified 19), Scales and Mundeford, with 159[0]' in a strapwork panel below, and of that date, (3) achievement similar to (2) but with a sixth quarter of Tindall, (4) John Stokes; in S.W. light, of (1) John Mansel, President 1622, (2) Henry James, President 1675, (3) Robert Plumtre, President 1760, (4) Edward Martyn, President 1631 and 1660, (5) John Davies, President 1717, (6) Isaac Milner, President 1788; in W. light, of (1) William Wells, President 1667, (2) William Sedgwick President 1732, (3) Thomas Farman (?), President 1525 many of these shields are given gold borders which are no part of the arms. The enriched modern plaster ceiling was designed by H. T. Hare in a style contemporary with the building.
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Queens' College, the Library and Gallery at First Floor Level
The Essex Room, formerly the President's study, on the first floor of the N.E. wing, is lined from floor to ceiling with panelling similar to that in the Gallery. The fireplace has a bolection-moulded stone surround with key-block of c. 1700; the oak overmantel with flanking pilasters is in three bays, each with two heights of enriched arched panels, all much altered and reset. In the glass of the N. window is a late 16th-century achievement-of-arms in a Garter of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, Chancellor 1598–1601, with sixteen quarterings, i Devereux, ii Bourchier, iii Woodstock, iv Bohun of Hereford, v Milo, vi Mandeville, vii Louvain, viii Woodville, ix Crophull, x Verdun, xi Bigod, xii Marescal, xiii Ferrers, xiv Chester, xv and xvi destroyed, and talbot and stag supporters. The original staircase adjoining on the W. has an octagonal central newel with a modern cap and a reset balustrade on the first floor with square moulded balusters set diagonally; the landing doorway, with fluted Roman Doric pilasters on pedestals set against the returns of the jambs and supporting a semicircular head with enriched soffit, carved spandrels and key-block, is original. The staircase in the S.E. projecting bay, starting at first-floor level, is a mid 17th-century insertion and cuts across the windows; it has square newels with moulded pendants, plain handrail, two shaped posts on the top landing and modern balusters. The late 18th-century main staircase to the W. rises round four sides of an open well and has a plain cut string, moulded and ramped handrail, slender square balusters and newels in the form of columns.
The upper floor, over the Gallery, may originally have formed one large room; all the present rooms are formed by panelled partitions generally of the 18th century. The arched braces of the original roof-trusses, surviving on the N. only, have guilloche-enrichment on the soffits. The E. half of this storey, at a period prior to the insertion of the late 18th-century partitions, formed one room which is now demarcated by the mid 17th-century enriched frieze on the N. and S. walls extending as far as the middle bay on the S. The remainder of the panelling, including some linenfold, is of the 16th, 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries, of oak and pine and all much altered and reset. The original stone fireplace in the N. wall has moulded jambs with shaped stops and a four-centred arch in a square head; the panelling of c. 1600 above has three enriched arched panels and frieze-panels carved with arabesques. The bedroom in the N.E. wing is lined with panelling similar to that in the Gallery with a frieze of guilloche-ornament and with pilasters flanking the window-bay. The fireplace and panelled overmantel are generally similar to those in the room below except that the restored and reset overmantel is rather simpler; the S. door is similar to that on the landing of the adjoining staircase on the floor below. In the attic the roofs have been ceiled; the 18th-century dormer-windows retain their original leaded casements.
The West Range of Cloister Court is of two storeys with attics and contains the private residential rooms of the President's Lodge and also sets of rooms. It was built between 1448 and before 1494, probably shortly after the earlier date, and originally continued further to the S. On the ground floor and facing the Court is an arcaded covered walk generally similar to that on the N. but of fourteen bays. Also the arches are of three orders, except the northernmost and the eighth from the N. which are of two orders; these last and the southernmost are continued down to form entrances, the N. and S. opening respectively into the N. and S. arcaded walks of the Court; the eighth has a lower and more pointed head than the rest of the arcading. On the first floor is a range of seven 15th-century windows of two four-centred lights in four-centred heads with moulded reveals; an eighth window at the N. end has been blocked and a smaller single-light window of similar character, itself now blocked, inserted.
The W. side (Plate 219), which rises sheer from the river, is divided into three unequal bays by a large rectangular garderobe on the N. and two projecting chimney-stacks with splayed sides further S. It has a chamfered plinth, a stone string at first-floor level and an 18th-century wood eaves-cornice. The original windows are generally similar to those on the E. The garderobe has been extended some 2½ ft. to the N., the original width being indicated by the length of weathered tabling over a shallow projection and by the line of the original W. gable; in the W. face, at water-level, are three two-centred arches and a fourth in the S. face, all now blocked; above is a number of small one and two-light windows with chamfered four-centred heads, all probably original; two are blocked, and of another only the relieving-arch survives. In the northernmost bay is a blocked opening to a drain near water-level and at the same level in the S. bay a large four-centred brick arch to a conduit, also now blocked. In the centre bay the restored doorway giving access to the bridge over the river has chamfered jambs and four-centred head. Of the seven ground-floor windows, six are of two lights, as shown on the plan, and original, with the exception of the middle and northernmost in the S. bay which are modern; the sixth window, in the N. bay, is a plain 18th-century rectangular window. On the first floor, the N. bay contains a large late 17th-century sash-window with moulded stone architrave immediately to the N. of a three-sided oriel-window. This last is said by Cole to have been inserted in 1711, but the style of much of the stonework is a hundred years earlier. The oriel is supported on shaped stone corbels with label-like wall-panels below and has base mouldings in the form of a cornice and frieze, the latter with panel decoration, double-hung sashes, a small stone cornice, and a rusticated and embattled parapet wall. The three first-floor windows in each of the other two bays are of one and two lights and original. The lower parts of the chimney-stacks are original; the shafts were rebuilt in the 18th century.
The N. end of the W. range is covered on the ground floor by largely modern additions. A polygonal turret on the N.E. shown in Loggan's view of the College has been destroyed except perhaps for some thick walling at the base through which the main entrance to the President's Lodge was cut late in the 18th century. The three-storey semi-octagonal bay-window in the centre is probably of the early 17th century; in the two upper floors are much restored windows of two lights on the face and one on each return and with small cornices above. The main eaves have an 18th-century wood cornice.
The Interior of the range contains on the ground floor heavy moulded ceiling-beams continued across the covered walk. The partition-walls to the walk and the passage to the bridge are of original timber-framing; the entrance to the passage has been renewed; near the S. end the opening to the stair has a head-beam with braces forming an elliptical arch and all of the 17th century. The late 17th-century S. staircase (Plate 66) has close strings, heavy moulded rail, turned balusters and panelled newels with moulded cappings; it was introduced presumably to give access to the principal rooms on the first floor but now serves the sets of rooms to the S. These last retain only a late 15th-century timber door-frame to the set on the first floor that extends into the Essex Building. The President's Lodge (see also Front Court, N. range, and Cloister Court, N. range), occupying the part of the range N. of the bridge passage on the ground floor and N. of the S. staircase on the upper floor, contains at the S. end of the Kitchen an 18th-century staircase and, in the S. wall, an original doorway with four-centred head, now blocked, to the passage. The base of the garderobe, now a small pantry, is barrel-vaulted. The N. end of the original range and the junction with the 17th-century work is marked by a heavy chamfered ceiling-beam; further N. is a later larder with a reused 16th-century door of four panels with moulded and studded framing and strap-hinges.
The President's Dining Room (Plate 210), formerly the Audit Room, over the Kitchen, is panelled throughout with early 17th-century oak panelling divided into bays by reeded and fluted Ionic pilasters on panelled bases supporting an entablature with reeded frieze and carved lions' heads; the bays generally contain seven heights of three rectangular panels in moulded framing. The original stone fireplace has moulded and elbowed jambs and a four-centred head with sunk spandrels bringing it out to a square; it is flanked by wood Roman Doric fluted pilasters supporting a jewelled frieze and shelf. The early 17th-century overmantel is in three bays divided by pilasters tapering to the base with gadroon ornament below Ionic caps and standing on pedestals with strapwork and prism-ornament and supporting a return of the main cornice from the side walls; the bays are in two heights of panels each containing a geometrical pattern of subsidiary enriched panels. The early 18th-century oriel-window contains heraldic glass: in N.W. light, of (1) the See of Salisbury impaling John Davenant S.T.P., President 1614, Bishop of Salisbury, (2) the See of Rochester impaling John Fisher S.T.P., President 1505, Bishop of Rochester; in middle light, of (1) Henry VI impaling Margaret of Anjou, (2) the College, (3) Edward IV impaling Elizabeth Woodville, (4) Roos impaling Spencer in a lozenge and inscribed 'Domina Margareta de Roos principia benefactrix circa 1478', (5) quarterly (i) Inglethorpe, (ii) Burgh, (iii) Bradston, (iv) de la Pole impaling quarterly (i) and (iv) Tiploft, (ii) Charlton, (iii) Holland, all in a lozenge and inscribed 'D[omi]na Joanna Ingaldesthorp Benefactrix 1491', (6) the See of Lincoln impaling Chaderton, President 1568, Bishop of Lincoln, with 'W.L.' below, (7) the See of Ely impaling (unidentified 20), (8) the See of Winchester impaling H.E. Ryle, President 1896, Bishop of Winchester, all in a Garter; in S.W. light, of (1) the See of Bangor impaling William Glyn, President 1553, Bishop of Bangor, (2) Antony Sparrow, President 1662, Bishop of Norwich, impaling the See of Norwich (reversed). The glass and woodwork of this window were paid for by the President, Dr. James, in 1711, and the original bevelled glass and glazing-bars survive. Most of the shields-of-arms are applied; (7) may be early 18th-century and the remainder later in the century, with the exception of (4), (6) and (8) which are perhaps 19th-century. The ceiling has three 15th-century moulded ceiling-beams and wall-plates.
The President's Drawing Room, immediately N. of the Dining Room, is lined with late 16th-century oak panelling divided into bays by fluted Doric pilasters on pedestals with an entablature with fluted frieze; the bays contain six heights of panels in framing with run-out mouldings. The fireplace is modern; above it is a reset panel containing an 18th-century landscape painting. In the E. wall is a semi-domed recess fitted with 18th-century shelving and with late 16th-century panelled doors with cock's-head hinges. The original entrance to the room was through a small doorway at the E. end of the S. wall; the present entrance-lobby embodying late 16th-century panelling was formed in 1791–3. The room on the first floor of the garderobe on the W., entered through a doorway in the panelling, has a floor of 15th-century tiles. A chute from the floor above against the S. wall has been truncated and supported on shaped brackets in the 18th century; in the wall below is a rebated opening to a small oven with brick vault. Fixed to the wall by the oven is a mid 18th-century turned wood wig-stand. The bedroom over the Drawing Room contains an early 17th-century pinewood panelled dado with a frieze of arabesque-ornament in the N. bay-window. The original N. wall-truss of this range is visible in an alcove in the W. wall of the same room. Built out on the E. slope of the roof and now concealed under the roof of the range containing the Gallery is a mid to late 16th-century dormer-window of four lights with moulded oak frame and mullions (see above under Cloister Court, N. range).
The South Walk (Plate 220) of Cloister Court is generally uniform in date and build with the walk incorporated in the N. range; for the greater part of the length it stands free and has a lead-covered roof. The arcade to the Court consists of eleven openings, excluding the earlier porch at the E. end already described; the arches are of two chamfered orders, except the middle one which is higher than the others and of three orders and was originally open down to the ground. The S. wall seems to have been almost entirely rebuilt in the 18th century; the lowest courses are of red brick, the remainder of white brick.
Pump Court (Plate 220), of irregular shape (average 54 ft. by 30 ft.) lies immediately to the S. of Cloister Court and is bounded on the W. and S. by an L-shaped building designed by James Essex and built between 1756 and 1760 as part of a larger scheme for rebuilding the whole of the river-front. Essex Building is of three storeys, with walls of white brick in English bond with dressings of Ketton and Portland stone. The W. side rises sheer from the river (Plate 219) and has a high stone plinth with roll-moulded capping. The stone plat-band at first-floor level, the cornice and balustraded parapet are continued across the outward faces; on the Court side the string is omitted and the plain parapet-wall is of brick. All the windows have moulded stone architraves and are placed at regular intervals horizontally, as shown on plan, and vertically; the tallest windows are on the first floor and the shortest, almost square, on the top floor; all contain double-hung sashes except the two blocked windows in the middle of the N. front of the E. wing. The door architraves are similar to those of the windows. One bay on each side flanking the S.W. external angle of the building projects slightly, perhaps in some measure to represent the original turret-treatment at the corners of the 15th-century Front Court; incorporated in the same angle, at ground-floor level, is a stone and cast-iron Doric quarter column. The ground-floor windows to Silver Street (Plate 228) contain original wrought-iron grilles.
The Interior of Essex Building contains sets of rooms, with a Kitchen-staff room on the ground floor of the E. wing. The principal staircase is of the date of the building and has moulded close strings, turned balusters, moulded handrail and square newels with moulded caps; against the wall is a panelled dado. The main room in most of the sets is lined with mid 18th-century fielded panelling with moulded dado-rail and wood cornice, some with dentils. The panelling in a room on the second floor, to the N. of the staircase, has all the members enriched with carved leaf and flower ornament and an eared panel in the overmantel. All the original doors are of six fielded panels.
Walnut Tree Court, N. of Front Court, has an E. range built in 1617–9; purchase of the building materials had been begun in 1616. Between 1778 and 1782 the two original attic-storeys were replaced by the present third storey and in 1823 the range was re-roofed and the embattled parapet added. The walls are of brick with stone dressings, the latter much refaced with Roman cement. Gilbert Wigge, Henry Mann, Wilson and Pindar all appear in the few surviving accounts for the original work, and of them the two last received considerably more in payment than the others. A sum of 5s. was paid 'to two freemasons for contriving the building' but whether Wigge was in fact one of them is not clear.
The W. face to the Court, excluding the southernmost bay, is symmetrical, with two doorways and one and two-light windows of uniform design disposed as shown on the plan. The arrangement of the windows on the upper floors follows that below, with two-light windows over the doorways. The doorways have splayed jambs and moulded four-centred heads with sunk spandrels and labels. The windows have rectangular openings with splayed reveals and labels with return stops, the wider mullions cloaking internal partition-walls; the original brick relieving-arches are more rounded than those in the mediaeval walling elsewhere; those in the 18th-century walling are segmental. The E. face is symmetrical and divided into five unequal bays by four projecting chimney-stacks; the latter have renewed octagonal shafts. The fenestration is the same on each floor and the windows are similar to those on the E. front except that most of the labels run horizontally and stop against the chimney-stacks. A small loop-light has been inserted on the first floor of the S. bay.
The Interior contains sets of rooms. An exposed longitudinal ceiling-beam stops at the S. end of the range where the N. wall of the old Chapel vestry formerly stood. In the S. wall is the 15th-century moulded segmental-pointed rear-arch of the former doorway from the vestry to the old Chapel and in the S. end of the W. wall are parts of a doorway which gave access to the Court from the vestry. The 15th-century N.E. cornerturret of Front Court is now entered from this range through a doorway with rounded head. Three rooms on the ground floor have 17th-century stone fireplaces with moulded jambs and four-centred arches in square heads. The modern panelling on the S. side of the N. main room opens to show a pattern of arcading in blue, green, ochre and red painted on the face of the original timber-framed partition-wall and extending from above a painted dado, now almost entirely destroyed, nearly to the ceiling. It is in seven bays containing semicircular-headed arches with moulded imposts and bases in false perspective and divided and flanked by columns with Corinthian-like capitals (Plate 58). Off centre in the fifth bay a pediment with scrolled cresting appears to replace the arch and one column, but this area is much damaged and in part destroyed. The whole is probably contemporary with the building.
Evidence of the original arrangement of the rooms on the first floor remains in the studding and junction of wall-plates in some of the bedrooms. On the first floor the room S. of staircase 'G' is lined with 18th-century fielded panelling with dado and cornice, and the room to the N. has some similar panelling, much made up. The room N. of staircase 'H' has a 17th-century clunch fireplace similar to the others on the ground floor but with an early 17th-century wood surround with banded and ornamental side-pilasters and moulded shelf and an overmantel in two bays divided and flanked by small coupled columns supporting a deep entablature enriched with paired brackets and strapwork; in each bay is a panel containing an elaborate strapwork framing to a smaller square panel enclosing added shields of the University and the College. Round the same room is a 17th or 18th-century dentil-cornice. Some of the doors to the sets are original and of moulded planks with narrow vertical panels and strap-hinges; a number of 18th-century doors in the sets retain their original brass rim-locks.
Under the walnut-tree in the Court foundations of a clunch wall run E. and W. This probably marks the S. boundary of the Carmelite Convent which was on the N. side of the former lane from Queens' Lane to the river.
The President's Garden is bounded on the N. by an old red brick wall and by an 18th-century wall on the E. The Fellows' Garden has a N. wall of clunch and reused stone patched with brick; this is probably the wall built by King's College in 1551; the return-wall on the E. as far as the surviving wall of the Carmelite church is of the same character; to the S. of the junction the wall is of 18th-century buff-coloured brick with both strip and two-stage buttresses. The wall of the Carmelite Church extends some 165 ft. from this junction towards the new building of 1886. There seems to be little doubt that it is the lower part of the N. wall of the church. It is faced on the S. side with clunch ashlar except for two patches near the middle, which may represent cross-walls or responds. The N. face of the wall is also faced with ashlar; it is divided into seven bays by the remains of former buttresses and has a moulded plinth to the six E. bays; the seventh bay has had the plinth destroyed. In the W. bay is a 14th-century doorway, now blocked, with moulded jambs and much weathered two-centred arch. The whole wall is about 3 ft. thick and has been patched and heightened with brick; no traces of window-sills appear although it stands some 6 ft. high. It is probable from these facts that this is the N. wall of the aisleless church, with the oblong crossing usual in Friars' churches represented by the patched ends of the two cross-walls. The monastic buildings must have stood to the S. of the church and between it and the former lane.
The timber Bridge over the Cam was built in 1902 and is a copy of the bridge that was built in 1749–50 by Essex to the designs of W. Etheridge.
The Brewhouse, on the W. side of the Cam, first built in 1533–4, was recently converted for use as two junior commonrooms and extensively altered. Some of the brick walls and roof-timbers are old; the brickwork may in part be of the 16th century; the roof-timbers are later. Adjoining the brewhouse on the N. is the Fellows' Fruit Garden enclosed by brick walls of different dates. The S. wall, E. of the brewhouse, is of the 17th century and probably of 1667–72; it is about 10 ft. high, with a renewed capping of bricks set on arris and a brick coping. The E. wall is much patched and heightened in white brick and with added buttresses on the west; opposite the timber bridge it contains a modern doorway. The eastern part of the N. wall as far as the break is of the 19th century; the remainder westward is probably late 18th-century and contains a doorway of that date of Bath stone with a square head and moulded architrave. The W. wall is of c. 1800, in English bond, and with strip-buttresses on the E. at approximately 13 ft. centres. The S. wall, W. of the Brewhouse, is of modern white brick.