Jesus College . Photograph 2022 by John Ward of Oxfordshire. Used by Creative Commons 2.0. Click on images to enlarge them.
According to Elsie M. Lang, “Jesus College was founded by a Welshman for Welshman in 1571. Queen Elizabeth, herself of Welsh origin, and specially interested because it was the first college to be founded since the Reformation, providing the site” (246). Building the college started slowly: “Except fpr two storeys of the east front and two staircases on the southern side of the outer quad no building was done until 1618” (216) when the hall and kitchen were added. Francis Mansell finished the quad, but troubles were not far behind and the college was "dismantled” (248) during the Commonwealth when it served as a garrison. At the Restoration Principal Jenkins, who “retrieved the Reputation and advanced the discipline of the College, . . . completed the Library and part of the Western side of the Inner Quadrangle” (249).
“In 1773 the Northwest corner of the inner quadrangle was completed” (250).
Left: The college crest above the Ship Street entrance gate. Photograph by “Bencherlife”. Used by Creative Commons SA 3.0. Middle: The Main Entrance to Jesus College, Oxford . Photograph by “Kaihsu”. Used by Creative Commons. Right: Coat of Arms of of Jesus College. Photograph by Chevron Tango. Used by Creative Commons SA 3.0.
The eighteenth century finally saw the goals of the founders begin to be accomplished when
a number of scholarships . . . “strictly confined to Welshmen” brought university education within the range of many students belonging to the middle and lower classes, that “in every department of civil life,”particularly in the Church, Welshmen are to be found honourable positions usually half the Welsh bishops are Jesus men. [251]
Victorian Additions to the College Buildings
“The east front was rebuilt and the gateway tower added in 1856, and in 1864 the chapel was carefully restored. New Buildings were added on the north in 1907” (251).
The Principal's Lodgings (left) and the chapel (right) are located within the First Quad of Jesus College, Oxford. Photograph by “Bencherlite”. Used by Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0.
Bibliography
Lang, Elsie M. The Oxford Colleges. London: T. Werner. HathiTrust online version of a copy in the University of Michigan Library. Web. 8 November 2022.
Last modified 3 October 2012