New College Entrance Quad, Oxford . W. Matthison. c. 1909. Source: Artistic Colored Views of Oxford.Click on images to enlarge them.
During the eighteenth century New made little or no progress. Warden Shuttleworth, appointed in 1822, roused it from its torpor. He was exceedingly influential, “no person of any eminence” came to Oxford without visiting him. He took a prominent part in the controversy occasioned by the Tractarian movement, and was responsible for the first step towards the changes which revolutionised Oxford early in the nineteenth century. The curious “railroad” in the common room, the first known in Oxford, by which decanters are carried by their own weight from one side of the fireplace to the other, was due to him; he had seen the principle made use of in the Durham collieries.
Left: The Entrance Gateway. Right: The Tower. Both by W. G. Blackall. c. 1920 Source: The Charm of Oxford, Plate XXIII.
In 1865 a complete restoration of the college by Sir Gilbert Scott was set on foot, beginning with the hall, in which he put up the present wooden roof. His next step was to erect a block of buildings on a piece of land, recently purchased by the college, lying outside the old city wall, parallel with the line of hall and chapel and with a frontage on Holywell Street. Finally he set to work upon the chapel; he put up the oak canopy and the open oak roof;, he built the organ loft, and had just restored the stone niches in the reredos, in exact imitation of the original design, when he was interrupted by death. The remainder of the work was entrusted to Mr Pearson, who filled the niches with statues illustrative of the “Te Deum, " the members of the college defraying the expense.
In 1884 a tutor’s house and a new staircase was built on the east of Scott’s block and in 1898 a new gateway tower was erected in memory of Mr Alfred Robinson, who had rendered great services to the college as bursar, the whole forming the new or third quadrangle, with the belfry tower and the old fortifica tions on its third side. At the south - east corner we can pass between the college and the old city wall into the gardens, which have two unique beauties, the “Mount, ”an artificial mound which at the ex pense of much labour was made in 1529, and the old city wall, standing just as it was in the time of the Civil War, which forms a most delightful and picturesque background to the trees and flowers. The gardens are open from 9 A. M. till dusk, except on Sundays in summer, when they are closed till 2 P. M.
By 1860 New College was the second largest college in the university. It was the first to admit married fellows.
Among famous New College names are: William Grocyn, William Warkham, Archbishop of Canterburyand Lord High Chancellor of England, Bishop Ken, Sydney Smith, Lord Milner, and those of numbers of bishops, and some archbishops, besides men distinguished in every branch of learning. The chapel is open free every day from 11 till 1 and from 2 till 4. (till 3 on Saturdays). There is a choral service every day at 8 A. M. (7. 30 A. M. in summer term) and at 5 P. M. (6 P. M. in summer) and on Sundays at 9. 30 A. M. and 6 P. M., to which visitors are admitted- except on Sundays in term time, when an order from the sub-warden is required. A treasure preserved in a glazed recess on the north side of the chapel is the founder’ s pastoral staff, one of the most beautiful of the kind in existence.
The hall is reached by a staircase in the muniment tower, the four rooms in which were once used for storing college utensils, charters and documents, and plate and jewels, but now contain only the college archives. They still have the original tiled floors and vaulted roofs.
Leaving the college by the new gateway on Holywell Street we turn to the right and proceed through Long Wall Street into the High and there on our left is Magdalen.
Links to Related Material
Bibliography
Artistic Colored Views of Oxford Being Proof Sheets of the Postcards of Oxford. Illustrated by W. G. Blackall. Oxford: E. Cross, nd. Internet Archive version of a copy in St. Michael's College Toronto. 3 October 2012.
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.
Wells, J. The Charm of Oxford. Illustrated by W. G. Blackall. 2nd ed. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton Kent & Co., [c.1920]. Internet Archive version of a copy in St. Michael's College Toronto. 3 October 2012.
Last modified 11 November 2022