Pembroke College

Pembroke College

(33) Pembroke College stands on the E. side of Trumpington Street bounded on the N. by Pembroke Street, on the E. by Tennis Court Road and on the S. by the Master's Lodge and Garden of Peterhouse and Tennis Court Terrace. The walls are of ashlar and brick; the roofs are tile, slate and lead-covered. The Hall of Valence Marie or Pembroke Hall, now Pembroke College, was founded by Mary de St. Pol, Countess of Pembroke, Baroness of Wexford in Ireland, and of Montignac, Bellac and Rançon in France, daughter of Guy, Count of St. Pol, and widow of Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke. The Royal Licence of foundation was granted by Edward III on 24 December 1347.

Already, in 1346, the Foundress had bought a narrow strip of land in the N.W. part of the present site and in 1351 this was nearly doubled in extent by the purchase of the adjoining strip on the S., making a total area measuring some 250 ft. from E. to W. by 110 ft. from N. to S. The date of the commencement of the College buildings is not definitely known and subsequent alterations have obliterated the architectural evidence for it, but the oldest part, Old Court, which occupied the N. half of the present First Court, was compressed within the short N. to S. dimension, suggesting that building was begun before the acquisition in 1389 of more land to the south. By 1363 reference is made to Pembroke Hall; further, permission was granted to the Society by Innocent VI in 1355, and by Simon Langham, Bishop of Ely, in 1365, to build a chapel, and again by Urban V in 1366 more specifically for a chapel with bell-turret within the walls of the Hall. A licence to celebrate in the vestry 'of the Chapel annexed to the College' granted by John Fordham, Bishop of Ely, in 1398 implies that the Chapel was at least far advanced, if not already completed. Thus the period covering the building of Old Court was perhaps at most from 1351 to 1398. The Foundress died in 1377.

Only the West Range, containing the Gateway, and the North Range, with the Chapel, now the Old Library, in the W. end, survive of Old Court and bound the present First Court on the N. and N.W. The Hall was in the E. range, with the butteries and the Kitchen, in part surviving, in the N.E. external angle. The Master's Lodge was in the S. range. In 1452 a Library was added over the Hall, the random relation of the windows to the Hall-buttresses below, which is so conspicuous in Loggan's engraving of the College, demonstrating that it was no part of the original scheme. The Hall was extensively refitted in 1634 and the Renaissance doorway to it shown by Loggan, now the entrance to the Fellows' Garden, is probably of that time.

In the 17th century the College was much enlarged by the addition of Ivy Court to the E. and Chapel Court to the S. of Old Court. In Ivy Court the N. range was begun in 1614 and finished in 1616 (A. Attwater, Pembroke College (1936), 63); in 1670 it was extended 32 ft. to the E. at a cost of £301. In 1653 the Court of Chancery confirmed to the College property bequeathed by Sir Robert Hitcham in 1636 and, in 1659, during the Mastership of William Moses (1654– 60), the S. range, Hitcham Building, was begun; John Young was chief mason and William Allenby chief bricklayer. Loggan shows that previously it was more uniform with the range opposite than now appears, before the gabled dormer-windows on the S. side of the latter were removed. The three western bays of the N. front to the Court are designed as a self-contained architectural composition and they and the adjoining bay differ from the others to the extent that a different period of construction has been postulated for them. However the relation of their floor-levels with the windows suggests only a remodelling, and it may be that this end was earmarked for the Master and so given greater distinction, an explanation that is supported by a College order of 1679 appropriating it to him. The change was made early, if not during building; Moses' disbursements (College Muniments, Framlingham Box I. 4) includes the entry, 'March [1660–1], spent on Mr. Mills when he came to take measure of the building and on Young and Allenby when they came to adjust their accounts, £11', and the style of the composition is comparable with the work elsewhere of Peter Mills, bricklayer, of London.

The New Chapel bordering First Court on the S. was built at the sole expense of Matthew Wren, Bishop of Ely 1638–67, partly on land previously occupied by St. Thomas' Hostel. Wren, a Fellow of the College and formerly a protégé of Launcelot Andrewes (Master 1589–1605), was released from the Tower after seventeen years' imprisonment in March 1659–60, and with little delay arrangements for providing the new building were begun. The land S. of Old Court had been acquired earlier, in 1389 and 1549, together with the lease in perpetuity of St. Thomas' Hostel in 1451. In 1662 the College redeemed a forty year lease of the last and thereafter the new Chapel was begun, to the designs of Christopher Wren, nephew of Bishop Wren. A contemporary model of it (Plate 37) is preserved in the College (see under Chapel fittings). On 16 May 1663 Mark Frank (Master 1662–4) contracted with George Jackson and Thomas Hutton of Cambridge, bricklayers, for the brickwork. In 1664 the roof was covered, and on 10 January 1664–5 Robert Mapletoft (Master 1664–77) entered into an agreement with Cornelius Austin and Richard Billopps and William his son of Cambridge, joiners, for the wainscoting. The building was consecrated by Bishop Wren on St. Matthew's day 21 September 1665. Subsequently it was extended eastward. A general bill for £3,658 was given in to the Bishop in December 1665 but the Parentalia (ed. 1750, pp. 44, 45) says that he spent over £5,000 upon the building. The old Chapel was not converted into the Library, now the Old Library, until 1690 when in all probability the present windows were inserted and the N. wall refaced, if, indeed, the building was not more extensively reconstructed; the books were transferred to it from over the Hall in 1693–7.

In 1664 the College decided to connect Old Court to the Chapel, then in building, by a cloister with chambers over, and applied to Bishop Wren for money for the project from Hitcham's bequest, of which he was supervisor. Work on Sir Robert Hitcham's Cloister was completed in 1666 at a cost of £467; meanwhile the cloister had been consecrated for burials at the time of the consecration of the Chapel.

At the same period the older buildings were in need of repair and work was done on them in 1664 and 1689. The dilapidation was such that in 1712 the College decided to expend Mr. Banckes' legacy upon refacing the side of Old Court to Trumpington Street with ashlar; in 1717 £283 was subscribed towards refacing the inner sides and £28 for ashlaring the Gatehouse. Subsequently and before 1733 a further £953 was spent on repairs. Later in the same century rebuilding was considered and a building-fund started in 1776, in memory of Thomas Gray, the poet. It was again seriously considered in 1862; instead £4,000 was spent on repairs, under the supervision of the architect, J. A. Cory, mostly on the Hall and offices, but this proved an interim measure. In 1874 the S. range of Old Court was entirely demolished and not rebuilt, the enlarged area so formed being the present First Court, and in 1875 Alfred Waterhouse was authorised, not without protest, to demolish and rebuild the whole of the E. range, including the Hall, screens and butteries, and the Combination Room adjoining the Hall on the S.

Most of the reconstruction and extensive additions in the College at this time were the work of Waterhouse, including the Old Master's Lodge, E. of Ivy Court, 1871–3, the Range S. of the Chapel, 1871–2, the new East Range containing the Hall, screens and dais begun in 1875, and the Range containing the Library and Treasury, S.E. of the Chapel, completed in 1877.

In 1880 the Chapel was extended one bay eastward by George Gilbert Scott and all the stucco removed from the outside and from the E. side of the cloister and the whole repointed and made to match. The way through to the Chapel from Old Court, by the cloister, being no longer used, the N. end was partitioned to form a vestry and about one-third of the width of the cloister divided off for stairs and offices. In connection with this work, the doorway opening into the cloister from Trumpington Street, shown by Loggan in the second bay from the S. and by subsequent artists further N., was removed and, at the same time, the chambers in the range were entirely replanned.

It appears that the College had in 1879 ordered the demolition of the Old Library, the original Chapel, but the order was rescinded upon strong representations from G. G. Scott. New ranges in the French Renaissance style were built by Scott on the N. and E. sides of the former Paschal Yard, now New Court, E. of the old Master's Lodge, between 1880 and 1883; they front on Pembroke Street and Tennis Court Road. He also added the turret in the N.E. angle of First Court.

Alterations and additions undertaken in the present century include a new block of chambers between Ivy Court and the old Master's Lodge, by W. D. Caröe, the heightening of the Hall Range by a storey and attic containing chambers, and a new Master's Lodge, in the S.E. corner of the Fellows' Garden, completed in 1932, both by Maurice Webb.

Pembroke College, by including a College chapel in the 14th-century buildings enclosing the court, is an early example of the typical collegiate plan at Cambridge; but the architectural evidence of it has been almost destroyed by demolitions made within the last eighty-five years. The character of the surviving mediaeval ranges has been altered by 17th and 18th-century restorations. The New Chapel of 1663–5 is of much interest, being the first completed work of Sir Christopher Wren, and both it and the old Library contain notable 17th-century plaster ceilings and carved woodwork. The 17th-century cushions in the Chapel are rare survivals.

Architectural Description—First Court (92 ft. average by 130½ ft.) includes the areas of Old Court and Chapel Court and of the S. range of Old Court, as indicated on the plan. (For clarity this nomenclature is adopted here, although 'Old Court' is modern College usage for the whole area.) The ranges are of one and two storeys with attics, and with cellars below the N. range. The N. half of the W. range and the N. range are of the second half of the 14th century, but the walls have been entirely refaced and no features certainly of that date survive. The S. half of the W. range was built between 1664 and 1666.

The West Range (Plate 204) contains the Gateway towards the N. end. The mediaeval walls were ashlared early in the 18th century but Loggan's late 17th-century engraving of the College shows that the earlier design of the W. side was preserved. The W. entrance, perhaps of late 14th-century origin but entirely restored, has jambs and four-centred head of two orders, the inner moulded and the outer chamfered, and a moulded label. Over the arch and flanked by oriel-windows is a square stone panel carved with the arms of the College, Valence dimidiating St. Pol, flanked by scrolls and surmounted by an achievement of the Royal arms of George I. The two early 17th-century oriel-windows are three-sided, on deep moulded corbelling, and with embattled parapets and parapetstrings returned from the main wall; the S. corbelling may be original. They both have three stone-mullioned lights on the face and one light in each canted side. The E. archway has a segmental head of two chamfered orders springing from the abutting walls and may be mediaeval. The Gatehall (17¾ ft. by 10½ ft.) is plain; in the N. wall is a doorway, perhaps mediaeval but entirely restored, with chamfered jambs and wave-moulded four-centred head; the openings in the S. wall are modern.

The rest of the W. range has, to the street, an embattled parapet and parapet-string interrupted at about the centre by a gabled bay aligned on the S. range, now destroyed, of the mediaeval court and stopped on the N. by the gabled end of the Old Library and on the S. by the W. end of the New Chapel. The whole extent of the front is of ashlar and without a plinth or any continuous vertical return, except at the junction with the New Chapel; the heraldic feature and the paired oriel-windows alone serve to accentuate the Gateway. The only variations from the features shown by Loggan are in the W. window of the Old Library, described below with the N. range, and in the substitution of a window in the second bay from the S. for a doorway. The mediaeval walling faced with ashlar early in the 18th century was previously plastered; the 17th-century wall S. of the central gable was probably of ashlar from the first; a straight joint is visible at the juncture of the two works. The windows, as shown on the plan, are of two lights with four-centred openings in square heads and with deep casement-moulded reveals; they are without labels; the second and third windows from the S. are of the late 19th century and the others appear to have been restored in the same period. On the first floor are ten windows with segmental openings, otherwise similar to those just described. They are placed vertically above the windows below except in the gabled bay where, centrally above the fifth and sixth ground-floor windows, is a large three-light window with vertical tracery in a two-centred head with a label; this last window is modern but corresponds with that shown by Loggan and may be of mediaeval origin; the northernmost window is blocked. In the roof are eleven rebuilt dormer-windows. On the ridge are four stone chimney-stacks each of four conjoined octagonal shafts on a square base; the two to the N. are in the positions of those shown by Loggan, but all are of the late 19th century.

The side to First Court has a central gabled bay, corresponding to that on the W., representing the butt-end of the destroyed original S. range of Old Court and entirely faced in the 19th century. The mediaeval wall to the N. was refaced in 1717; it has a plat-band at first-floor level and an embattled parapet with moulded parapet-string. The wall-openings are shown on the plan. The doorway at the N. end to the vestibule to the Old Library, with continuously moulded jambs and round head under a moulded label, has an early to mid 17th-century oak door; this last probably indicates the date of the doorway before the refacing. The door is in two leaves, with a central pilaster and side half-pilasters on panelled pedestals supporting a full entablature enriched with a cherub-head and cartouches on the frieze; the sunk face of the pilasters is carved with knotted cords and cartouches and on the boarded tympanum is a late 17th-century cartouche with the carved arms of the College. The original wrought-iron keyhole-plate is fretted. The doorway to the Porter's Lodge and the next doorway to the S. have two-centred heads and moulded labels and they and the windows of this part may represent mediaeval features, although almost wholly refaced. The windows are of two lights, except one of a single light over the entrance to the Porter's Lodge, and all similar to those on the W. side. In the roof above are five rebuilt dormer-windows.

S. of the central gabled bay, Hitcham's Cloister has the arcading on the ground floor ashlared, brickwork above, a plain brick parapet-wall and a moulded stone parapet-string and coping; the arcade is of six bays divided by squat Tuscan pilasters; the pilaster-caps, which support nothing, are continued as a plain plat-band. The openings have segmental heads with moulded archivolts, keystones, moulded imposts and plain responds with bases returned from those of the pilasters. Only the four centre bays are original; the two flanking bays are late 19th-century extensions made possible by the removal of small forebuildings. On the first floor are five one and three-light modern or restored windows with square heads; between the third and fourth and centrally over the middle pilaster is a square stone panel carved with the achievement-of-arms of Hitcham. On the roof are five dormer-windows in late 17th-century character but probably of the late 19th century. The chimney-stack on the external wall has been rebuilt.

The Interior of the W. range has been altered and largely modernised. (For vestibule to Old Library, see below.) On the first floor, the walls of the room over the Gateway are lined with early 17th-century panelling with some modern material divided into three bays on the N. wall by panelled Ionic pilasters enriched with foliated scrolls and supporting brackets carved with beasts' masks below a cornice. The modern fire-place in the centre bay has scroll-work panels above and similar panels in the frieze of the overmantel; the flanking bays are recessed for bookcases. The panelling on the other three walls stops at window-head level. The room adjoining on the S. has a dado made up with reused panelling; the fireplace-surround and overmantel are also made up, the reused material including pilasters similar to those just described. Most of this miscellaneous woodwork is probably from the old Hall and of 1634.

The round-headed doorway in the S. wall of the S.E. room over the Cloister that formerly gave access to the gallery in the Chapel has been blocked and made into a cupboard; it was probably approached by a stair in a small forebuilding in the S.W. corner of Chapel Court, of which the gabled roof is just visible in Loggan's engraving.

The North Range of First Court survives from the original College buildings, being the N. range of Old Court, but it has been so much repaired and refaced that for the most part only the core of the original walls remains.

The original Chapel, now the Old Library (60 ft. by 21¼ ft.) was remodelled upon conversion into the Library in 1690; the W. window inserted probably between 1534–7 and the S. buttress both shown by Loggan in c. 1681–2 have gone. The N. side is faced with brickwork with stone dressings probably of 1690; at the wall-head is a plaster cove and timber cornice, both restored. The S. side and W. end are faced with early 18th-century ashlar; the former has a plain parapet; the latter is gabled. It is lit by late 17th-century windows, six in the N. wall and four in the S., each of two tall stone-mullioned lights with four-centred heads and sunk spandrels in a rectangular moulded architrave. The gabled W. end has a flat coping and renewed finial at the apex; the W. window is of three lights in an architrave as before, but with a semicircular head to the centre light flanked by plain stone transoms in the side lights at the springing level. In the gable is a window of two lights divided by a shell-headed niche and all of the late 19th century; N. and S. lighting to the attics over the Old Library is provided by six and four gabled dormer-windows in late 17th-century style but probably entirely of the late 19th century.

The Interior of the Old Library has an enriched modillioncornice and ceiling ((Plate 207) by Henry Doogood, plasterer. The ceiling is in three compartments with moulded borders (Plate 62), enclosing elaborate foliation in the boldest relief interspersed with putti, a centaur, birds and beasts, framing large panels with semicircular ends. The main central panel (Plate 62) has figures of putti at each end, one riding an eagle, the other proffering a basket of flowers, and at random on the field flying birds modelled almost in the round; centrally at the sides are roundels containing putti, one with a water jar and rod, the other with a cup and ball. The end panels, placed crossways, have shields in the ends bearing the date 1690 and are flanked by roundels modelled with piles of books.

High in the centre of the E. wall is a plaster achievement of the Royal arms of William and Mary flanked, on the N., by a shield-of-arms (faulty) of Valence, on the S., by a lozenge-of-arms of St. Pol, both in cartouches. Original bolection-moulded oak panelling with a crowning entablature lines the walls to half their height; it rises to a similarly panelled centrepiece against the E. wall to form a setting for the fireplace. This last has a late 19th-century Frosterley marble bolection-moulded surround in the late 17th-century style. The centrepiece has a curved broken pediment framing a cartouche containing the arms of the College and flanked by foliage festoons. The frieze, cartouche and festoons are cut in high relief and finely carved and pierced.

The two E. wall-cases and the two E. pairs of projecting oak bookcases are original and in situ (Plate 209, p. 152); the others have been dismantled and the ends reset against the wall-panelling, presumably in 1880–1 when the room was adapted for lectures. The bookcases have low moulded plinths, five heights of shelving in two bays on each side, and entablatures. The ends are each divided into two heights of bolection-moulded panels by a moulded dado-rail, the lower panel being flanked by elaborately carved and scrolled side-wings; the entablature has a curved pediment containing a cartouche and carving in high-relief on the frieze. The S. doorway, moved some feet to the E. in the late 19th century, is hung with a door in two leaves, each of three bolection-moulded panels. It opens into a vestibule in the W. range containing on the W. wall an early 17th-century slate tablet with Latin inscription commemorating William Herris, [1631], 'former Fellow of Pembroke College ... now of the College of Heaven', in an alabaster frame carved with cherub-heads, a skull, scroll-work and an oval panel with the arms of Herris.

The brick cellars have been modernised, the attics also, but the latter contain, reset in the W. room, a wood elliptical tympanum with radiating fluting from the old Hall screen of 1634.

The rest of the N. range, E. of the Old Library, is faced on the N. up to the eaves with 19th-century tooled random rubble, some of it reused material, with ashlar dressings; previously, Willis and Clark record, it was of old brickwork, rough-cast as far E. as the Buttery and perhaps rather earlier than the clunch walling of the latter and the Kitchen. The S. side is of early 18th-century ashlar, but most of the dressings are subsequent renewals. The S. side has a plat-band at first-floor level and a parapet with moulded string and coping. A step down from W. to E. in the parapet at the junction with the Old Library reflects a slight alteration in the pitch of the roof behind, indicating the retention and remodelling of the old Chapel in 1690 upon conversion, as suggested above, rather than complete rebuilding. The ground-floor openings are shown on the plan; the doorways in the third and eighth bays have jambs and two-centred heads of two chamfered orders with moulded labels. In each of the six other bays and in each bay on the first floor, except the westernmost, is a two-light window with four or three-centred openings in a square head. The bay excepted contains a small loop-light, which lit the former vice adjoining the S.E. angle of the old Chapel. On the roof are six 19th-century gabled dormer-windows. The N. side has ground and first-floor windows of one, two and three lights generally similar to those in the W. range to Trumpington Street; only that next the westernmost on the upper floor varies, and it is largely original, with a single cinque-foiled opening in a square head. Lighting the cellars are four 19th-century windows. Rising above the plain eaves are three brick chimney-stacks; they have each a square shaft set diagonally on a weathered pedestal-base with crow-stepped gable to the front; the shafts have been rebuilt but the bases are of the early 17th century, restored. On the roof are four late 19th-century gabled dormer-windows, and two others with flat tops entirely modern.

The Interior of the N. range, E. of the Old Library, contains at the E. end the old Kitchen, which was modernised and heightened by taking in the first-floor room in 1880–1; the rest of the range is occupied by the Buttery and buttery-offices on the ground floor and sets of chambers above. In the cellars are some exposed chamfered ceiling-beams. The ground floor has been remodelled. On the E. wall of the Bursar's office is hung an 18th-century cartouche carved with the achievement-of-arms of Robert Trefusis, Fellow, died 1742. On the first floor, the W. room (Plate 210) is lined with oak panelling of c. 1630 extensively made up with modern panelling to match; it is of five panels in the height, with a frieze and dentilcornice, and projects on the W. wall between fluted Doric pilasters on panelled pedestals. The two doors on the E. are in projecting cases with broken pedimented entablatures enriched with jewel-ornament on the frieze, with brackets with small turned pendants supporting the dentil-cornice, and pierced strapwork scrolls in the tympanum flanking a small central pedestal. A third door with similar door-case in the centre of the W. projection opens into a cupboard. Further N., a small recess suggests the presence of an original loop opening into the Chapel, but the splays etc. are lined and entirely concealed by panelling. The surround to the fireplace in the N. wall is largely modern. In the S.W. corner of the same room is a circular recess, now with a domed head, lit by a loop-light, already described, just above floor-level; it is the only vestige of the vice from the old Chapel. The attics have been modernised.

The East Range of First Court is occupied by the late 19th-century Hall (29 ft. by 74¼ ft. including the Screens 9¼ ft. wide) and dais (23¼ ft. by 27¾ ft.) to the S. Reset in the latter is some of the 17th-century woodwork from the old Hall pieced out with modern material. The lower half of the walls is lined with panelling, in two heights, with carved frieze-panels and dentil-cornice. The lower panels, which are sub-divided into a geometrical pattern of panels, and the frieze are largely original. A panelled pilaster in the S.W. corner is dated 1634. Over the E. doorway is a carved shield-of-arms of the College enclosed in strapwork cresting, and incorporated in the modern door-case are two panels with stylised foliage and, on one, Father Time and a second male figure. Over the dais fireplace is an oak overmantel in three bays divided and flanked by enriched Corinthian pilasters standing on a panelled plinth carved with scrolls and monsters' heads and supporting an enriched entablature; each bay contains a shallow niche with a geometrical arrangement of small panels in the back and splays carved with arabesques, the semicircular concave shell-head having radiating fluting, all in a faceted frame with cherub-heads in the spandrels.

Fragments of woodwork from the old Hall and elsewhere, other than those already described, are preserved in different parts of the College. They include: in the Hall-block, on the first floor, in the S.E. room, an overmantel incorporating pilasters with foliated scrolls, grotesque mask brackets, etc., 1634, scrolled side-wings from the bookcases in the Old Library, c. 1690; in the adjoining room on the W., an overmantel incorporating a carved style, early 17th-century, scrolled side-wings from bookcases, as before, c. 1690, and two carved panels perhaps from the same source. Other side-wings are in a room on the first floor of staircase 'M' of Caröe's building.

The New Chapel (88 ft., including the E. extension 12¼ ft. and the Ante-chapel 14¾ ft. average, by 25¾ ft.) has Ketton and Portland stone ashlar E. and W. ends; the original N. and S. walls are of brick with stone dressings and the extensions of ashlar. The roof is lead-covered. The history of the building is given in detail above. It was designed by Christopher Wren, begun in 1663, roofed in 1664 and consecrated in September 1665. In 1880 it was extended by one bay eastward, the original E. end being moved and re-erected; the new work was consecrated on 25 March 1881; at the same time the N. doorway was moved a short way to the E. and all the plaster rendering stripped from the external brickwork, the last being given a spurious regularity by means of much false pointing.

The Chapel is classical in style, with a Corinthian order, and consists of a rectangular temple-like building pedimented to E. and W. It has a Portland stone ashlar stylobate projecting to support the pilasters, their Portland bases returning against a plain stone plinth. The entablature is continuous round the building; it comprises an ashlar architrave with two fasciae, a plain frieze of brick to the original side walls, ashlar elsewhere, and a timber modillion-cornice. On the ridge of the low-pitched roof, near the W. end, is a timber cupola. The form of the W. front (Plate 198, Frontispiece Part II) is based upon that of a pedimented tetrastyle portico but the Corinthian order consists of pilasters only set against the main W. wall; the architrave offends classical rule by being almost flush with the wall-face instead of the pilaster-face. The pilasters are irregularly spaced, leaving a wide centre bay containing a semicircular-headed window and narrower flanking bays containing plain semidomed niches; the astragal below the pilaster-caps is returned across the full width of the front. The composition is perhaps inspired by Serlio's reconstruction of the 'temple by the river at Tivoli' (Sebastian Serlio, Architecture, ed. London, 1611, Bk. III, cap. IV, f. 15). The window has a continuous architrave and a moulded sill, this last capping a projecting panelled apron. Above and below the niches are plain rectangular recessed wall-panels. In the main tympanum is a cartouche flanked by fruit garlands and at the foot of the pediment are freestanding flaming urns on low pedestals.

The hexagonal cupola has a panelled base, a boldly projecting cornice supported on scroll-brackets flanking a rectangular window nearly filling each face, and a lead-covered dome. At the apex of the dome is a slender pedestal supporting the turned shaft to a wrought-iron weather-vane. It is identical with that shown by Loggan and, no doubt, substantially original.

The rebuilt E. end has Corinthian pilasters clasping the angles; between them, the centre part of the wall projects slightly and contain the E. window which is tripartite, with a centre semicircular-headed light with moulded architrave flanked by shorter rectangular lights, the latter with plain sunk wall-panels above. The window has a moulded sill capping a large fielded panel in the apron below. In the main tympanum is a round window with moulded architrave; on the pediment are, at the apex, a late 19th-century cross on an enriched base, and, at the foot, two flaming urns.

The N. side has the western end concealed by the adjoining building of Hitcham's Cloister; the eastern bay, being the late 19th-century extension, is flanked by Corinthian pilasters and contains a pedimented niche; in the intervening length of brick wall are three original windows. These have semicircular heads, moulded architraves with keystones, and flanking scrollbrackets supporting straight cornices, all of stone. The sills cap panelled aprons which extend down to the plinth and have stone surrounds to brick filling; the apparent thinness of the surrounds is no doubt the effect of the contrast of materials revealed by removal of the plaster, the original appearance being indicated in the model (see Fittings). Below the W. jamb of the N.E. window is a brick segmental relieving-arch which doubtless indicates the position of the doorway to the annexe shown by Loggan and now destroyed. The lead rainwater pipes have original heads cast with the letter W. The S. side of the building is similar in detail to the N. but with four original windows.

The Interior has a lofty arched opening demarcating the original building from the extension, the two now forming the body of the Chapel and the Sanctuary respectively. The arch springs from the entablature of free-standing Sarravezza marble Corinthian columns, with stone caps, bronze bases and black Dent marble sub-bases, and their pilaster-responds; the whole structure is of 1880. The lower part of the W. bay is screened to form the Ante-chapel, the upper part remaining open to the Chapel as the organ-gallery. The elaborate plaster ceiling is original (Plate 206); the middle part, which is raised to a higher level than the shaped end panels by a deep cove, has rounded ends of rather greater circumference than the semi-circle and in it is a recessed rectangular centre panel surrounded by a modillion-cornice and a framing of scrolled foliage, the framing being continued round circular panels at the extremities; the shaped end panels contain branches of bay-leaves. The side walls are modelled above sill-level with plaster panels in enriched bolection-moulded frames and, over the semicircular rear-arches to the windows, with elaborate compositions of ribbons and festoons surrounding female masks. The ceiling of the Ante-chapel, perhaps of the 19th century, is divided by plaster mouldings into three rectangular panels, the centre one containing a circular laurel wreath and both the end ones an elliptical wreath of leaves and flowers.

The timber screen between the Chapel and Ante-chapel (Plate 205) has a main entablature continued from the panelling on the side walls (see Fittings) and supported by free-standing coupled Corinthian columns flanking the central entranceopening and by coupled pilasters at each end. The return-stalls are an integral part of the screen and consist of paired semidomed niches with a large carved cartouche applied to the central spandrel and flanked by swags extending over each niche (see also Fittings). The main entablature breaks forward over the columns, less over the pilasters, and supports a panelled gallery-front with enriched capping similarly articulated. The responds of the rectangular entrance-opening consist of Corinthian pilasters supporting a lintel with a panelled soffit enriched with laurel wreaths.

Below the Chapel is a crypt, normally inaccessible, where lie the coffins of several Masters, including Bishop Wren, and others.

Fittings—The fittings are all of c. 1665 unless otherwise described. Chair (Plate 44): of elm and beech, with turned posts and rails, the spaces in the back, below the elbow-rails and between the front rail and stretcher containing numerous turned spindles, 16th-century, said to have belonged to Bishop Ridley (martyred 1555) bequeathed to the College in 1928 by the widow of W. H. Ridley. Communion-rails (Plate 7): across the archway to the E. bay—of oak, with moulded and foliated top-rail, moulded base-rail, and enriched turned and twisted balusters divided into bays by dies with pendants of flowers carved on the face and sides, shortened and reset in the late 19th century, parts are now in the church at Tarrant Hinton, Dorset. Cushions (Plate 230): twenty-eight, of turkey-work with the arms of the See of Ely impaling Wren in a cartouche sursurmounted by a mitre, coloured. Doors and Doorcase: To N. doorway—outer door, in two leaves each of three bolection-moulded panels, inner door of six bolection-moulded panels and hung in panelled door-case. Gallery: (for front, see description above). Model (Plate 37): kept in College Treasury—of New Chapel, in pinewood, apparently constructional, the roofcover, now missing, being removable to show roof structure, found in 1923 in the organ-gallery, probably contemporary with the building, badly damaged and with much missing. Organ: on W. gallery—in gallery-front, case with two small towers of pipes with deep entablatures divided by twin panels of pipes, all with carved and pierced pelmets and spandrels; main organ-case, with tall central tower of pipes linked by panels of pipes and by pierced and scrolled cresting to shorter flanking towers, the towers with deep angular entablatures and they and the panels with pierced pelmets and spandrels, both cases made by agreement dated 6 December 1707, to be completed in eight months for £210 and the original organ to be removed to Framlingham church, organ reconstructed in 1863 when 'Bernard Smith fecit' was found inside one of the pipes. Painting: In reredos—on canvas (5¾ ft. by 4¼ ft.) in gilded frame, the Entombment (Plate 223), after Baroccio, given by Dr. Richard Baker, 1797; from the collection of Sir Joshua Reynolds; the original of 1582 an altar-piece at Senigallia. Panelling (Plate 33): In Chapel—lining E., N. and S. walls to sill-level and incorporating stalls, succession of plain tall and narrow semicircular-headed panels only slightly recessed in plain framing with continuous deep crowning entablature with modillion-cornice, in the body of the Chapel the alternate spandrels with large and elaborately carved applied cartouches incorporating cherub-heads and masks and linked by festoons to foliated pendants in every other spandrel, in the Sanctuary the cartouches omitted and the festoons and pendants, of rather finer detail, repeated; the seats, one to each panel where shown on the plan, with shaped and scrolled arm-rests projecting from the panel-framing; by Cornelius Austin, Richard Billopps and William his son, agreement dated 10th January 1664–5, except the lengths of eight late 19th-century panels E. of the N. and S. stalls replacing the panelling moved and reset in the Sanctuary. In Ante-chapel—lining the walls from floor to ceiling, in three heights of moulded panels with a frieze between the two upper heights, with Corinthian pilasters flanking the E. opening and in the middle of the W. wall and quarter-pilasters in the angles. Paving: In body of Chapel—of black and white marble squares set diagonally, black marble steps, laid after 10 January 1664–5 and before 21 September 1665. In Ante-chapel—of square flagstones set diagonally with small slate or black marble square insets. Piscina: In Sanctuary —reset in S. wall, of clunch, with moulded jambs, sub-cusped cinque-foiled two-centred head, trefoiled spandrels, and square dishing to drain, late 14th or early 15th-century, much weathered. Prayer-desk: of oak, with acanthus-enriched framing to sloping desk, square legs carved with pendent flowers and ending in dolphin-masks spouting beast-paw feet, the sides and ends with infilling of elaborately pierced carving, matching the communion-rails but possibly of later date. Reredos (Plate 214): of oak, with flanking Corinthian pilasters on pedestals supporting an entablature with modillion-cornice and broken pediment framing a cartouche and swags, all framing the painting of the Entombment (see above) bordered by carved garlands of fruit and flowers, the whole removed from the original E. end and reset. Seating: Stalls and desks, as shown on the plan (see also above), in two blocks in two tiers on each side, the back stalls opposite the four passageways with misericorde-seats carved with acanthus-leaves, desks with panelled fronts and shaped ends with carved scrolls at feet, modern desks added in front; return-stalls with panelled fronts to desks, as before. Tapestry: In Sanctuary, on N. wall—head of Christ, perhaps cut from larger scene, 17th-century, inscription below added to form composition reminiscent of the group of English representations of the emerald intaglio portrait sent by the Great Turk to Innocent VIII (1482–94).

Ivy Court (118 ft. by 90 ft. average) lies to the E. of First Court and is bounded on the N. and S. by ranges of chambers and offices extending E. from the Hall-block; the greater part of the E. side is bounded by the wall of the Fellows' Garden. The two ranges are of two storeys with attics and lofts above; the walls are of red brick in mixed bond with Ketton stone dressings; both brick and stonework have been in part renewed; the roofs are tile-covered.

The western two-thirds of the North Range (Plate 204) was built probably between 1614 and 1616 and the E. third added in 1670 in matching style. The builder of the addition was John Howard, bricklayer; Thomas Silk was the carpenter; Robert Grumbold, mason, supplied the stone, worked and set it (Treasury Accts. II, 157, transcript). In 1768 the range was damaged by fire. The S. side to the Court has a plinth with moulded stone weathering and plain eaves. The earlier bricks average 9 × 4 to 4½ × 2 ins., four courses measuring 10 to 10½ ins. in height; the later bricks are very slightly larger. The arrangement of doorways and windows is shown on the plan; on the first floor, windows are set centrally over each opening below except over the E. doorway where the wall is unpierced. The stone doorways have semicircular heads, plain keystones and imposts, stop-chamfered jambs and rectangular labels; the ovolo-moulded stone-mullioned windows have square heads and labels and are of three lights except the westernmost on each floor, of two lights. The relieving-arches over the earlier windows are high and pronounced, on the ground floor nearly semicircular, above, four-centred; those over the later windows are less conspicuous and of segmental form. Near the wallhead are six S-shaped wrought-iron wall-anchors; they and the eleven hipped dormer-windows with timber casements of two and three lights are of the 18th or 19th century.

The E. end is gabled and has a plinth similar to but at a higher level than that on the S. side. On both the first floor and in the gable is a three-light window, similar to those on the S., with a single light, to the loft, in the gable apex and now blocked.

The N. side to Pembroke Street has a plinth, which is concealed towards the E. by the rise of the ground. The arrangement of the openings shown on the plan is repeated on the first floor, a window occurring over the door, and with the addition of a single-light window between the third and fourth openings; all the windows are similar in detail to those on the S., but the westernmost are modern or rebuilt. Carried up flush with the main wall-face are seven two-light stonemullioned and gabled dormer-windows; the gablets are of brick with flat stone copings returned horizontally over shaped stone kneelers and with restored finials at the apices. Between the dormers and also flush with the wall-face are five brick chimneys with tall rectangular bases and lofty rebuilt stacks.

The Interior of the N. range contains stop-chamfered ceiling-beams. On the ground floor, the second room from the E. contains an old fireplace with moulded stone jambs and square head; the oak overmantel is made up with carved panels and a fluted tympanum from the Hall screen of 1634. The room next W. has a stone fireplace with moulded jambs, much worn, and four-centred opening in a square head. The rest of this floor westward contains kitchen-offices and has been modernised. The containing walls of the two staircases are original and have the timber-framing exposed.

On the first floor, the E. room has the walls lined with bolection-moulded panelling of the late 17th century, with dado-rail and cornice; the section of the mouldings is similar to that of the panelling in the Old Library. The two doorways in the W. wall have bolection-moulded architraves and contain two-panel doors; between them is a third doorway, similar in detail but larger and with the door in two leaves. Against the S. wall is a cupboard made up with panelling from the Old Hall. The fireplace in the N. wall, of the mid 17th century, has a stone surround with panelled side-pilasters, a panelled frieze and a cornice. The bedroom next N.W. has a wood bolection-moulded fireplace-surround of c. 1700 and the adjoining vestibule contains a cupboard composed of reused late 16th or early 17th-century panelling. The room W. of the E. staircase has the E., S. and W. walls lined with mid 17th-century panelling, four panels high, divided into bays by enriched Ionic pilasters supporting an entablature with blocks and rosettes in the frieze and a dentil-cornice. On the N. wall is 18th-century panelling, with an eared panel over the flat stone fireplace-surround. The first-floor rooms to E. and W. of the W. staircase both contain original stone fireplaces with moulded jambs and four-centred arches in square heads. The former room contains reused early 17th-century woodwork and two mid 17th-century doorcases with entablatures with frieze-panels, flanking drapes and dentil-cornices. The latter room has a mid 17th-century fireplace-surround with coupled side-pilasters flanking semicircular-headed panels with frames chamfered to give a false effect of perspective and a similar treatment between pilaster-strips in the overmantel; elsewhere the walls are lined with 18th-century panelling with a dado-rail and dentil-cornice. In the attics are three original stone fireplaces similar to those just described, and some 17th-century four and six-panel doors. In the roof of the lofts are vestiges of the upper tier of small dormer-windows shown by Loggan and comparable with those existing over the S. range.

The South Range of Ivy Court was built in 1659. The N. side has a flush wall-face and is apparently of one build from end to end. The bays containing the doorways separate the front into three parts, symmetrical in extent, but the W. part with a self-contained architectural composition differing from the others; these last are uniform; the W. entrance-bay, being at the point of change, partakes of both designs. The external difference is the expression also of an internal difference in floor-levels, the rooms to the W. being loftier than those to the E. The six easterly bays have a plinth with stone weathering and plain eaves and contain openings as shown on the plan; the doorway and windows are similar to those in the opposite range; the windows on the first floor are uniform in style and disposition with those below, with a two-light window occurring over the doorway. The stone dormer-windows are similar in detail but shorter than those on the floor below and in the same sequence; they are set in brickwork carried up flush with the main wall-face and surmounted by gablets with shaped stone kneelers, flat copings and finials, all similar to those on the N. side of the opposite range. High up in the roof, alternating with the main dormers, is a range of six small dormer-windows lighting the lofts. The seventh bay repeats the fourth but with a two-light transomed window set high on the first floor.

The W. part (Plate 212) contains four windows in the width, the two centre coupled, projecting slightly, pedimented and elaborated to form a centrepiece. Much of this last and all the dressings are of stone, recently much refaced. The plinth is continuous from further E.; a plat-band over the ground-floor windows and an eaves-cornice extend the width of the four windows. The windows to the ground and first floors are of two transomed lights with architraves; mullions, transoms and moulded architraves have sunk faces. The coupled windows, based upon an upward extension of the plinth, are linked, horizontally, by brick panels with stone semicircular-arched heads with keystones and panelled spandrels and, vertically, from ground to first floor, by a panelled apron between the plat-band crossing the head of the lower windows and the continuous sill of the upper two windows; the upper windows are themselves linked by a frieze to a pediment, springing from the eaves-cornice, which surmounts the centrepiece so formed; in the tympanum is a cartouche carved and painted with the arms of Hitcham. The centrepiece is continued up into an ashlar-faced dormer with segmental crowning pediment, the dormer-window being of three stone-mullioned lights of unequal width. To each side, over the flanking bays, are smaller steeply pedimented dormers of brick and ashlar flush with the main wall-face and containing two-light windows.

The S. side has a plinth, as on the N., and moulded eaves. It is divided unequally by boldly projecting chimney-stacks surmounted by modern shafts; a fifth stack corbelled out from the wall has been added subsequently. Set high in the third stack is a stone panel carved with the arms of Hitcham. The windows are of one and two stone-mullioned lights, transomed towards the W., and similar respectively in detail to those in the wall opposite. The doorway is modern, with the window beside it on the W.; the four ground-floor windows W. of the latter have been altered; the stonework of all the others has been renewed and the brickwork generally much patched. In the roof are six hipped dormer-windows of two and three lights.

The E. end is gabled and has a stone coping with a finial; on the ground floor are two blocked openings with segmental brick arches; on the first floor are two three-light stonemullioned windows with some of the lights blocked; in the gable is a three-light window to the attic with a single-light above it lighting the loft. The W. end adjoins the Hall-block.

The Interior of Hitcham Building has the Senior Parlour (31 ft. average by 20½ ft.) on the ground floor lined with panelling of 18th-century character but incorporating much modern work. The stone fireplace has moulded jambs and square head. The original E. staircase is built with a solid partition between the flights. The W. staircase has turned balusters, moulded handrail and square panelled newels with shaped finials; it is of the mid 17th century, repaired.

On the first floor the main room between the staircases is lined with 18th-century panelling with moulded dado-rail and cornice and a bolection-moulded panel over the fireplace. The room W. of the W. staircase is lined with bolection-moulded panelling of c. 1700 with dado-rail and entablature and four similarly moulded doorcases hung with two-panel doors with old rimlocks; the two small rooms adjoining on the W. were originally part of the same room, that to the S.W. retaining similar panelling in part reset and made out with later 18th-century panelling. This set was occupied by Thomas Gray, the poet; the statement that it was redecorated in 1747 (Correspondence of Thomas Gray, ed. Toynbee and Whibley, III, p. 1222) may refer to the sub-division, the existing panelling being considerably earlier. On the same floor is a number of old plank doors, probably original. In the attics, in the S.E. room, is some original panelling, four panels high with frieze-panels and a small cornice. The room S. of the E. staircase contains an old stone fireplace with moulded jambs, square head and cornice. A second original stone fireplace in the next room W. has a cornice and raised panels on the side-pilasters and on the frieze. On the same floor are more moulded plank doors as before.

Reset in the wall on the E. of Ivy Court and forming the Gateway to the Fellows' Garden is the stone door-case removed from the entrance to the old Hall in 1878. It was set up probably in 1634 and is shown in situ by Loggan. The semi-circular-headed arch supported on square columnar panelled responds has a moulded archivolt with scrolled keystone, moulded imposts and panelled spandrels below a crowning entablature with broken segmental pediment. The frieze is of ogee section and the pediment frames a cartouche carved with the College arms against a modern pedimental brick backing; superimposed on the frieze and architrave is a shaped panel supported on the arch-keystone. The whole is much restored and refaced. It is now set between the piers of the late 17th-century gateway to the garden; these, also shown by Loggan c. 1681–2, are of rusticated brickwork with stone cappings and ball-finials. The clunch wall to the S. is of the 16th century or perhaps earlier, with subsequent heightening in brick and a modern brick facing to the plinth. In the Fellows' garden, the rockery is largely composed of fragments of discarded masonry, including pieces of mediaeval mullions.

In the Master's Garden are two late 14th or early 15th-century corbels, said to have come from the original chapel, carved with monsters' heads; one is that illustrated in Willis and Clark, I, 135.