Sidney Sussex College

Sidney Sussex College

(39) Sidney Sussex College stands on the E. side of Sidney Street, between Jesus Lane on the N. and Sussex Street on the S. It occupies the site of the Franciscan friary dissolved in 1538. The land and the Greyfriars' buildings were conveyed to Trinity College in 1546 but by then, although in the meantime the University had made efforts to obtain the buildings for ceremonial use, their destruction had been begun, the material being taken for the King's new foundation. By about the end of 1547 the friars' church had been destroyed; Fuller believed that it stood just N. of the N. range of Hall Court of the present College. The cloister, as will be shown was probably S. of the church.

The College was founded in July 1594 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex, who died in 1589, the Letters Patent of foundation being obtained by her executors who, with difficulty, acquired the present site in September 1595. Henry, 6th Earl of Kent, and Sir John Harrington executed their deed of foundation in February 1595–6 and building was begun in May 1596. Ralph Symons, freemason, is said to have been the architect, on the evidence of the inscription on his portrait at Emmanuel College, though the picture is of very much later date. With the exception of the Chapel and Library, the College buildings, comprising the three ranges to Hall Court, were completed by the end of the 16th century. In the early years of the 17th century the Chapel with the Library above was contrived in an older surviving range lying at an angle S.E. of Hall Court. The evidence of James Essex's survey of this range during demolition in 1776 to make way for the new Chapel suggests that it was the hall of the Warden's Lodging in the friary.

During the Mastership of Samuel Ward, in 1628 Sir Francis Clerke founded four Fellowships and eight Scholarships; the deed records his intention of adding to the College buildings to provide chambers for his beneficiaries. The range built presumably soon afterwards is that on the S. of Chapel Court.

The College as it then appeared is shown by Loggan; built of brick with stone dressings, it had two adjoining courts, both closed only by a wall on the W., the earlier with a small but elaborate W. gateway. Hall Court was symmetrical, with the Hall etc. and the Master's Lodge in the E. range and chambers in the N. and S. ranges. In the re-entrant angles were small towers, one containing the entrance to the Master's Lodge, the other the entrance to the Parlour. In Chapel Court, the E. Chapel range met and just overlapped Sir Francis Clerke's S. range.

During the second quarter of the 18th century repairs were made to the building and in the period between 1747 and 1750 the original Hall was refitted and the original timber roof concealed by a flat plaster ceiling; at the same period the old W. gateway was replaced by a new Gateway which itself was removed in 1831 to the N.E. corner of the College grounds, where it still is. The style of these alterations suggests the hand of James Burrough, though no architect's name is recorded. Subsequently Cole records that the Chapel and Library were becoming structurally dangerous; in 1776 they were demolished and rebuilt in approximately the same position to the designs of James Essex; the last payment to him for supervising the work was made in 1782. The Chapel is at the S. end of the block, extending as far as the S. wall of Sir Francis Clerke's range, with the Antechapel to the N. and offices beyond; over the last two is the Library, which still retains the fittings of 1778. The appearance of the College at this stage is preserved in an early 19th-century drawing by Wyatt (College Muniments) (Plate 248).

Charles Humfrey, architect, of Cambridge, submitted proposals for alterations to the buildings in the Tudor style in drawings, preserved in the College, dated 1820, but they were evidently not accepted, and the present Tudor-Gothic appearance of the College is due to a series of alterations begun in 1821 under the direction of Jeffry Wyatt (Wyatville 1824, knighted 1828) and financed from an early 18th-century bequest by Samuel Taylor. The comparative illustrations (Plates 248 and 249) are eloquent of the measure of the work. The Hall range was the first begun. The upper part of the leaning E. wall was rebuilt, and buttresses and an E. porch were added; the dormers were linked and the parapet embattled. On the W. a forebuilding with a W. porch was inserted in the space between the corner towers; to make way for it the original central porch-tower was demolished. The forebuilding contains the Taylor Library on two floors to the N. In 1831 and 1832 the attics and garrets of the N. and S. ranges of Hall Court were raised in height to a full storey and attics, and the W. end of the latter range was transformed into a Gate-tower. The outside of Sir Francis Clerke's range was altered and a Combination Room, since demolished, was added N.W. of the Hall. In 1833 the Chapel was remodelled, though not exactly as in Wyatville's drawing illustrated, at the expense of the Master, William Chafy, and at the same time the Master's Lodge, still in its original position on the first floor S. of the Hall, was partly rearranged. The walls for the most part were faced with Roman cement in the course of these alterations, except the Gate-tower which was rebuilt in stone, and all the windows and minor features more or less remodelled to accord with the new style. Much refacing in stone was undertaken in 1954–57.

A range of chambers added in 1890 N.E. of Hall Court and incorporating an arcaded walk returned westward was designed by J. L. Pearson, who also refaced with brick part of the N. wall of the adjoining range and added chimney-stacks. Work in the present century includes the southward extension of the Chapel in 1910– 12 by T. H. Lyon and the completion of the entire refitting, then begun, in 1920–5. The same architect rearranged the ground floor immediately N. and E. of the Chapel and Ante-chapel in 1919–20; he also designed the block of chambers, Garden Court, built in 1923–5 at the S. end of the Master's Garden. The range of chambers to Sussex Street is of 1937–9.

At Sidney Sussex College the drabness of the cement facing of the buildings belies the qualities evident in the early 19th-century drawings of them. Wyatville's ingenious alterations of 1821–33 have created, out of an unresolved duality of two adjacent courts differing in date and style, a unified design on an E-plan, with the Gatehouse as the central feature. The Hall roof, now concealed, is an interesting example of timber construction of the late 16th century. The interior of the Hall, refitted c. 1750, and the Gateway of the same age, both of the Roman Doric order, are notable examples of the neo-Classical work of the period. The Presepio in the Chapel by G. B. Pittoni (1687–1767) is an early and accomplished example of Italian rococo painting. The important 15th-century chest preserved in the Library exhibits unusually elaborate smith's work.

Architectural Description—Hall Court (94 ft. by 78½ ft.) is entered from Sidney Street by the Gatehouse in the W. end of the S. range. The E. range contains the Hall to the full height and the rest is in three storeys with attics over part. The walls are of brick faced with Roman cement and with stone dressings; the roofs are slate-covered. These materials are constant throughout the older buildings, except where stated below. Other than the rooms shown on the plan, the Master's Lodge is over the Butteries and the Kitchen and in the S. part of Wyatville's forebuilding.

The history of the East Range is given above; the main block and the towers, now recessed, in the E. angles of the Court are of the last years of the 16th century; the additional thickening of the range on the W., the forebuilding, is part of Wyatville's work begun in 1821.

The W. side to Hall Court is symmetrical, with a two-storey stone porch in the centre and octagonal buttresses, continued up as turrets above the embattled parapets, dividing the front into five bays. In the gablet over the middle bay is a stone lozenge-of-arms of the Foundress, Radcliffe quartering Fitzwalter all impaling Sidney, with a coronet above. The wall in the end bays is canted back to meet the 16th-century towers; these last were remodelled and heightened by Wyatville and given embattled W. gablets; over the doorway in the N. tower is a reset late 16th-century shield-of-arms of Harrington. The porch has three archways with pointed-segmental heads on the ground floor and square three-light transomed windows on the upper floor; the parapet is embattled. The windows elsewhere are of two and three lights with square heads, those flanking the porch on the first floor having transoms.

The E. side is also symmetrical, in nine bays divided by 19th-century buttresses, with semicircular bay-windows two storeys high in the wider end bays, and a central single-storey porch screening the lower half of the four middle buttresses. The front is three full storeys in height, with embattled parapets rising in embattled gables over the bay-windows. The extent of Wyatville's remodelling is shown by the comparative illustrations (Plate 249). Only four of the original first-floor windows and the two bay-windows are retained in form; the first are renewed and the second rebuilt and with balustraded parapets added. Several of the more northerly windows are shams. The porch is of stone, with archways similar to those in the W. porch, but now closed. The bay-windows are of nine lights in the width; the N. window, lighting the Hall dais, is divided by transoms into four tiers of lights rising the full height of the bay; the S. bay has a window on each floor, both transomed, and four blank shields on the apron-wall between them.

The N. end of the range is of dark red brick. It is gabled, and the lower part is covered by a late 19th-century arcaded walk. At the first-floor level, lighting the Hall, is a five-light window with two transoms remodelled and enlarged in the 19th century. The S. end has a stepped gable; on the first floor is a sixlight transomed window to the Master's Dining-room; above are one, two and four-light windows; all are of the 19th century.

The Hall (26 ft. by 63½ ft., including the screens-passage) was refitted between 1747 and 1750 and the following plaster and woodwork were inserted. The plaster ceiling is divided into nine panels by trabeations decorated with guilloche ornament on the soffits. The central panel contains in an oval an elaborate rococo centrepiece of scrolls and acanthus foliage, and the remaining panels contain foliate bosses of simpler character. At the wall-head is an enriched dentil-cornice. The soffit of the window-bay has a large shell design.

The N., E. and W. walls are lined nearly to sill-level with panelling consisting of large moulded panels between a plinth and an enriched cornice carved with Greek wave ornament. On the N. the cornice is returned over pilasters dividing the panelling into five unequal bays; in the middle bay, the panelmouldings are eared, carved and enriched with pendants below the upper ears. The windows have small plaster architraves and the remaining wall-faces at the upper level have plaster panelling to uniform scale; between the windows are foliage pendants, also repeated on the opposite wall, and all appearing in A. Pugin's view of the Hall in R. Ackermann's History of the University etc., 1815.

The Screen at the S. end is advanced sufficiently to incorporate a vestibule, staircase and servery adjoining the screens-passage on the N. The front is of the Roman Doric order and in three unequal bays divided by pilasters; the wide central bay is open to the vestibule and sub-divided by two fluted columns in antis; the end bays are panelled. The continuous and unbroken entablature has triglyphs, rosettes in the panelled metopes, and a dentil-cornice, and supports a balustraded parapet to the gallery above. The vestibule is panelled throughout and with pilaster-responds on the back partition; it is entered centrally from the screens-passage through a timber door-case with semi-circular head, moulded archivolt and imposts, panelled jambs and carved spandrels. In the doorway is an elaborate wrought-iron gate contemporary with the panelling. The end bays of the screen contain panelled recesses in surrounds similar to the central door-case and with key-blocks in the form of small cartouches; they enclose the servery on the E. and the gallerystaircase on the W., the latter transposed from the position of the former in 1948 and both entered from the screens-passage. This last is fitted with woodwork uniform with that in the vestibule. The staircase has close strings, turned balusters and moulded handrail. The blocked doorway in the middle of the back wall of the gallery, formerly giving access to the Master's Lodge, has a timber door-case with eared architrave, flanking panelled pilaster-strips, and console-brackets supporting a curved pediment; it is surmounted by a lozenge-of-arms of the Foundress in an elaborate rococo framing with bull and porcupine supporters, a coronet above and the motto below, nearly wholly in the round.

Most of the original timber roof of the Hall survives above the ceiling. It is in five bays divided by trusses identical in form and closely similar in detail to those over the Hall at Emmanuel College, and similarly mutilated, (see Monument (27) and figure p. 67); further, the central pendants have been removed.

The Buttery and Kitchen (26 ft. by 56 ft.) have been modernised; the recess in the W. wall of the latter represents the original fireplaces.

The Master's Lodge is approached by the staircase in Wyatville's forebuilding; it includes, in addition to the whole of the upper part of the Hall range S. of the Hall and most of the forebuilding other than the Taylor Library, the easternmost room on each floor of the S. range of Hall Court and a secondary staircase in the Chapel range. The Drawing-room, the N.E. room on the first floor, has a plaster cornice enriched with acanthus and corn and vine foliage and contains a mid 19th-century marble fireplace-surround; the fluted marble surround to the fireplace in the adjoining room on the S.E. is of the early 19th century. The Dining-room is lined with mid 18th-century fielded panelling, with dado, moulded dado-rail and dentil-cornice, all painted white; the fireplace is flanked by panelled pilaster-strips supporting returns of the main cornice and has an eared and enriched surround to marble slips; in the overmantel is an eared panel with a carved shell and flanking scrolls above. The cast-iron grate has a circular shell-like opening and cast shells and scrolls in the spandrels; it is of the early 19th century (see Monument (302)).

The bay-window in the Dining-room contains early 19th-century heraldic glass, including shields-of-arms of (a) Sir John Brereton, with a crest, (b) Sir Francis Clerke, with a crest, (c) Sir John Hart (?), with a crest, (d) Henry (Grey), 6th Earl of Kent, with a coronet, (e) the Foundress, with bull supporters and a coronet, (f) Sir John Harrington, with a cap of estate, (g) Shelley-Sidney quarterly, with two crests, (h) James Montagu, Master, Bishop of Winchester, quartering Monthermer, with a mitre, (i) William Chafy, Master, with a crest. On the upper floors is a number of old fittings, including 18th-century plain panelling and doors, a door of c. 1600, early 19th-century marble fireplaces, and a length of mid 18th-century balustrading with moulded handrail at the head of the attic stairs. The main staircase is modern; the secondary staircase is of the second half of the 18th century, rises round a rectangular well, and has close moulded strings, turned balusters, square newels and a moulded handrail.

The Taylor Library (12¾ ft. by 25 ft.) is in the N. part of Wyatville's forebuilding and rises through two floors, with a gallery at first-floor level; access to the gallery is now by an iron circular stair, but originally was through a doorway on the S.E. It is fitted with simple original wall-cases and a Derbyshire marble fireplace-surround with four-centred head, panelled spandrels and hollow-chamfered canted jambs.

The North Range of Hall Court is of three storeys with attics. The fabric is of the end of the 16th century, heightened and remodelled, as described above, in 1831–2. J. L. Pearson formed the passage through the range at 'C' to his arcaded walk on the N. added in 1890. The S. side to the Court is of seven bays, with a narrower eighth bay on the W.; the sixth bay from the E. projects slightly, the thickening being in effect a buttressing, added by Wyatville. The second, fourth and sixth bays are continued above the embattled parapet in stepped gablets flanked by octagonal pinnacles carried on corbels at the parapet-string and enclosing two-light windows to the attics; a chimney-stack counterfeits one of the pinnacles. The doorways have four-centred arches with sunk spandrels under square labels. The window are of one, two and three rectangular lights and uniform with the others without transoms in the College.

The N. side has the lower part of the E. half concealed by the arcaded walk; the wall above was refronted in 1890, by Pearson, and the W. half in the present century, all in red brick with stone dressings. Apart from the addition of a storey, the general character of this front shown in the Cambridge University Almanac of 1809 is retained; readjustments of the ground floor openings are indicated on the plan, by deduction from Wyatville's drawings preserved in the College. The wall is continued up flush into gabled dormers containing the attic windows, and at varying intervals between the dormers rise chimney-stacks with grouped shafts set diagonally. The one and two-light windows are similar to those on the S. but without labels.

The W. end on the street has a stepped gable. The ground floor is of red brick, the rest rendered. Corbelled out on the first floor is a stone oriel-window of two transomed lights on the face and one on each canted side; the parapet is embattled and the apron-wall panelled with quatrefoils framing shields, the front shield being carved with the arms of Harrington. On the floors above are two windows, of three and two lights respectively. The whole is Wyatville's remodelling, based essentially upon the original arrangement; but the comparative illustrations (Pl. 249) show in the steepening of the gable one of the effects from the revived Gothic repertory. The original carving of the Harrington arms has been reset in the E. range and is described above.

The Fellows' Parlour (19½ ft. by 17¾ ft.) in the N. range is lined with mid 18th-century fielded panelling with moulded dado-rail and dentil-cornice. The fireplace (Plate 277) has stone slips, and an eared and enriched architrave moulding, a pulvinated frieze carved with rosettes in ovals, and an enriched cornice-shelf with a feature above in low relief in the form of a broken scroll-pediment surmounted by a shell; in the tympanum is a cartouche containing a lozenge-of-arms of the College and flanked by palm leaves; on the wall above are foliage swags. (Cf. Trinity Hall, fireplace etc. in Libraryannexe.) The colouring is modern. Staircase 'C' is dog-legged, turning on a central newel from ground to second floors, and represents the original stair; from the second floor upwards it is of the early 19th century, with close strings, turned balusters and moulded handrail. Staircase 'B' is similar to the foregoing but with the newel cut down nearly to first-floor level and the 19th-century stair beginning so much lower. On the first floor, the main room E. of staircase 'C' is lined with mid 18th-century fielded panelling with dado-rail and cornice; in the main room opposite is a cast-iron fire-grate of shell form of the first half of the 19th century. The main room E. of staircase 'B' has the E. and S. walls lined with panelling of c. 1600, of five panels in the height; the fireplace contains another shell-like grate, with shells modelled in the spandrels. The main room opposite is lined with plain 18th-century panelling. On the second floor, the main room E. of staircase 'C' and the W. main room off staircase 'B' are lined with mid 18th-century panelling, the first with dado-rail and cornice, the second plain; further, the first room retains in the E. end of the S. wall the jambs of an original stone doorway, with hinge-pins, to the angle-tower.

The South Range of Hall Court has a history similar to that of the range opposite on the N. except that the whole of the W. end was rebuilt by Wyatville to form a Gatehouse and tower. The Gatehouse is of ashlar and of three storeys. The three exposed sides have stepped gables flanked and surmounted by octagonal pinnacles. On the ground floor are three archways with four-centred openings with panelled spandrels under square labels. The S. and W. sides have three-sided oriel-windows corbelled out on the first floor and with embattled parapets and a single transomed light in each face. In the equivalent position on the N. side is a two-light transomed window. Above, is a three-light window on the W., a two-light window on both the N. and the S., and, in each gable, a blank shield. The Gatehall (13 ft. by 21¼ ft.) is covered by a ribbed vault of a main and two half bays springing from moulded corbels. The early 19th-century gate in the W. archway is of oak, in two leaves, with a wicket in the S. leaf; the vertical panels on the front have four-centred heads.

The rest of the S. range is of three storeys with attics but lower than the Gate-tower; the S. wall is carried up to an embattled and gabled parapet above the attic windows and presents the effect of four full storeys. The N. side is of six, the S. of seven, irregularly spaced bays; the former is generally uniform in treatment with the S. side of the range opposite. The details of the S. side are also similar, but the parapet, already described, has three stepped gables with grouped diagonal chimney-shafts between and flanking them.

The Interior of the S. range has the easternmost ground-floor room, belonging to the Master's Lodge, lined with panelling of c. 1600, five panels high and with a shallow cornice. The overmantel is in two bays, with gadrooned mouldings enclosing shaped secondary panels. The rest of the ground floor, including the College office and Porter's Lodge, contains no ancient features. Staircase 'E' is similar to those opposite but, from the first floor upwards, of the mid 18th century, with close strings, turned balusters and newels, and moulded handrail. On the first floor, the room adjoining staircase 'D' on the W. is lined with mid 18th-century fielded panelling with a dado-rail and small cornice. The main room E. of staircase 'E' is lined with similar panelling, but without a dado-rail. In the W. wall of the second room is a large recess fitted with shelves. The room W. of staircase 'E' contains panelling similar to that just described, with a dado-rail; the fireplace has a stone eared and enriched architrave. In the room over the Gatehall is an early 19th-century reeded fireplace-surround of grey marble.

Chapel Court (90 ft. by 72 ft. average) adjoins Hall Court on the S. The East Range, of one and two storeys, is on the site of the hall of the Greyfriars' Warden's Lodging that was converted into the College Chapel and Library in the early years of the 17th century and demolished in 1776. The range built forthwith in replacement, designed by James Essex, is the present one, though almost wholly remodelled by Wyatville in 1833 (Plate 39). The Chapel at the S. end was extended some 63 ft. to the S. in 1910–12.

The W. side, to the Court, is symmetrical in arrangement, of seven bays, with the three middle bays accentuated by pinnacled diagonal buttresses issuing from a nearly flush wall-face and the centre bay projecting slightly to form a centrepiece. This last is of ashlar; it has a projecting porch on the ground floor, a shield-of-arms and crest of Chafy over the first-floor window, and an open bell-turret of stepped gable form with a clock-face in the base. The porch has diagonal buttresses ending in pinnacles and an obtuse gable with tracery-panelled battlements; the four-centred entrance archway is deeply splayed and panelled. Flanking the centrepiece, the main parapet-walls are embattled and panelled. All the unaltered windows are of two transomed lights with four-centred openings in square heads with labels; several are shams. The second window on the ground floor and the southernmost on the first floor have been altered in the present century; the former is now a doorway. The windows, the porch-entrance and the bell-turret differ from those shown in Wyatville's drawing (Pl. 248), but they represent variations upon the design and are not later alterations.

The E. side is largely concealed by modern additions, but the lower part of the N. wall of the Chapel designed by Essex and built between 1776 and 1782 is visible, being of white brick and containing three shallow recesses. The upper part was remodelled by Wyatville, and the fenestration again in 1910–12. On the parapet of the staircase-bay is a coroneted lozenge-of-arms of the Foundress.

The Chapel (21¾ ft. by 96½ ft.) is orientated approximately N. and S. The fittings of the S. extension are contemporary; refitting the original N. part was completed between 1920 and 1922. It contains no ancient Fittings other than the following— Monuments: In Ante-chapel, on N. wall, (1) of Francis Sawyer Parris, S.T.P., 1760, Master, round white marble tablet with cartouche carved with the quarterly arms and crest of Parris, erected by his sister Eleanor Parratt; (2) of William Elliston, S.T.P., 1807, Master, similar to (1), erected by his sister Martha Martyn, with arms only of Elliston; (3) of William Chafy, S.T.P., 1843, Master and Maria his wife, 1831, similar to (1), with the arms and crest of Chafy with an escutcheon of Westwood, by Tomson & Son; on W. wall, (4) of Robert Field, 1836, rectangular white marble tablet with semicircularheaded recess containing the shield-of-arms and crest of Field, by S. Manning, London. Painting: Over altar, the Virgin and Child and St. Joseph at the manger, with cherubs above (Plate 223), by G. B. Pittoni (1687–1767), on canvas, acquired in 1783 by the Rev. Thomas Martyn through John Strange, British Resident at Venice, for 20 guineas.

The Library (22¾ ft. by 36¼ ft.), on the first floor, stands between the Chapel and the Master's Lodge and is entered from the organ-gallery in the former and the secondary staircase in the latter; it is symmetrically designed, with four windows in each of the side walls and central doorways in the N. and S. ends. The timber outer S. door-case, on the gallery, has side-pilasters with carved roundels in the heads supporting a pedimented entablature with dentil-cornice. The W. windows, overlooking Chapel Court, are described above with the exterior of the E. range; the E. windows, largely screened from outside, are similar to those opposite, being insertions of 1833 doubtless in the original openings in the brick walling of Essex's building. The room has a late 18th-century plaster dentil-cornice. The oak projecting doorcases have moulded architraves, horizontal panels over the doors and pedimented dentil-cornices; these last are continued to mitre round the flanking wall-cases as capping members, at a level about two-thirds the height of the walls. The same wall-cases have the central sections projecting and fitted with simply panelled doors. The standing bookcases projecting from between the windows, six in all, have panelled ends in four heights, the topmost panel alone being elaborated with extra mitres. All the woodwork is of 1776 and designed presumably by James Essex. Preserved in the room is a 15th-century iron-bound chest with domed top with traceried edge, long and elaborately contrived hasps, loop-handles, and buttress-like wrought-iron pieces applied to the lock-plate and corners (Plate 46).

Sir Francis Clerke's Range, bordering Chapel Court on the S., was built in or shortly after 1628 and, like the other College buildings, remodelled outside in the second quarter of the 19th century by Wyatville. He added parapets in place of eaves. It is of three storeys with attics. The N. side is in eight bays and the ground-floor openings are shown on the plan. The three doorways have 19th-century four-centred heads and the windows each three square-headed lights. On the floors above are repetitions of the three-light windows below and two light windows over the doorways and in the attics; those to the last are in assymetrically placed stepped gables in the parapetwall. The S. side has a plain parapet; at the E. end is a doorway with four-centred head and a single-light window on each floor above it; westward are ranges of nine two-light windows on each floor. On the ridge are three chimney-stacks with grouped diagonal shafts.

The gabled W. end is similar to the W. end of the N. range of Hall Court but entirely rendered. The arms on the orielwindow are of Sir Francis Clerke. The Interior has in the E. wall at ground-floor level, and now within a cupboard opening off a later passage, parts of an original brick fireplace. On the first floor, the wall below the window in the closet off the main room W. of staircase 'H' is lined with a piece of early 17th-century panelling. E. of staircase 'G', reused panelling of the same date, possibly originally doors, divides the bedroom and closet. The main room W. of this staircase is lined with mid 18th-century fielded panelling with dado-rail and cornice; the two smaller S. rooms of the set have cornices of the same date and are divided from one another by a panelled partition. On the second floor, both the main rooms off staircase 'G' contain early 19th-century reeded fireplace-surrounds of wood; in the eastern of these sets is an early 17th-century eight-panel door.

The Gateway (Plate 246) built probably in 1749 to replace the original entrance to the College was removed and rebuilt in the E. end of the wall to Jesus Lane when Wyatville built the present Gatehouse in 1831. It is a structure of wrought stone ashlar, rectangular on plan, with rusticated walls and a continuous pedimented Roman Doric entablature. The semi-circular-headed archways in the front and back walls have moulded imposts; the side walls contain similar blind arches with panelled stone filling. The entablature includes triglyphs, and carved rosettes in the metopes; in the tympanum to the street is a cartouche carved with the arms of the College and flanked by scrolls, in the opposite tympanum a coroneted lozenge-of-arms of the Foundress between palm-leaves. Inside the Gateway is a plaster ceiling and entablature enriched with fret ornament. The original oak door of fifteen fielded panels is hung within a panelled framing, the rail at impost-level being carved with Greek key-pattern ornament; most of the wrought-iron door-furniture is original.

The clunch Boundary-wall on the E. of the College grounds, though largely faced with later brickwork, is probably mediaeval.

Reset over the S. doorway of the bathhouse yard is a carved stone achievement-of-arms of Grey quartering Hastings, David of Scotland, Blundeville, Cantelupe and Valence, for Henry Grey, 6th Earl of Kent, with wyvern supporters; it also is said to be from one of the original oriel-windows on the street front of the College (see Hall Court, N. range).

In 1955–56, after this accoun; was written, the W. side of the Chapel range was stripped of stucco and refaced with stone and staircase 'B' was reconstructed.