Old Court of St John's College. 1831. From Thomas D. Atkinson. Cambridge described and illustrated: being a short history of the Town and University. Macmillan, 1897.

A Victorian History and Description of the College (1870)

St. John's College. — This was founded, in 1511, by the will of the mother of Henry VII. It stands in St. .John's-street, on ground previously occupied by a canons' hospital; and comprises three old courts and a new one. The entrance-gate is of brick, with four large turrets ; the first court is the oldest, built in 1510-14, and measuring 223 feet by 216 ; the second court is of the same century, and measures 270 feet by 240; the third court is smaller than either of the former; and the fourth court was built in 1830 by Rickman and Hutchinson, measures 430 feet by iSO, is in the perpendicular English and the Tudor styles, and has a tower 120 feet high. The hall is 60 feet by 33; the library is spacious, and contains a very extensive and valuable collection of books; and the chapel measures 120 feet by 27, and has excellent stall-work, and a painting of St. John by Sir R. K. Porter. A covered bridge of three arches crosses the Cam within the grounds; and is nicknamed "the Bridge of Sighs." A spacious new court, a new Master's lodge, and a magnificent new chapel, after designs by G. G. Scott, was founded in 1864. These buildings cost an immense sum; they occupy the site of a large number of houses, which were removed to make way for them; the new chapel abuts upon St. John-street, was opened in May 1869, alone cost about £57,000, and is a chief ornament of the town; and the other new buildings stand between the previously-existing body of the college and the river on the Bridge-street side.

The college has 60 fellowships, about 60 scholarships, 9 scholarships, 54 livings, and an income of £26,167. Eminent men educated at it Were Bishops Fisher, Stillingfleet, Watson, Deveridge, and Morgan, the poets Sackville, Wyat, Ben Jonson, Herrick, Hammond, Prior, Brome, Otway, A. Phillips, Browne, Kirke White, and Wordbworth, the historian Cave, the anticquary Baker, Sir J. Cheke, R. Ascham, Sir J. Wyatt, Sir K. Digby, Lord Burleigh, Lord-Chancellor Egerton, Lord Falkland, the Earl of Strafford, Lord-Keeper Guildford, Fairfax, Cartwright, Stackhouse, Whittaker, Dr. Bentley, Bowyer, Pegge, S. Jenyens, Briggs, Home Tooke, the Marquis of Kockingham, and Wilberforce. — John M. Wilson

Related Material — other pictures of St. John's College, Cambridge

Bibliography

Wilson, John M. (John Marius). The imperial gazetteer of England and Wales: embracing recent changes in counties, dioceses, parishes, and boroughs: general statistics: postal arrangements: railway systems, &c.; and forming a complete description of the country. 8 vols. Edinburgh: A. Fullarton, 1870.Internet Archive online version of a copy in the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. Web. 27 October 2022.

Scanned image and text by John van Wyhe. Formatting by George P. Landow. [You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]


Created 1 July 2001; last modified 29 October 2022