DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32037#0033
st. john’s college, oxford.
9
the Cistercian order of monks, which fell under the acts of Henry VIII. for
the dissolution of monasteries. The deserted buildings were purchased of
the college of Christ Church, to which St. Bernard’s College had been granted,
and were appropriated by Sir Thomas White to his new establishment,
which dates its foundation from the year 1555.
The entrance bears so great a resemblance to that of All Souls’ College,
that we may attribute them with great probability to the same architect.
The general outline of St. John’s tower has more simplicity, its height being
divided into only three stories, whilst in that of All Souls’ there are four.
The principal arch has a greater depth and richness of mouldings, and the
projection of the bay-window immediately over the arch relieves a certain
flatness in the centre, perceptible at All Souls’. Both, however, are beautiful
examples of the same style, and their variations onlymake them more interesting.
The two vacant niches were probably intended for statues of the king and the
founder, as at All Souls’: that in the upper story is thought to represent
St. Bernard, the patron saint of the monastic college.
Plate I. No. 1. Elevation of the external front.
No. 2. Perpendicular section.
No. 3. Plan of the gateway, shewing the lines of the arched
roof.
Plate II. Vaulted Roof in St. John’s College.
This example of a fretted roof may be compared with one in a preceding
Plate, taken from All Souls’ College. They are of nearly similar style. In
this, however, we find one species of ornament of a later fashion, in the
pendent spandrils: an invention of the last architects of the Gothic style,
which they in some instances exhibited with marvellous boldness and in-
genuity.*
The various delineations of this curious vault wilb it is hoped, display
* The royal chapels at Windsor and Westminster shew the finest examples in England of
pendents in their vaulted roofs. At Oxford, the Divinity School and the choir of Christ Church
Cathedral may be noticed for similar enrichments. There are some examples in France of still
more extraordinary construction, in which pendent groins of great depth descend from the roofs
to which they are attached. This roof at St. John’s College has been attributed to Inigo Jones,
who was employed by Archbishop Laud, in the reign of Charles I., to erect the library and other
parts of the inner quadrangle.
9
the Cistercian order of monks, which fell under the acts of Henry VIII. for
the dissolution of monasteries. The deserted buildings were purchased of
the college of Christ Church, to which St. Bernard’s College had been granted,
and were appropriated by Sir Thomas White to his new establishment,
which dates its foundation from the year 1555.
The entrance bears so great a resemblance to that of All Souls’ College,
that we may attribute them with great probability to the same architect.
The general outline of St. John’s tower has more simplicity, its height being
divided into only three stories, whilst in that of All Souls’ there are four.
The principal arch has a greater depth and richness of mouldings, and the
projection of the bay-window immediately over the arch relieves a certain
flatness in the centre, perceptible at All Souls’. Both, however, are beautiful
examples of the same style, and their variations onlymake them more interesting.
The two vacant niches were probably intended for statues of the king and the
founder, as at All Souls’: that in the upper story is thought to represent
St. Bernard, the patron saint of the monastic college.
Plate I. No. 1. Elevation of the external front.
No. 2. Perpendicular section.
No. 3. Plan of the gateway, shewing the lines of the arched
roof.
Plate II. Vaulted Roof in St. John’s College.
This example of a fretted roof may be compared with one in a preceding
Plate, taken from All Souls’ College. They are of nearly similar style. In
this, however, we find one species of ornament of a later fashion, in the
pendent spandrils: an invention of the last architects of the Gothic style,
which they in some instances exhibited with marvellous boldness and in-
genuity.*
The various delineations of this curious vault wilb it is hoped, display
* The royal chapels at Windsor and Westminster shew the finest examples in England of
pendents in their vaulted roofs. At Oxford, the Divinity School and the choir of Christ Church
Cathedral may be noticed for similar enrichments. There are some examples in France of still
more extraordinary construction, in which pendent groins of great depth descend from the roofs
to which they are attached. This roof at St. John’s College has been attributed to Inigo Jones,
who was employed by Archbishop Laud, in the reign of Charles I., to erect the library and other
parts of the inner quadrangle.