Cambridge (England) -- History; University of Cambridge -- History
An early map of Cambridge, made by order of Archbishop Parker in 1574,
and preserved in one of the early copies of Caius' "History of the
University" in the British Museum, shows the College in the state which
we have thus described, the outline of the Great Court, that is to say,
practically defined as it is to-day, but broken at two points, one by
the projection from its western side joining the Master's lodge with the
old gateway of King Edward, still standing in its ancient position, more
or less on the site of the present sun-dial; the other by a set of
chambers, built in 1490, projecting from the eastern range of buildings,
and ending at a point somewhat east of the site of the present fountain.
The transformation of the Great Court into the shape in which we now
know it is due entirely to the energy and skill of Dr. Thomas Neville,
at that time Dean of Peterborough, who was appointed Master of Trinity
in 1573. "Dr. Thomas Neville," says Fuller, "the eighth master of this
College, answering his anagram '_most heavenly_,' and practising his own
allusive motto, '_ne vile velis_,' being by the rules of the philosopher
himself to be accounted [Greek: megaloprepês], as of great performances,
for the general good, expended £3000 of his own in altering and
enlarging the old and adding a new court thereunto, being at this day
the stateliest and most uniform college in Christendom, out of which may
be carved three Dutch universities."[86]
[Illustration: The Fountain Trinity College.]
Neville's first work was the completion of the ranges of chambers on the
east and south sides of the great court, including the Queen's gateway
tower. On the completion of these in 1599 the projecting range of
buildings on the east side were pulled down. In 1601 he pulled down the
corresponding projection on the western side, removing the venerable
pile known as King Edward the Third's Gate. This was rebuilt at the west
end of the chapel as we now see it. The Master's lodge was prolonged
northwards, and a library with chambers below it was built eastwards to
meet the old gate. The great quadrangle was thus complete, the largest
in either university,[87] having an area of over 90,000 square feet. To
Dr. Neville also in the Great Court is owing the additional storey to
the Great Gate, with the statue of Henry VIII. in a niche on its eastern
front, and the statue of King James, his Queen, and Prince Charles on
its western side, the beautiful fountain erected in 1602, and the hall
in 1604. The building of this hall, which with certain variations is
copied from the hall of the Middle Temple, is thus described in the
"Memoriale" of the College.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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