Floreat Etona: Anecdotes and Memories of Eton CollegeNevill, Ralph
History
Floreat Etona: Anecdotes and Memories of Eton College
Nevill, Ralph
Eton College
The Provost’s Lodge has also undergone some change. The dining-room
here--the Magna Parlura--which contains portraits of various kings
and provosts and occupies the centre of the Lodge, has undergone
considerable renovation at certain periods, especially in the middle of
the last century, when it was decorated with considerable care by Dr.
Hawtrey. The ceiling was then painted and the panelling, reaching to
the top of the room, finished with a dado of deal, which has now been
removed, and the oak, which before was grained, scraped. The panelling
has also been lowered and now rests on the floor, the old timbers
above being visible. Two stone windows have been opened up in this
room, which had formerly been blocked by the Georgian staircase. At
the other end of the room an interesting discovery was made of another
Tudor door opening into the gallery just opposite the stairs. On each
side of the door are Tudor windows with wooden frames. Most of the
doors opening into the gallery are of Tudor workmanship, but these are
the only two Tudor windows that have been discovered in the College.
The woodwork half-way down the staircase is of good Gothic workmanship,
whereas the staircase is of much later date. The servants’ hall, on the
ground floor, was formerly divided by partitions, but these have been
removed. The panelling here is of the seventeenth century, the panels
large and tall in design. At one end of the room there is an alcove
faced with the original mirrors and containing a basin set in beautiful
inlaid work of black and white marble. This, however, is covered up
with a wooden plate, which conceals the marble.
At the time of these alterations there was some talk of removing the
railings in the cloisters, which are of Sussex iron, and reviving an
inner walk, traces of which have been discovered round the edge of the
grass. On the tower side the railings have already gone--the remainder,
let us hope, will be left untouched. A great feature of the cloisters
is the old Cloister Pump, which, as in the days when a less luxurious
race of Collegers washed at its spout, continues to yield the best
water in Eton. This old pump is associated with the cry of “Cloister
P!” at which the lowest boy present had to fetch a canful of the sacred
water, the cry which sent every fag in Long Chamber tearing down
Sixth-Form passage. Not very far away is the well-worn stone staircase
up which so many generations of Collegers have made their way into the
Hall, which, in spite of renovation, still retains a certain amount of
interest for those fond of relics of another age.
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