Highways and Byways in Cambridge and ElyConybeare, John William Edward
History
Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely
Conybeare, John William Edward
Cambridgeshire (England) -- Description and travel; Isle of Ely (England) -- Description and travel
The existing Chapel was built by yet another Bishop of Ely closely
connected with the College, Dr. Matthew Wren, Master here 1625-1634.
He was uncle to the great Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St.
Paul's, and had enough architectural originality of his own to aim at
copying the beautiful tracery of the mediaeval church-builders. It was
the first time that any such attempt had been made in England; and
this going behind the Reformation roused the Protestant feeling of the
time to fury. Men declared it incredible that there could be "so much
Popery in so small a chapel"; and when the Civil War gave the
Puritans their opportunity Wren paid for being so far in advance of
his age by an imprisonment of not less than eighteen years, till
released, in 1660, by the Restoration. The Chapel windows are now
filled with some fine Munich glass, the only example of this work in
Cambridge.
Besides the Chapel, the Library here is remarkable, and the
"Combination Room" boasts itself as almost, if not quite, the finest
apartment of its kind in all Cambridge. This name, we may mention, is
given in every College to the parlour whither the M.A.'s retire, after
dining in Hall, for wine, dessert, and conversation.[6] That of
Peterhouse is a luxurious apartment, panelled with oak, and with
stained-glass windows.
[Footnote 6: The corresponding Oxford name is "Common Room."]
Another feature of the College is its little deer park, the only one
in Cambridge, and, with the exception of Magdalen College, Oxford, the
only one in either University. Access to this is obtained by passing
through the passage between the Hall and the Kitchen. Beyond the deer
park again an iron gate leads to the College Gardens, the only College
Gardens in Cambridge which visitors may freely enter. And they are
well worth entering.
There is, however, no way through this College, as there is through
many, and we must leave it through the same gate as we entered by,
thus returning to the street. Over the gate we observe the coat of
arms belonging to the College, the armorial bearings of the founder
surrounded by a border of crowns. This feature will be seen in every
College, for each has its own arms, and these are invariably
emblazoned above the entrance.
[Illustration: _St. Mary the Less, South side._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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