St. John's College, CambridgeScott, Robert Forsyth
History
St. John's College, Cambridge
Scott, Robert Forsyth
St. John's College (University of Cambridge) -- History
Reserving the Chapel for the present we pass through the Screens, the
entrance to the Hall being on the right, to the Kitchen on the left. We
enter the Second Court. This beautiful and stately Court was built
between 1599 and 1600 (the date 1599 may be seen on the top of one of
the water-pipes on the north side), the cost being in great part
provided by Mary, Countess of Shrewsbury, a daughter of Sir William
Cavendish by the celebrated Bess of Hardwick, and wife of Gilbert,
seventh Earl of Shrewsbury. The original drawings for the Court, and the
contract for its construction, almost unique documents of their kind,
are preserved in the Library. The whole of the first floor on the north
side was at first used as a gallery for the Master's Lodge; it is now
used as a Combination Room. Over the arch of the gate on the western
side of the Court is a statue of the Countess, with her shield (showing
the arms of Talbot and Cavendish impaled); these were presented to the
College by her nephew, William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle.
[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE SCREENS]
A pleasing view of the Court is got by standing in the south-west corner
and looking towards the Chapel Tower, with an afternoon sun the
colouring and grouping of the buildings is very effective.
Passing through the arch we enter the Third Court; this was built at
various times during the seventeenth century. On the north we have the
Library, the cost of which was chiefly provided by John Williams, a
Fellow of the College, successively Dean of Westminster, Bishop of
Lincoln, and Archbishop of York; he was also Lord Keeper of the Great
Seal to James I. As originally built the Library occupied the upper
floor only, the ground-floor being fitted up as rooms for the
accommodation of the Fellows and scholars, on a special foundation of
Bishop Williams, but this lower part is now all absorbed into the
Library. The southern and western sides of the Court were built between
1669 and 1674, some part of the cost being provided from College funds,
the rest by donations from members of the College. On the last or
southern pier of the arcade, on the west side of the Court, there are
the two inscriptions: "Flood, Oct. 27, 1762," "Flood, Feb. 10, 1795,"
recording what must have been highly inconvenient events at the time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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