Post-medieval Oxford - Oxford City Council

The University of Oxford
Oxford university and its colleges have been extensively studied in terms of their
buildings and history (RCHM 1939; Stone 1975; Green 1984; Prest ed. 1993; VCH iii;
Catto et al. 1984-2000; Sherwood and Pevsner 1974; Tyack 1998). The buildings of
the university have been described and illustrated over a long period (Loggan 1675;
Williams 1732; Durning 2006). A further study of buildings designed but never built
has been produced by Colvin (1983).
Built structures and garden design
Post-medieval colleges did not alter from the medieval pattern laid down in the 14th
century and colleges were largely built in the standard quadrangle form with internal
gardens. Cartographic evidence from the 16th century onwards indicates the
prevalence of formal garden design, however, later maps show some changes to
almost all college gardens (Mowl 2007: 136).
The university
Bodleian Library and the Schools Quadrangle
The Bodleian Library and the Schools Quadrangle stand to the south of the
Sheldonian theatre and the Old Clarendon Building. The walls are of local rubble,
ashlar-faced, and the roofs are lead-covered. Duke Humfrey's Library was built over
the new Divinity School in 1427-89. By the mid-16th century, it was in a decayed
state and was restored in 1598-1602 by Thomas Bodley. The Bodleian Library
opened in 1602. The Arts End extension was built in 1610-12 and Schools
Quadrangle was completed in 1624, not as a library, but primarily as a series of
teaching rooms with the University Gallery on the top floor. A further extension was
made in 1637 when Selden End was added. The construction of the Schools
Quadrangle in the 17 th century involved the whole-scale demolition of the medieval
schools on Schools Street (see Medieval Resource Assessment for more details).
Excavations in the Bodleian Quadrangle for a static water tank in 1941 recorded
pottery dated from the Late Saxon period to the early 17th century (anon 1943-4).
Further excavations at the Bodleian Library, Proscholium in 1968, noted porch
foundations extending c.0.5 metres from the front wall of the Divinity School (anon
1972). A detailed survey of the Duke Humfrey’s Library roof was undertaken in 1998,
when dendro-chronology of the roof timbers revealed the sequence of building and
the extent of Bodley’s rebuilding (UAD 518).
A gateway stood at the east end of Brasenose Lane, facing down the former Schools
Street. It was built in 1558 when the university closed off the northern part of the
street. The gate was incorporated into the Bodleian Library at its south entrance
around 1624 (Munby 1972), but in the early 18th century it was demolished when
that land passed to Exeter College for its enlarged garden.
Divinity School Convocation House
The 15th century Divinity School already sat beside the medieval schools in School
Street. On the east side of the road, the Oseney Schools were rebuilt by Queen
Mary’s benefaction, only to be removed for Bodley’s Arts End and Proscholium. The
later 17th century saw the addition of the Convocation House to the west and the
Schools Quadrangle to the east, the whole now being part of the Bodleian Library
complex (LB Ref 9/147a). The opening up of this area of the city subsequently
allowed for the addition of several new buildings.
OXFORD ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCE ASSESSMENT- POST MEDIEVAL
42