Post-medieval Oxford - Oxford City Council

private houses there. Since the 1960s the 17th and 18th century private houses
fronting Pembroke Street have been converted into student accommodation and
reversed so access is now only possible from the North Quad.
Post-medieval artefacts dating to the college phase of activity were recorded during a
watching brief on work at the Bursary in 1970 (UAD 229). The assemblage included
pottery, glass and clay pipes dating from 1670 to 1830. The pottery assemblage was
dominated by tankards and plates while the glass mainly comprised 17th century
bottles with several examples of phials (De Goris 1971: 99).
Wadham College
The college was founded in 1610 by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham and was to
support a Warden, 15 fellows and 15 scholars. It is the only post medieval college to
be designed and built as one unit. It is located on the former Austin Friars site on
Parks Road/Holywell Street and comprises three quadrangles and a small court. The
post-medieval college comprised the 17th century Front Quad with attached chapel,
hall and library to the rear (the latter built over the kitchen) (LB Ref 6/187A). The
South Block (LB Ref 6/187C) is located to the south of the Quad fronting onto Parks
Road with the Old Stables to the north (LB Ref 6/187J). The medieval arrangement
of an open-roofed Hall heated from a central hearth was also employed despite this
form already being obsolete in domestic architecture (Tyack 1998: 99). The 17th
century chapel was built in gothic style in the traditional T-shaped plan established by
other medieval colleges. The bedrooms and studies were arranged around a square
quadrangle in front of the Hall and Chapel. In other respects the college differed from
its predecessors, the buildings were three storeys high and gables, and tall chimney
stacks replaced pinnacles on the rooflines (ibid.100).
In addition to the 1939 RCHM survey, a small number of building surveys have been
carried out within the Front Quad noting details of previous internal layouts (UAD Nos
447 & 773) and wall paintings recorded in the South Range of the Quad (UAD 447 &
898). The 17th century roof of the hall and the library have also been recorded (UAD
Nos 890 and 773). Archaeological investigations at Wadham College in 1951 during
work to the rear of the properties fronting on to Holywell Street (recorded foundations
of several walls including a brick tunnel running alongside the college boundary Case
and Kirk 1951: 84). The foundations were built on a construction layer set into the
natural Summertown-Radley Terrace and appeared to date to the 17th century. The
investigation recorded several fragments of early 17th century Dutch floor tiles.
Gloucester Hall and Worcester College
Following the dissolution of the monasteries in 1542, the Benidictine Gloucester
College on Worcester Street was expropriated to the Crown and then granted to the
Bishop of Oxford in 1542. The Bishop sold the site on to Sir Thomas Whyte, the
founder of St. John’s College, who used it as a storage annexe (renamed Gloucester
Hall) for his own college. Worcester College was founded in 1714 after a
Worcestershire Baronet, Sir Thomas Cookes, donated funds to establish a new
Oxford college. As a result of this, the central portion of the former Gloucester Hall
buildings were rebuilt following designs commissioned from Sir Nicholas Hawksmoor
in 1717, the architect responsible for much of the 18th century college design across
Oxford. The North range, the Library, Hall and Chapel were completed over the
period between 1720 and 1786. The college also purchased gardens and meadows
to the south in 1741 and to the north and west in 1744-5. A lake was dug in front of
the Provost’s House in the early 19th century in an attempt to combat frequent
flooding and to store any overflow water in the newly constructed Oxford Canal which
had been constructed following the sale of land by the College to the canal company
in 1788. Beaumont Street was opened in 1820, linking the Hawksmoor designed
college frontage to the city centre. The college buildings were expanded and
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