![Tom Quad, Christ Church College, Oxford](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Tom_Quad%2C_Christ_Church_College%2C_Oxford.jpg)
The Great Quadrangle, more popularly known as Tom Quad, is one of the quadrangles of
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...
, England. It is the largest college
quad
Quad as a word or prefix usually means 'four'. It may refer to:
Government
* Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States
* Quadrilateral group, an informal group which inc ...
in
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, measuring 264 by 261 feet. Although it was begun by
Cardinal Wolsey
Thomas Wolsey ( – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic bishop. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figur ...
in 1525–1529, he was unable to complete it before his fall from power.
Wolsey planned a
cloister
A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...
, but only the starts of the arches on the walls, and of the supports jutting into the lawn were done; these can still be seen around the quadrangle. The main entrance was also left incomplete, and it is not known how the gatehouse was planned to look. After some 150 years, the gatehouse was completed in 1681–1682 with
Tom Tower
Tom Tower is a bell tower in Oxford, England, named after its bell, Great Tom. It is over Tom Gate, on St Aldates, the main entrance of Christ Church, Oxford, which leads into Tom Quad. This square tower with an octagonal lantern and facet ...
, designed by
Sir Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...
, when
John Fell was Dean. It is
listed Grade I
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
on the
National Heritage List for England
The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...
.
A statue of Queen Anne on Tom Tower overlooks the main entrance to the Quad.
Description
The funds for the building of Tom Quad were found from the suppression of three
Norbertine
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...
abbeys. It is dominated to the west by
Tom Tower
Tom Tower is a bell tower in Oxford, England, named after its bell, Great Tom. It is over Tom Gate, on St Aldates, the main entrance of Christ Church, Oxford, which leads into Tom Quad. This square tower with an octagonal lantern and facet ...
, designed by
Sir Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...
. On the east side is the entrance to
Christ Church Cathedral and at the south-east corner is the entrance to the college
dining hall
A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school ...
. The north contains the homes of the
canons of Christ Church, and much of the east side is taken up with the
Deanery
A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...
, in which the Dean of the college lives.
On the north-east side, the quad leads, via Kilcannon, to
Peckwater Quadrangle
The Peckwater Quadrangle (known as "Peck" to students) is one of the quadrangles of Christ Church, Oxford, England. It is a Grade I listed building.
Christ Church Library is on the south side of the quad. To the southeast is Canterbury Quad ...
and the college library.
In the north-west part of the quad is the
Junior Common Room
A common room is a group into which students and the academic body are organised in some universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland—particularly collegiate universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, as well as the University of Bristol ...
("JCR"). Parts of the quad are still lived in by undergraduates, including the staircase above the Porter's lodge, known as "Bachelors' Row", to the left of the quadrangle when entered via Tom Gate. Bachelors' Row was only inhabited by first year male undergraduates until 2014, when the first female first year undergraduates took up residence there.
Mercury fountain
In the centre of the quad, there is an ornamental pond with a statue of
Mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
. In the past, it was traditional for "
hearties
Hearties was a term used for athletic students (particularly rowers) at the University of Oxford and elsewhere, especially in the 19th and early 20th century. The term is often used in contrast to the less athletic "aesthetes".
At Christ Church ...
" (sporty students) to throw "
aesthetes
Aestheticism (also the Aesthetic movement) was an art movement in the late 19th century which privileged the aesthetic value of literature, music and the arts over their socio-political functions. According to Aestheticism, art should be pr ...
" (more artistic students) into this pond. Currently, entrance to Mercury carries a heavy fine for undergraduates. The pond also contains a large
koi
or more specifically , are colored varieties of the Amur carp ('' Cyprinus rubrofuscus'') that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens.
Koi is an informal name for the colored variants of ''C. rubrofuscus'' ke ...
carp apparently worth a hefty sum, and donated by the Empress of Japan. The base of the fountain was designed by Sir
Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...
, the architect who designed much of India's modern capital
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
.
Lady Gwendolyn Cecil, in the biography of her father (the last Victorian Prime Minister
Lord Salisbury
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen y ...
), recounts how as a student in the 1840s, he rescued his bookish friends from being dunked in the fountains, by infiltrating the ''hearties'' and tipping off his friends about the time of the planned raid, and arranging with them a counter-ambush:
Gallery
Image:Tom Quad, Christ Church 2004-01-21.jpg, Winter view of Tom Quad in the snow.
File:David Loggan - Oxonia Illustrata, 1675 - Christ Church College (BL 128.h.10).tif, Print of 1675, before Wren's additions, David Loggan, ''Oxonia Illustrata''
File:Christ Church Oxford Tom Quad view 2011.jpg, Spire of the cathedral in centre, hall at right
File:Entrance to Christchurch College, Oxford - geograph.org.uk - 1138645.jpg, The entrance to Tom Quad
File:Tom Quad, Christ Church - geograph.org.uk - 556746.jpg, A view looking towards Tom Tower, from the entrance to the hall
File:Tom quad Tom tower by Pavel Kliuiev.jpg, Tom Tower and Tom Quad. View on a warm winter evening.
See also
*
Peckwater Quadrangle
The Peckwater Quadrangle (known as "Peck" to students) is one of the quadrangles of Christ Church, Oxford, England. It is a Grade I listed building.
Christ Church Library is on the south side of the quad. To the southeast is Canterbury Quad ...
*
Blue Boar Quadrangle
The Blue Boar Quadrangle is a mid-century quadrangle within Christ Church, University of Oxford. Designed by Hidalgo Moya and Philip Powell, and built between 1965 and 1968, the quadrangle has been described by Lord McIntosh of Haringey as ...
*
Meadow Building
*
Christ Church Library
Christ Church Library is a Georgian building that forms the south side of Peckwater Quadrangle in Christ Church, Oxford, England. To the east is Canterbury Quadrangle. The library houses the college's modern lending library and early printed b ...
*
Dunster House at Harvard
References
External links
*
{{Portal bar, Architecture, University of Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Grade I listed buildings in Oxford
Parks and open spaces in Oxford
Courtyards
Buildings and structures of the University of Oxford