New College is one of the

constituent colleges A collegiate university is a university in which functions are divided between a central administration and a number of constituent colleges. Historically, the first collegiate university was the University of Paris and its first college was the C ...

of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by

William of Wykeham William of Wykeham (; 1320 or 1324 – 27 September 1404) was Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England. He founded New College, Oxford, and New College School in 1379, and founded Winchester College in 1382. He was also the clerk of wor ...

in conjunction with

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

as its feeder school, New College was one of the first colleges in the university to admit and tutor undergraduate students. The college is in the centre of Oxford, between Holywell Street and

New College Lane New College Lane is a historic street in central Oxford, England, named after New College, one of the older Oxford colleges, adjacent to the north. In 2010, New College Lane was named Britain's fourth most picturesque street, as part of G ...

(known for Oxford's Bridge of Sighs). Its sister college is

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

. The choir of New College has recorded over one hundred albums, and has won two

Gramophone Award The Gramophone Classical Music Awards, launched in 1977, are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the classical record industry. They are often viewed as equivalent to or surpassing the American Grammy award, and refe ...

History

Despite its name, New College is one of the oldest of the Oxford colleges; it was founded in 1379 by

, Bishop of Winchester, as "Saint Mary College of Winchester in Oxenford", with both graduates and undergraduates.

Foundation

In 1379 William of Wykeham decided to found a college. He applied to

King Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father d ...

for a royal charter permitting the foundation. In addition, he wrote a charter of his own, requiring his college to have a warden and seventy scholars. He purchased the necessary land in separate lots from the City of Oxford, Merton College and Queen's College. The area had been the City Ditch, a dangerous place by the city's wall; it had been used within living memory for burials during the Black Death. The college was founded the same year in conjunction with a feeder school,

(founded 1382, opened 1394). The two institutions have striking architectural similarities: both were the work of master mason

William Wynford William Wynford or William of Wynford (flourished 1360–1405) was one of the most successful English master masons of the 14th century, using the new Perpendicular Gothic style. Life and career He is first mentioned in 1360 when at work at Winds ...

. The first stone was laid on 5 March 1380. The college had occupied the buildings by 14 April 1386. William of Wykeham then drew up the statutes of the college. The coat of arms of the college is William of Wykeham's. It features two black chevrons, one said to have been added when he became a bishop and the other possibly representing his skill with architecture, since the chevron was a device used by masons. Winchester College uses the same arms. The college's

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...

, created by William of Wykeham, is "Manners Makyth Man". New College was established to have prayers said for William of Wykeham's soul. He instructed that there were to be ten chaplains, three clerks and a

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

of 16 choristers on the foundation of the college. As well as being one of the first Oxford colleges to take undergraduates and to appoint tutors to teach them, New College was the first in Oxford to be deliberately designed around a main quadrangle. The college was about as large as all of the (six) existing Oxford colleges combined.

Civil wars

The Royalists used the cloisters and bell tower to store munitions early in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. In August 1651, the college was fortified by Parliamentarian forces. In 1685,

Monmouth's rebellion The Monmouth Rebellion, also known as the Pitchfork Rebellion, the Revolt of the West or the West Country rebellion, was an attempt to depose James II, who in February 1685 succeeded his brother Charles II as king of England, Scotland and Ir ...

involved Robert Sewster, a fellow of the college, who commanded a company of university volunteers, mostly from New College; they exercised on the bowling green.

Academic

Students at New College were until 1834 exempt from taking the university's examinations for the BA and (in earlier times) the MA degrees, and were also ineligible for honours, though they still had to take the college's own tests. The college used to have a reputation for "Golden scholars, silver bachelors, leaden masters and wooden doctors." More recently, like many of Oxford's colleges, New College admitted its first mixed-sex cohort in 1979, after six centuries as an institution for men only. The choristers were originally accommodated within the walls of the college, under one schoolmaster. Since then the school has expanded; in 1903 the choristers moved to New College School in Savile Road.

College links

King Henry VI is said to have established his own new colleges,

, and

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

, either in admiration of William of Wykeham's twinned institutions of New College and Winchester College, or at least to have modified his plans to outdo them. New College and Winchester College have from the mid 15th century been formally linked to Eton College and King's College, Cambridge, a four-way relationship known as the ''Amicabilis Concordia''. King's and New College are sister colleges.

Buildings and gardens

At the time of its foundation, the college was a grand example of the "

perpendicular style Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-ce ...

". With the evolution of the college over the centuries, it has regularly added to its original quadrangle. The upper storey of the quad was added in the sixteenth century as attics which, in 1674, were replaced by a third storey proper as seen today. The oval turf at the centre of the quad is an eighteenth-century addition. Many of its buildings are listed as being of special architectural or historical importance. The initial building phase saw the construction of the Great Quad with the Gate Tower, the dining hall with the four-storeyed Muniment Tower for access, the chapel, the cloisters (consecrated as a burial site in 1400) with the four-storeyed bell tower (1400), along with the Warden's Barn in New College Lane (1402) and the Long Room (behind the SE corner of the Great Quad), purpose-built as a

garderobe Garderobe is a historic term for a room in a medieval castle. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' gives as its first meaning a store-room for valuables, but also acknowledges "by extension, a private room, a bed-chamber; also a privy". The word der ...

. The three-sided Garden Quadrangle, open at one end and begun by the addition of The Chequer to the east of the Great Quad in 1449, was completed in two stages between 1682 and 1707. Further college expansion led to the formation of Holywell Quad in the 19th century. A range known as 'New Buildings' was built along Holywell Street between 1872 and 1896, partly by George Gilbert Scott in

High Victorian High Victorian Gothic was an eclectic architectural style and movement during the mid-late 19th century. It is seen by architectural historians as either a sub-style of the broader Gothic Revival style, or a separate style in its own right. Promo ...

style (1872), and partly, including the Robinson Tower over the entrance gates, by

Basil Champneys Basil Champneys (17 September 1842 – 5 April 1935) was an English architect and author whose most notable buildings include Manchester's John Rylands Library, Somerville College Library (Oxford), Newnham College, Cambridge, Lady Margaret Hal ...

late Victorian Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian we ...

style (1885, 1896). New College is building a new development on its Savile Road site, next to New College School. The Gradel Quadrangles were designed by David Kohn Architects and received planning permission in June 2018. They will provide an additional 99 student rooms, additional dining and kitchen space, a flexible learning hub and a performance venue. In 2022,

Sir Robert McAlpine Sir Robert McAlpine Limited is a family-owned building and civil engineering company based in Hemel Hempstead, England. It carries out engineering and construction in the infrastructure, heritage, commercial, arena and stadium, healthcare, educa ...

was proceeding with construction. File:New College garden front Oxford England.jpg, Photo-chrome of Garden Quad File:New College Oxford 20040124.jpg, Holywell Street: Scott Buildings and Robinson Tower File:Newcollege wall-hall-chapel.jpg, The Chapel and old city wall from Holywell Quad File:New College, Oxford (Pic 1).jpg, Front Quad File:New College's Gradel Quads, Mansfield Road, nearing completion March 2024.jpg, Gradel Quadrangles, Mansfield Road, nearing completion, March 2024

Hall

The hall is the dining room of the college and its dimensions are eighty feet by forty feet (24 m × 12 m). In his charter, Wykeham forbade wrestling, dancing and all noisy games in the hall due to the close proximity of the college chapel and the lodgings below the hall; he further prescribed the use of Latin in conversation. The

linenfold Linenfold (or linen fold) is a simple style of relief carving used to decorate wood panelling with a design "imitating window tracery", "imitating folded linen" or "stiffly imitating folded material". Originally from Flanders, the style became ...

panelling was added while

Archbishop Warham William Warham ( – 22 August 1532) was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1503 to his death. Early life and education Warham was the son of Robert Warham of Malshanger in Hampshire. He was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford ...

was bursar. The floor was paved with marble in 1722. By the end of the 18th century, the open oak roof had been replaced by a ceiling. When 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 ...

offered £1000 to restore the hall roof, work began in 1865 under the architect George Gilbert Scott to create the current roof. The plain windows were replaced with stained glass, and the portraits were relocated. The hall underwent a major restoration project in 2015. File:New College, Oxford (3915166725).jpg, Hall

Chapel

The chapel was based on the plan of Merton Chapel. The transepts and tower that made Merton Chapel T-shaped were omitted, and a screen separated the main chapel from the ante-chapel. The medieval interior was modified after the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, with the removal of secondary altars, the rood loft, and the reredos' statues, the reredos being covered in plaster. Much of the medieval stained glass in the ante-chapel was restored in a 20-year project which was commended in the 2007 Oxford Preservation Trust Environmental Awards. The chapel contains a statue of Lazarus by Sir Jacob Epstein and a painting by El Greco. Some of the stained glass windows, including the Great West Window, were designed by the 18th-century portraitist

Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depen ...

. File:New College Chapel Reredos.jpg, Chapel reredos File:New-college-chapel.jpg, The Chapel, looking towards the altar File:El Greco - St James the Greater OU NEW NCO 179799-001.jpg, Painting of St James the Greater by El Greco, The choir stalls contain a "splendid set" of 62 14th-century

misericord A misericord (sometimes named mercy seat, like the biblical object) is a small wooden structure formed on the underside of a folding seat in a church which, when the seat is folded up, is intended to act as a shelf to support a person in a par ...

s. The niches of the reredos, which had been plastered over, were uncovered in the 1780s, and were fitted with statues by

Sir Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...

in the late 19th century. The chapel preserves the Founder's

Crosier A crosier or crozier (also known as a paterissa, pastoral staff, or bishop's staff) is a stylized staff that is a symbol of the governing office of a bishop or abbot and is carried by high-ranking prelates of Roman Catholic, Eastern Cathol ...

, a bishop's staff decorated with enamel and silver gilt; it resembles a crosier at

Cologne Cathedral Cologne Cathedral (german: Kölner Dom, officially ', English: Cathedral Church of Saint Peter) is a Catholic cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archdiocese o ...

. The cloisters, containing a large holm oak tree, sit by the western wall of the Chapel, were featured in '' Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'', in the scene in which Draco Malfoy is turned into a white ferret. Michael Darbie recast the original five bells of the bell tower into eight in 1655, creating the first set of eight to be cast simultaneously. In 1712, two more bells were added, supposedly to outmatch Magdalen College's new ring of eight bells created in that year. The bells are rung by the

Oxford Society of Change Ringers 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 ...

. File:New College, Oxford (Pic 2).jpg, Cloisters File:Oxford men and their colleges - The Cloister, New College.png, Drawing of the Cloisters and Chapel

Gardens and city wall

The Middle Gateway opens to the Garden Quadrangle. The gardens include a mound that was first arranged in 1594 (with steps added in 1649, but now smooth with one set of stairs). In a 1761 edition of ''Pocket Companion for Oxford'' the mound is described: : "In the middle of the Garden is a beautiful Mount with an easy ascent to the top of it, and the Walks around it, as well as the Summit of it, guarded with Yew Hedges. The Area before the Mount being divided into four Quarters, .the King's Arms, .opposite to it the Founder's; in the third a Sun Dial; and the Fourth, a Garden-Knot, all planted in Box, and neatly cut." When

acquired the land on which to build the college, he agreed to maintain the city wall. The

herbaceous border A herbaceous border is a collection of perennial herbaceous plants (plants that live for more than two years and are soft-stemmed and non-woody) arranged closely together, usually to create a dramatic effect through colour, shape or large scale. ...

that runs alongside the wall is mentioned in

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

's listing of the garden. File:Newcollege gate to gardens.jpg, The Gate in Garden Quad File:Oxford - New College.jpg, Old city wall in the College gardens File:New College, Oxford mound.jpg, The Garden Mound

Sports ground

The New College sports ground south of the

University Parks The Oxford University Parks, commonly referred to locally as the University Parks, or just The Parks, is a large parkland area slightly northeast of the city centre in Oxford, England. The park is bounded to the east by the River Cherwell, thou ...

was established in the 1880s. The Weston buildings, which accommodate postgraduate students, were built next to the ground in 1999.

Treasures

The college treasures include paintings and a substantial silver collection. The library contains a copy of the first printed edition of Aristotle. A Barbara Hepworth statue stands by the City Wall.

Music

Choir

In 1379, William of Wykeham provided for a choral foundation of clerks and boy choristers. The tradition continues today with choral services during term. The choir often performs

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

and Baroque music, including Handel's works. As well as appearing repeatedly at the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

, the choir has made numerous concert tours. The choir has recorded over one hundred albums. In 1997, the choir won a

in the best-selling disc category for their album ''Agnus Dei'', and in 2008, they won a Gramophone Award in the early music category for their recording of

Nicholas Ludford Nicholas Ludford (c. 1485 – 1557) was an English composer of the Tudor period. He is known for his festal masses, which are preserved in two early-16th-century choirbooks, the Caius Choirbook at Caius College, Cambridge, and the Lambeth Choirb ...

's ''Missa Benedicta''. On 29 June 2015, at the invitation of the Holy See and the

Cappella Musicale Pontificia Sistina The Sistine Chapel Choir, as it is generally called in English, or officially the Coro della Cappella Musicale Pontificia Sistina in Italian, is the Pope's personal choir. It performs at papal functions in the Sistine Chapel and in any other chur ...

, the choir sang at the Papal

Pallium The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : ''pallia'') is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropol ...

mass for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul in

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...

Organ

The original organ was given by William Porte (1420–1423). An organ was removed in 1547 under

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

, and likewise in 1572. A Willis organ installed in 1874 contained parts from organs by Samuel Green in 1776,

James Chapman Bishop James Chapman Bishop (1783 – 2 December 1854) was a notable British organ manufacturer of the 19th century. History He was apprenticed to Benjamin Flight and then set up his own business in London in 1807 initially at York buildings in Maryle ...

, and Dallam in 1663. The present instrument was constructed by Grant, Degens and Bradbeer in 1969. In the summer of 2014 the organ was restored, with the key actions and other mechanisms being completely renewed by

Goetze and Gwynn Goetze and Gwynn is an organ builder in England which has a specialism in restoring pre-Victorian British organs. Company Dominic Gwynn started organ building with Hendrik ten Bruggencate in Northampton in 1976, before going into partnership wit ...

. File:New College Chapel Interior I.jpg, The organ, between the chapel and the ante-chapel

Student life

Outreach

New College has launched Step-Up, a sustained contact outreach initiative which seeks to inspire students from partner schools in England and Wales to apply to Oxford and supports them to make a competitive application. The college founded the Oxford for Wales consortium, Oxford Cymru, along with Jesus College and St Catherine's College, offering support to students from state schools in Wales.

Rowing

A New College

rowing eight An eight is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing (crew). It is designed for eight rowers, who propel the boat with sweep oars, and is steered by a coxswain, or "cox". Each of the eight rowers has one oar. The rowers, who sit in ...

is recorded from 1840; the

New College Boat Club New College Boat Club (NCBC) is the rowing club for members of New College, Oxford. The club's existence can be dated to 1840 when it first raced on The Isis in Oxford. The club shares a boathouse on The Isis (part of the Thames) with Balliol C ...

was "Head of the River" in

Eights Week Eights Week, also known as Summer Eights, is a four-day regatta of bumps races which constitutes the University of Oxford's main intercollegiate rowing event of the year. The regatta takes place in May of each year, from the Wednesday to th ...

in 1887 and several years from 1896. The club headed the

Torpids Torpids is one of two series of bumping races, a type of rowing race, held yearly at Oxford University; the other is Eights Week. Over 130 men's and women's crews race for their colleges in six men's divisions and five women's; almost 1,200 pa ...

competition in 1882, 1896, and 1900 to 1904. The club represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

at the Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1912, and earned a silver medal.

Organisation and administration

The head of the college is the warden, who is responsible for academic leadership, chairs the governing body, and represents the college. Policy is defined and actioned by the warden together with the fellows of the college, who are scholars. New College is one of the constituent self-governing colleges of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, which has a federal organisation. The warden is supported by specialist officers including tutors, bursar, librarian, and chaplain.'New College', in ''A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 3: The University of Oxford'' (1954)
pp. 144-162
online at british-history.ac.uk, accessed 26 August 2008. The students are divided into a Middle Common Room consisting of the college's graduates, and a Junior Common Room for the undergraduates; these are run by their own committees.

Notes

References

Sources

* Buxton, John, and Penry Williams (1979). ''New College, Oxford, 1379–1979''. Oxford: Warden and Fellows of New College. . * Halford Smith, Alic (1952). ''New College, Oxford, and its Buildings''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. * Jenkinson, Matthew (2013). '' New College School, Oxford: A History''. Oxford: Shire. . * *

Tyerman, Christopher Christopher Tyerman (born 22 May 1953) is an academic historian focusing on the Crusades. In 2015, he was appointed Professor of History of the Crusades at the University of Oxford. Life and career He graduated from New College, Oxford, with a ...

(2010). ''New College''. London: Third Millennium. . *

External links

New College JCR, Oxford

New College MCR, Oxford

College choir

New College School
{{Authority control 1379 establishments in England Educational institutions established in the 14th century Colleges of the University of Oxford Grade I listed buildings in Oxford Grade I listed educational buildings Organisations based in Oxford with royal patronage Buildings and structures of the University of Oxford