Merton College, Oxford
Encyclopedia
Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford
in England
. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton
, chancellor to Henry III
and later to Edward I
, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to support it. The important feature of Walter's foundation was that this "college
" was to be self-governing and that the endowments were directly vested in the Warden and Fellows.
By 1274 when Walter retired from royal service and made his final revisions to the college statutes, the community was consolidated at its present site in the south east corner of the city of Oxford, and a rapid programme of building commenced. The hall and the chapel and the rest of the front quad were complete before the end of the 13th century, but apart from the chapel they have all been much altered since. To most visitors, the college and its buildings are synonymous, but the history of the college can be more deeply understood if one distinguishes the history of the academic community from that of the site and buildings that they have occupied for nearly 750 years. Merton is among the wealthier colleges, and as of 2006, had an estimated financial endowment
of £142 million.
, Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Rochester. It has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford, although this claim is disputed between Merton College, Balliol College
and University College
. The substance of Merton's claim to the title of oldest College is that Merton was the first college to be provided with "statutes", a constitution governing the College set out at its founding. Merton's statutes date back to 1264, whereas neither Balliol nor University College had statutes until the 1280s. Merton was also the first to be conceived as a community of scholars working to achieve academic ends, rather than just a place for the scholars to live in.
, Merton was the only Oxford College to side with Parliament
. The reason for this was Merton's annoyance with the interference of their Visitor (patron) William Laud
, the Archbishop of Canterbury
. Due to this, the college was moved to London at the start of the Civil War and its buildings were commandeered by the Royalist
s and used to house many of Charles the First
's court when Oxford was used as the Royalists' capital. This included the King's French wife, Queen Henrietta Maria, who was housed in or near what is now the Queen's Room, the room above the arch between Front and Fellows' Quads.
Differences were quickly settled after the war, however, and a portrait of Charles the First hangs near the Queen's Room as a reminder of the role it played in his court.
Since the introduction of an official Norrington Table
published by the University itself in 2004, Merton has been top five years. It is, thus, the most academically successful College in the last twenty years, with more First Class degrees being awarded to its students than Upper Seconds.
In 2010, it was reported that Merton had not admitted a black student in the previous five years. A university spokeswoman commented that black students were more likely to apply for oversubscribed subjects. The University also reported that Merton had admitted at least one black undergraduate since 2005.
, with the colleges fielding amalgamated sports teams for nearly all major sports except rowing. The JCR Football Premier Division was (jointly) won for the first time by a Merton team in 2010/11. The side, captained by a Mertonian undergraduate, also reached the semi-finals of Cuppers only to lose out to the Blues-dominated eventual champions Worcester
.
Merton has been Head of the River
in Summer Eights
once; its men's 1st VIII held the headship in 1951. Merton's women have done better in recent years, gaining the headship in Torpids
in 2003 and rowing over to defend the title in 2004.
At the (in)famous Time Ceremony, students, dressed in formal sub-fusc, walk backwards around the Fellows' Quad drinking port
. Traditionally participants also hold candles but in recent years this practice has been dropped, and many students have now adopted the habit of linking arms and twirling around at each corner of the quad. The purpose is ostensibly to maintain the integrity of the space-time continuum during the transition from British Summer Time to Greenwich Mean Time which occurs in the early hours of the last Sunday in October. There are two toasts
associated with the ceremony, the first is "to good old times!", or "to a good old time!", whilst the second is "long live the counter-revolution!". The ceremony was invented by two undergraduates in 1971, partly as a spoof on other Oxford ceremonies, and partly to celebrate the end of the experimental period of British Standard Time
from 1968 to 1971 when the UK stayed one hour ahead of GMT all year round. It is also seen by many as a protest against the abandonment of sub fusc in recent years.
In 2003, Merton JCR passed a motion expressing general support for student tuition fees, making it the only pro-tuition-fee student body in the UK.
Merton is the only college in Oxford to hold a triannual winter ball
, instead of the more common Commemoration ball
.
Merton also plays host to a number of drinking and dining societies, along the lines of other colleges. These include the Myrmidons
and L'Ancien Régime. Merton College is also rumoured to be the college of the founding members of the alleged Haxley Society, a university-wide establishment and reportedly a chapter of Yale's similarly prestigious Gamma Gamma Phi fraternity.
) as well as in Oxford, but it was not until the mid-1260s that Walter de Merton acquired the core of the present site in Oxford, along the south side of what was then St John's Street (now Merton Street
). The college was consolidated on this site by 1274, when Walter made his final revisions to the college statutes.
The initial acquisition included the parish church of St John (which was superseded by the chapel) and three houses to the east of the church which now form the north range of Front Quad. Walter also obtained permission from the king to extend from these properties south to the old city wall to form an approximately square site. The college continued to acquire other properties as they became available on both sides of Merton Street. At one time the college owned all the land from the site of what is now Christ Church
to the south eastern corner of the city. The land to the east eventually became the present day garden, while the western end was leased by Warden Rawlins in 1515 for the foundation of Corpus Christi
(at an annual rent of just over £4).
with its enormous east window was complete by 1294. The window is an important example (because it is so well dated) of how the strict geometrical conventions of the Early English Period of architecture were beginning to be relaxed at the end of the 13th century. The south transept
was built in the 14th century, the north transept in the early years of the 15th. The great tower was complete by 1450. The chapel replaced the parish church of St. John and continued to serve as the parish church as well as the chapel until 1891. It is for this reason that it is generally referred to as Merton Church in older documents, and that there is a north door into the street as well as doors into the college. This dual role also probably explains the enormous scale of the chapel, which in its original design was to have a nave
and two aisles extending to the west.
A new choral foundation was established in 2007, providing for a choir of sixteen undergraduate and graduate choral scholars singing from October 2008. The choir is directed by Peter Phillips, currently also director of the Tallis Scholars
and Benjamin Nicholas, director of music at Tewkesbury Abbey
A spire from the chapel has resided in Pavilion Garden VI of the University of Virginia since 1928, when "it was given to the University to honor Jefferson's educational ideals."
in the 1790s and then again by Gilbert Scott
in 1874. The hall is still used daily for meals and houses a number of important portraits. It is not usually open to visitors.
Front quad itself is probably the earliest collegiate quadrangle, but its informal, almost haphazard, pattern cannot be said to have influenced designers elsewhere. A reminder of its original domestic nature can be seen in the north east corner where one of the flagstones is marked "Well". The quad is formed of what would have been the back gardens of the three original houses that Walter acquired in the 1260s.
, can point to their own older examples.
The old library occupies the upper floor of the south and west ranges of Mob Quad, and the original archive room is still in the north east corner; it houses one of the most complete sets of college records in Europe.
, probably inspired by Italian examples that Warden Savile would have seen on his European travels. The main contractors were from Yorkshire
(as was Savile), John Ackroyd and John Bentley of Halifax did the stonework and Thomas Holt the timber. This group were also later employed to work on the Bodleian Library
and Wadham College
.
or later and include: St. Alban Quad (or "Stubbins"), designed by Basil Champneys
, built on the site of the medieval St. Alban Hall (elements of the older façade are incorporated into the part that faces onto Merton Street); the Grove building, built in 1864 by William Butterfield
but "chastened" in the 1930s; the buildings beyond the Fellows' Garden called "Rose Lane"; several buildings north of Merton Street, including a real tennis court
, and the Old Warden's Lodgings (designed by Champneys in 1903); and a new quadrangle in Holywell Street, some distance away from the college.
. Among other things, the gardens contain a mulberry tree planted in the early 17th century, an armillary sundial
, a beautiful lawn, and the old Fellows' summer house (now a music room).
, presented by Frank Brenchley, a former member and fellow of the college, who presented his collection of Elliot first editions and ephemera to the college, which is believed to be the second largest collection of such material, worldwide. The foyer is illuminated by a lighting display representing three constellations.
winners: poet T. S. Eliot
, physicist Sir Anthony Leggett, zoologist Nikolaas Tinbergen
and chemist Frederick Soddy
. Other Merton alumni are Bodleian Library
founder Thomas Bodley
, the Oxford Calculators
, Director-General of the BBC Mark Thompson
and Sir Andrew Wiles
who proved Fermat's Last Theorem
. Wilder Penfield
, a famous Canadian neurosurgeon had also previously entered Merton College.
Author J. R. R. Tolkien
was a Merton Professor of English Language and Literature
present. The first two lines of the Latin text are based on verses 15 and 16 of Psalm 145
.
Roughly translated it means:
For the relevant verses of the Psalm, the Authorized Version has:
According to an article about Graces from the University of Cambridge
, a slightly different version of the Latin text of these verses is painted (apparently as a decoration) around Old Hall in Queens' College, Cambridge
, and is "commonly in use at other Cambridge colleges".
By contrast with the rather long pre-prandial grace, the post-prandial grace is brief: Benedictus benedicat ("Let him who has been blessed, give blessing"). The latter grace is spoken by the senior Fellow present at the end of dinner on High Table.
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton
Walter de Merton
Walter de Merton was Bishop of Rochester and founder of Merton College, Oxford.-Life:Walter was born probably at Merton in Surrey or educated there; hence the surname. He came of a land-owning family at Basingstoke; beyond that there is no definite information as to the date or place of birth...
, chancellor to Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
and later to Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to support it. The important feature of Walter's foundation was that this "college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
" was to be self-governing and that the endowments were directly vested in the Warden and Fellows.
By 1274 when Walter retired from royal service and made his final revisions to the college statutes, the community was consolidated at its present site in the south east corner of the city of Oxford, and a rapid programme of building commenced. The hall and the chapel and the rest of the front quad were complete before the end of the 13th century, but apart from the chapel they have all been much altered since. To most visitors, the college and its buildings are synonymous, but the history of the college can be more deeply understood if one distinguishes the history of the academic community from that of the site and buildings that they have occupied for nearly 750 years. Merton is among the wealthier colleges, and as of 2006, had an estimated financial endowment
Financial endowment
A financial endowment is a transfer of money or property donated to an institution. The total value of an institution's investments is often referred to as the institution's endowment and is typically organized as a public charity, private foundation, or trust....
of £142 million.
Foundation and origins
Merton College was founded in 1264 by Walter de MertonWalter de Merton
Walter de Merton was Bishop of Rochester and founder of Merton College, Oxford.-Life:Walter was born probably at Merton in Surrey or educated there; hence the surname. He came of a land-owning family at Basingstoke; beyond that there is no definite information as to the date or place of birth...
, Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Rochester. It has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford, although this claim is disputed between Merton College, Balliol College
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....
and University College
University College, Oxford
.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...
. The substance of Merton's claim to the title of oldest College is that Merton was the first college to be provided with "statutes", a constitution governing the College set out at its founding. Merton's statutes date back to 1264, whereas neither Balliol nor University College had statutes until the 1280s. Merton was also the first to be conceived as a community of scholars working to achieve academic ends, rather than just a place for the scholars to live in.
St Alban Hall
St Alban Hall was an independent academic hall owned by the convent of Littlemore until it was purchased by Merton College in 1548 following the dissolution of the convent. It continued as a separate institution until it was finally annexed by the college in 1881.Parliamentarian sympathies in the Civil War
During the English Civil WarEnglish Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, Merton was the only Oxford College to side with Parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
. The reason for this was Merton's annoyance with the interference of their Visitor (patron) William Laud
William Laud
William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...
, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
. Due to this, the college was moved to London at the start of the Civil War and its buildings were commandeered by the Royalist
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch...
s and used to house many of Charles the First
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
's court when Oxford was used as the Royalists' capital. This included the King's French wife, Queen Henrietta Maria, who was housed in or near what is now the Queen's Room, the room above the arch between Front and Fellows' Quads.
Differences were quickly settled after the war, however, and a portrait of Charles the First hangs near the Queen's Room as a reminder of the role it played in his court.
Modern academic community
Merton college admitted its first female students in 1980 (largely due to pressure from the JCR). However Merton was the second originally male college to elect a female Warden (in 1994). Merton has traditionally had single sex accommodation for freshers, with female students going into the Rose Lane buildings and most male students going into 3 houses on Merton Street. However, this was changed in 2007, with all fresher accommodation being mixed by gender and course. Merton has had a reputation for having the best food in Oxford since an old Mertonian left money specifically for the improvement of the kitchens, and this budget was further augmented during the two years when Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan studied there (1983–85).Since the introduction of an official Norrington Table
Norrington Table
The Norrington Table is an annual ranking that lists the colleges of the University of Oxford that have undergraduate students in order of the performance of their undergraduate students on that year's final examinations.- Overview :...
published by the University itself in 2004, Merton has been top five years. It is, thus, the most academically successful College in the last twenty years, with more First Class degrees being awarded to its students than Upper Seconds.
In 2010, it was reported that Merton had not admitted a black student in the previous five years. A university spokeswoman commented that black students were more likely to apply for oversubscribed subjects. The University also reported that Merton had admitted at least one black undergraduate since 2005.
Extracurricular activities
Merton has a long-standing sporting relationship with Mansfield CollegeMansfield College, Oxford
Mansfield College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Of the colleges that accept both undergraduate and graduate students Mansfield College is one of the smallest, comprising approximately 210 undergraduates, 130 graduates, 35 visiting students and 50...
, with the colleges fielding amalgamated sports teams for nearly all major sports except rowing. The JCR Football Premier Division was (jointly) won for the first time by a Merton team in 2010/11. The side, captained by a Mertonian undergraduate, also reached the semi-finals of Cuppers only to lose out to the Blues-dominated eventual champions Worcester
Worcester College, Oxford
Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in the eighteenth century, but its predecessor on the same site had been an institution of learning since the late thirteenth century...
.
Merton has been Head of the River
Head of the River
A Head of the River race is a rowing race, held as a procession race against the clock, with the winning crew receiving the title of "Head of the River"...
in Summer Eights
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 the Saturday of the fifth week of Trinity term...
once; its men's 1st VIII held the headship in 1951. Merton's women have done better in recent years, gaining the headship in Torpids
Torpids
Torpids is one of two series of bumping races held yearly at Oxford University, the other being Eights. Over 130 men's and women's crews race for their colleges in six men's divisions and five women's; almost 1200 participants in total...
in 2003 and rowing over to defend the title in 2004.
At the (in)famous Time Ceremony, students, dressed in formal sub-fusc, walk backwards around the Fellows' Quad drinking port
Port wine
Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, and comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties...
. Traditionally participants also hold candles but in recent years this practice has been dropped, and many students have now adopted the habit of linking arms and twirling around at each corner of the quad. The purpose is ostensibly to maintain the integrity of the space-time continuum during the transition from British Summer Time to Greenwich Mean Time which occurs in the early hours of the last Sunday in October. There are two toasts
Toast (honor)
A toast is a ritual in which a drink is taken as an expression of honor or goodwill. The term may be applied to the person or thing so honored, the drink taken, or the verbal expression accompanying the drink. Thus, a person could be "the toast of the evening," for whom someone "proposes a toast"...
associated with the ceremony, the first is "to good old times!", or "to a good old time!", whilst the second is "long live the counter-revolution!". The ceremony was invented by two undergraduates in 1971, partly as a spoof on other Oxford ceremonies, and partly to celebrate the end of the experimental period of British Standard Time
British Summer Time
Western European Summer Time is a summer daylight saving time scheme, 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used in the following places:* the Canary Islands* Portugal * Ireland...
from 1968 to 1971 when the UK stayed one hour ahead of GMT all year round. It is also seen by many as a protest against the abandonment of sub fusc in recent years.
In 2003, Merton JCR passed a motion expressing general support for student tuition fees, making it the only pro-tuition-fee student body in the UK.
Merton is the only college in Oxford to hold a triannual winter ball
Ball (dance)
A ball is a formal dance. The word 'ball' is derived from the Latin word "ballare", meaning 'to dance'; the term also derived into "bailar", which is the Spanish and Portuguese word for dance . In Catalan it is the same word, 'ball', for the dance event.Attendees wear evening attire, which is...
, instead of the more common Commemoration ball
Commemoration ball
A Commemoration ball is a formal ball held by one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in the 9th week of Trinity Term, the week after the end of the last Full Term of the academic year, which known as "Commemoration Week"...
.
Merton also plays host to a number of drinking and dining societies, along the lines of other colleges. These include the Myrmidons
Myrmidon Club
The Myrmidon Club is a dining club elected from the male undergraduate members of Merton College, Oxford. Founded in 1865, it is one of the handful of such clubs with an almost continuous existence from the second half of the 19th century...
and L'Ancien Régime. Merton College is also rumoured to be the college of the founding members of the alleged Haxley Society, a university-wide establishment and reportedly a chapter of Yale's similarly prestigious Gamma Gamma Phi fraternity.
Buildings
The "House of Scholars of Merton" originally had properties in Surrey (in present day Old MaldenOld Malden
Old Malden is a ward of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames south west of Charing Cross.It is one of the more affluent areas in the borough, with Coombe , and Kingston Vale...
) as well as in Oxford, but it was not until the mid-1260s that Walter de Merton acquired the core of the present site in Oxford, along the south side of what was then St John's Street (now Merton Street
Merton Street
Merton Street is a historic and picturesque cobbled lane in central Oxford, England. It joins the High Street at its northeastern end, between the Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art and the Eastgate Hotel at the historic east gate of the city...
). The college was consolidated on this site by 1274, when Walter made his final revisions to the college statutes.
The initial acquisition included the parish church of St John (which was superseded by the chapel) and three houses to the east of the church which now form the north range of Front Quad. Walter also obtained permission from the king to extend from these properties south to the old city wall to form an approximately square site. The college continued to acquire other properties as they became available on both sides of Merton Street. At one time the college owned all the land from the site of what is now Christ Church
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
to the south eastern corner of the city. The land to the east eventually became the present day garden, while the western end was leased by Warden Rawlins in 1515 for the foundation of Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...
(at an annual rent of just over £4).
Chapel
By the late 1280s the old church of St John the Baptist had fallen into "a ruinous condition", and the college accounts show that work on a new church began in about 1290. The present choirQuire (architecture)
Architecturally, the choir is the area of a church or cathedral, usually in the western part of the chancel between the nave and the sanctuary . The choir is occasionally located in the eastern part of the nave...
with its enormous east window was complete by 1294. The window is an important example (because it is so well dated) of how the strict geometrical conventions of the Early English Period of architecture were beginning to be relaxed at the end of the 13th century. The south transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
was built in the 14th century, the north transept in the early years of the 15th. The great tower was complete by 1450. The chapel replaced the parish church of St. John and continued to serve as the parish church as well as the chapel until 1891. It is for this reason that it is generally referred to as Merton Church in older documents, and that there is a north door into the street as well as doors into the college. This dual role also probably explains the enormous scale of the chapel, which in its original design was to have a nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
and two aisles extending to the west.
A new choral foundation was established in 2007, providing for a choir of sixteen undergraduate and graduate choral scholars singing from October 2008. The choir is directed by Peter Phillips, currently also director of the Tallis Scholars
Tallis Scholars
The Tallis Scholars are a British vocal ensemble normally consisting of two singers per part, with a core group of ten singers.Formed in 1973 by their director Peter Phillips, they specialise in performing a cappella sacred vocal music written during the Renaissance by composers from all over Europe...
and Benjamin Nicholas, director of music at Tewkesbury Abbey
Tewkesbury Abbey
The Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Tewkesbury in the English county of Gloucestershire is the second largest parish church in the country and a former Benedictine monastery.-History:...
A spire from the chapel has resided in Pavilion Garden VI of the University of Virginia since 1928, when "it was given to the University to honor Jefferson's educational ideals."
Front quad and the hall
The hall is the oldest surviving college building, but apart from the door with its magnificent medieval ironwork almost no trace of the ancient structure has survived the successive reconstruction efforts, first by James WyattJames Wyatt
James Wyatt RA , was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the neo-Gothic style.-Early classical career:...
in the 1790s and then again by Gilbert Scott
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott was an English architect of the Victorian Age, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches, cathedrals and workhouses...
in 1874. The hall is still used daily for meals and houses a number of important portraits. It is not usually open to visitors.
Front quad itself is probably the earliest collegiate quadrangle, but its informal, almost haphazard, pattern cannot be said to have influenced designers elsewhere. A reminder of its original domestic nature can be seen in the north east corner where one of the flagstones is marked "Well". The quad is formed of what would have been the back gardens of the three original houses that Walter acquired in the 1260s.
Mob quad
Visitors to Merton are often told Mob Quad, built in the 14th century, is the oldest quadrangle of any Oxford or Cambridge college and set the pattern for future collegiate architecture, but Front Quad was certainly enclosed earlier (albeit with a less unified design) and other colleges, for example Corpus Christi College, CambridgeCorpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is notable as the only college founded by Cambridge townspeople: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary...
, can point to their own older examples.
The old library occupies the upper floor of the south and west ranges of Mob Quad, and the original archive room is still in the north east corner; it houses one of the most complete sets of college records in Europe.
Fellows' quad
The grandest quadrangle in Merton is the Fellows' Quadrangle, immediately south of the hall. The quad was the culmination of the work undertaken by Sir Henry Savile at the beginning of the 17th century. The foundation stone was laid shortly after breakfast on 13 September 1608 (as recorded in the college Register), and work was complete by September 1610 (although the battlements were added later). The southern gateway is surmounted by a tower of the four OrdersClassical order
A classical order is one of the ancient styles of classical architecture, each distinguished by its proportions and characteristic profiles and details, and most readily recognizable by the type of column employed. Three ancient orders of architecture—the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian—originated in...
, probably inspired by Italian examples that Warden Savile would have seen on his European travels. The main contractors were from Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
(as was Savile), John Ackroyd and John Bentley of Halifax did the stonework and Thomas Holt the timber. This group were also later employed to work on the Bodleian Library
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
and Wadham College
Wadham College, Oxford
Wadham College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, located at the southern end of Parks Road in central Oxford. It was founded by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham, wealthy Somerset landowners, during the reign of King James I...
.
Other buildings
Most of the other buildings are VictorianVictorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
or later and include: St. Alban Quad (or "Stubbins"), designed by Basil Champneys
Basil Champneys
Basil Champneys was an architect and author whose more notable buildings include Newnham College, Cambridge, Manchester's John Rylands Library, Mansfield College, Oxford and Oriel College, Oxford's Rhodes Building.- Life :...
, built on the site of the medieval St. Alban Hall (elements of the older façade are incorporated into the part that faces onto Merton Street); the Grove building, built in 1864 by William Butterfield
William Butterfield
William Butterfield was a Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement . He is noted for his use of polychromy-Biography:...
but "chastened" in the 1930s; the buildings beyond the Fellows' Garden called "Rose Lane"; several buildings north of Merton Street, including a real tennis court
Merton Street tennis court
Merton Street tennis court is the home of the Oxford University Real Tennis Club. It stands on the north side of Merton Street in central Oxford, England, and forms part of Merton College....
, and the Old Warden's Lodgings (designed by Champneys in 1903); and a new quadrangle in Holywell Street, some distance away from the college.
Gardens
The garden fills the southeastern corner of the old walled city of Oxford. The walls may be seen from Christ Church MeadowsChrist Church Meadow, Oxford
Christ Church Meadow is a famous flood-meadow, and popular walking and picnic spot in Oxford, England.Roughly triangular in shape it is bounded by the River Thames , the River Cherwell, and Christ Church. It provides access to many of the college boat houses which are on an island at the confluence...
. Among other things, the gardens contain a mulberry tree planted in the early 17th century, an armillary sundial
Sundial
A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...
, a beautiful lawn, and the old Fellows' summer house (now a music room).
T.S. Elliot Lecture Theatre
A new lecture theatre named after T.S. Elliot, a former member of the college has a bust of the writer by Jacob EpsteinJacob Epstein
Sir Jacob Epstein KBE was an American-born British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British citizen in 1911. He often produced controversial works which challenged taboos on what was appropriate subject matter...
, presented by Frank Brenchley, a former member and fellow of the college, who presented his collection of Elliot first editions and ephemera to the college, which is believed to be the second largest collection of such material, worldwide. The foyer is illuminated by a lighting display representing three constellations.
Former Mertonians
Merton alumni include four Nobel prizeNobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winners: poet T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
, physicist Sir Anthony Leggett, zoologist Nikolaas Tinbergen
Nikolaas Tinbergen
Nikolaas "Niko" Tinbergen was a Dutch ethologist and ornithologist who shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Karl von Frisch and Konrad Lorenz for their discoveries concerning organization and elicitation of individual and social behaviour patterns in animals.In the 1960s he...
and chemist Frederick Soddy
Frederick Soddy
Frederick Soddy was an English radiochemist who explained, with Ernest Rutherford, that radioactivity is due to the transmutation of elements, now known to involve nuclear reactions. He also proved the existence of isotopes of certain radioactive elements...
. Other Merton alumni are Bodleian Library
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
founder Thomas Bodley
Thomas Bodley
Sir Thomas Bodley was an English diplomat and scholar, founder of the Bodleian Library, Oxford.-Biography:...
, the Oxford Calculators
Oxford Calculators
The Oxford Calculators were a group of 14th-century thinkers, almost all associated with Merton College, Oxford, who took a strikingly logico-mathematical approach to philosophical problems....
, Director-General of the BBC Mark Thompson
Mark Thompson
Mark John Thompson is Director-General of the BBC, a post he has held since 2004, and a former chief executive of Channel 4...
and Sir Andrew Wiles
Andrew Wiles
Sir Andrew John Wiles KBE FRS is a British mathematician and a Royal Society Research Professor at Oxford University, specializing in number theory...
who proved Fermat's Last Theorem
Wiles' proof of Fermat's Last Theorem
Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem is a proof of the modularity theorem for semistable elliptic curves released by Andrew Wiles, which, together with Ribet's theorem, provides a proof for Fermat's Last Theorem. Wiles first announced his proof in June 1993 in a version that was soon recognized...
. Wilder Penfield
Wilder Penfield
Wilder Graves Penfield, OM, CC, CMG, FRS was an American born Canadian neurosurgeon. During his life he was called "the greatest living Canadian"...
, a famous Canadian neurosurgeon had also previously entered Merton College.
Author J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
was a Merton Professor of English Language and Literature
Grace
The college preprandial grace is always recited before formal dinners in Hall and usually by the senior postmasterPostmaster (disambiguation)
A postmaster is the head of an individual post office.Postmaster may also refer to:*Postmaster , the administrator of an email server...
present. The first two lines of the Latin text are based on verses 15 and 16 of Psalm 145
Psalm 145
-Judaism:*The majority of the prayer Ashrei that is recited thrice daily is Psalm 145 .*Verse 13 is found in the repetition to the Amidah on Rosh Hashanah....
.
- Oculi omnium in te respiciunt, Domine. Tu das escam illis tempore opportuno.
- Aperis manum tuam, et imples omne animal benedictione tua.
- Benedicas nobis, Deus, omnibus donis quae de tua beneficentia accepturi simus.
- Per Iesum Christum dominum nostrum, Amen.
Roughly translated it means:
- The eyes of the world look up to thee, O Lord. Thou givest them food in due season.
- Thou openest thy hand and fillest every creature with thy blessing.
- Bless us, O God, with all the gifts which by thy good works we are about to receive.
- Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Amen.
For the relevant verses of the Psalm, the Authorized Version has:
- 15. The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.
- 16. Thou openst thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
According to an article about Graces from the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, a slightly different version of the Latin text of these verses is painted (apparently as a decoration) around Old Hall in Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou , and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville...
, and is "commonly in use at other Cambridge colleges".
By contrast with the rather long pre-prandial grace, the post-prandial grace is brief: Benedictus benedicat ("Let him who has been blessed, give blessing"). The latter grace is spoken by the senior Fellow present at the end of dinner on High Table.