View source for St John's College, Cambridge

{{Infobox college
|name=St John's College
|county=Cambridgeshire
|university=Cambridge
|city=Cambridge
|livery=A3C1AD
|headtext=black
|arms=Coat of arms of the St John's College.svg
|picture=Cambridge - St John College - New Court.jpg
|picture caption=St John College from the Backs
|scarf={{scarf|#111144|4|#cc3333|1|#88bbcc|1|#cc3333|1|#111144|4|#cc3333|1|#88bbcc|1|#cc3333|1|#111144|4}}
|full name=The College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge
|motto=Souvent me Souvient
|founder=Lady Margaret Beaufort
|established=1511
|address=St John's Street
|principal title=Master
|principal=Heather Hancock
|endowment=£619.6 million {{small|(2019)}}
|website=[http://https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/ joh.cam.ac.uk]
}}
'''St John's College''', formally the '''College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge''',<ref>''A History of St John's College'', produced by Tim Rawle Associates, Cloister Press, p. 1</ref> is a constituent college of the [[University of Cambridge]] founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort.

This is one of the largest Oxbridge colleges in terms of student numbers. For 2022, St John's was ranked 6th of 29 colleges in the Tompkins Table (the annual league table of Cambridge colleges) with over 35 per cent of its students earning first-class honours. It is the second wealthiest college in Oxford and Cambridge; after neighbouring [[Trinity College, Cambridge|Trinity]], at Cambridge.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Adams |first1=Richard |last2=Greenwood |first2=Xavier |date=2018-05-28 |title=Oxford and Cambridge university colleges hold £21bn in riches |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/may/28/oxford-and-cambridge-university-colleges-hold-21bn-in-riches |access-date=2023-03-18 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

College alumni include the winners of twelve Nobel Prizes, seven prime ministers, twelve archbishops of various countries, and at least two princes. The Romantic poet William Wordsworth studied at St John's, as did William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson, two abolitionists who led the movement that brought slavery to an end in the British Empire.

==History==
The site was originally occupied by the Hospital of St John the Evangelist, probably founded around 1200.<ref name=v2>{{VCH|2|Hospitals: St John the Evangelist, Cambridge|pp=303-307}}</ref> The hospital infirmary was located where the east end of the current chapel now stands.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/architecturalhi02willgoog/page/n88|title=The architectural history of the University of Cambridge and of the colleges of Cambridge and Eton: Volume 4|year=1886|author1=Robert Willis |author2=John Willis Clark |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>

By 1470 Thomas Rotherham, Chancellor of the University, extended to the hospital the privileges of membership of the university.<ref name=v2/> This led to St John's House, as it was then known, being conferred the status of a college.<ref>{{cite book|title=Annals of Cambridge|volume=1|author=Cooper, Charles Henry|publisher=Warwick and Co|year=1842|pages=[https://archive.org/details/annalsofcambridg01coopuoft/page/254 254]|url=https://archive.org/details/annalsofcambridg01coopuoft}}</ref> By the early 16th century the hospital was dilapidated and suffering from a lack of funds. Lady Margaret Beaufort, having endowed [[Christ's College, Cambridge|Christ's College]], sought to found a new college, and chose the hospital site at the suggestion of John Fisher, her chaplain and Bishop of Rochester.<ref name=v2/> However, Lady Margaret died without having mentioned the foundation of St John's in her will, and it was largely the work of Fisher that ensured that the college was founded. He had to obtain the approval of King Henry VIII and the Bishop of Ely to suppress the religious hospital (which by then held only a Master and three Augustinian brethren) and convert it to a college.

The college received its charter on 9 April 1511. Further complications arose in obtaining money from the estate of Lady Margaret to pay for the foundation, and it was not until 22 October 1512 that a codicil was obtained in the court of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In November 1512 the Court of Chancery allowed Lady Margaret's executors to pay for the foundation of the college from her estates. When the executors took over they found most of the old hospital buildings beyond repair, but they repaired the chapel and incorporated it into the new college. A kitchen and hall were added, and an imposing gate tower was constructed for the College Treasury. The doors were to be closed each day at dusk, sealing the monastic community from the outside world.

Over the following five hundred years, the college expanded westwards towards the [[River Cam]] and now has twelve courts, the most of any Oxford or Cambridge College. The first three courts are arranged in enfilade.

The college has retained its relationship with Shrewsbury School since 1578 when the headmaster Thomas Ashton assisted in drawing up ordinances to govern the school. Under these rulings, the borough bailiffs (mayors after 1638) had the power to appoint masters, with Ashton's old college, St John's, having an academic veto. Since then, the appointment of Johnian academics to the governing body, and the historic awards of 'closed' Shrewsbury Exhibitions, have continued. A former Master of St John's, Chris Dobson, was an ''ex officio'' governor of the school from 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/page/governing-body-members-details|title=Governing Body Members' Details|date=20 December 2012|website=Shrewsbury School}}</ref> 
 
St John's College first admitted women in October 1981, when K. M. Wheeler was admitted to the fellowship, along with nine female graduate students. The first women undergraduates arrived a year later.<ref>{{cite book|author1-link=Peter Linehan|last=Linehan|first=Peter|title=St John's College Cambridge: A History|pages=626–7|year=2011|publisher=The Boydell Press|location=Woodbridge|isbn=978-1843836087}}</ref>
{{clear}}

==Buildings and grounds==
[[File:St John's College, Cambridge by Loggan 1690.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Engraving of St John's College by David Loggan c 1685]]
[[File:St Johns main gate.jpg|right|thumb|200px|The Main Gate on St John's Street]]
===Great Gate===
St John's Great Gate follows the contemporary pattern employed previously at [[Christ's College, Cambridge|Christ's College]] and [[Queens' College, Cambridge|Queens' College]]. The gatehouse is crenellated and adorned with the arms of the foundress Lady Margaret Beaufort. Above these are displayed her ensigns, the Red Rose of Lancaster and Portcullis. The college arms are flanked by heraldic beasts known as yales, mythical creatures with elephants' tails, antelopes' bodies, goats' heads, and swivelling horns. Above them is a tabernacle containing a socle figure of St John the Evangelist, an Eagle at his feet and a symbolic, poisoned chalice in his hands. The fan vaulting above is contemporary with the tower and may have been designed by William Swayne, a master mason of King's College Chapel.<ref>'A History of St John's College', produced by Tim Rawle Associates, Cloister Press, p. 10</ref>

===First Court===
First Court is entered via the Great Gate and is highly architecturally varied. First Court was converted from the hospital on the foundation of the college, and constructed between 1511 and 1520. Though it has since been gradually changed, the front (east) range is still much as it appeared when first erected in the 16th century.<ref>'A History of St John's College', produced by Tim Rawle Associates, Cloister Press, p. 3</ref> The south range was refaced between 1772 and 1776 in the Georgian style by the local architect, James Essex, as part of an abortive attempt to modernise the entire court in the same fashion. The most dramatic alteration to the original, Tudor court, however, remains the Victorian amendment of the north range, which involved the demolition of the original mediæval chapel and the construction of a new, far larger set of buildings in the 1860s. These included the chapel, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, which includes in its interior some pieces saved from the original chapel. It is the third tallest building in Cambridge. The alteration of the north range necessitated the restructuring of the connective sections of First Court; another bay window was added to enlarge the college's hall, and a new building was constructed to the north of Great Gate. Parts of the First Court were used as a prison in 1643 during the Civil War. In April 2011, Queen Elizabeth II visited St John's College to inaugurate a new pathway in First Court, which passes close to the ruins of the Old Chapel.

===Dining hall===
[[File:Cam formal dinner st johns hall 2005.jpg|right|thumb|200px|The 16th-century dining hall]]
The college's hall has a fine hammerbeam roof, painted in black and gold and decorated with the armorial devices of its benefactors. The hall is lined to cill level with linenfold panelling which dates from 1528 to 1529 and has a five-bay screen, surmounted by the Royal Arms. Above is a hexagonal louvre, dating to 1703. The room was extended from five to eight bays according to designs by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1863. It has two bay windows, containing heraldic glass dating from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries.<ref name=ioe>{{NHLE|1332216|St Johns College|grade=I}}</ref> In 1564, Queen Elizabeth rode into the college's Hall on horseback, during a state visit to Cambridge.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KHbPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA22 |magazine=The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle |editor-first=Sylvanus |editor-last=Urban  |volume=18 |page=22 |year=1773 |title=The Gentleman's Magazine |access-date=27 February 2012}}</ref>

[[File:St John's College Second Court, Cambridge, UK - Diliff.jpg|left|thumb|200px|The tower of Second Court leading to Third Court]]
===Second Court===
Second Court, built from 1598 to 1602, has been described as 'the finest Tudor court in England'. Built atop the demolished foundations of an earlier, far smaller court, Second Court was begun in 1598 to the plans of Ralph Symons of Westminster, and Gilbert Wigge of Cambridge. Their original architectural drawings are housed in the college's library and are the oldest surviving plans for an Oxford or Cambridge college building.<ref>'A History of St John's College', produced by Tim Rawle Associates, Cloister Press, p. 13</ref> It was financed by the Countess of Shrewsbury, whose arms and statue stand above the court's western gatehouse. The court's Oriel windows are perhaps its most striking feature, though the dominating Shrewsbury Tower to the west is the most imposing. This gatehouse, built as a mirror image of the college's Great Gate, contains a statue of the benefactress Mary Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, added in 1671. Behind the Oriel window of the north range lies the Long Gallery, a promenading room that was, before its segmentation, 148 feet long. In this room, the treaty between England and France was signed that established the marriage of King Charles I of England to Queen Henrietta Maria. In the 1940s, parts of the D-day landings were planned there. Second Court is also home to the college's 'triple set', K6.

[[File:St John's College, Cambridge, third court 04.JPG|left|thumb|200px|Third Court and the Old Library]]
[[File:St John's College Old Library interior.jpg|right|thumb|200px|The interior of the Old Library]]
===Library===
The Old Library was built in 1624, largely with funds donated by John Williams, Bishop of Lincoln. Hearing of the college's urgent need for greater library space, Williams donated £1,200 anonymously, later revealing his identity and donating a total of £2,011 towards the library's total cost of £3,000.<ref>'A History of St John's College', produced by Tim Rawle Associates, Cloister Press, p. 20.</ref> The library's bay window overlooks the River Cam and bears the letters "ILCS" on it, standing for ''Iohannes Lincolniensis Custos Sigilli'', or "John of Lincoln, Keeper of the Seal". The original intention of the college had been to construct an elegant classical building supported by pillared porticos, but Bishop Williams insisted on a more traditional design. Thus, though the college lays claim to too few examples of neo-classical design, the library stands as one of the earliest examples of English neo-Gothic architecture.

===Third Court===
Third Court is entered through Shrewsbury Tower, which from 1765 to 1859 housed an observatory. Each of its ranges was built in a different style. Following the completion of the college library in 1624, the final sides of the Third Court were added between 1669 and 1672, after the college had recovered from the trauma of the Civil War. The additions included a fine set of Dutch-gabled buildings backing onto the River Cam and a 'window-with-nothing-behind-it' that was designed to solve the problem of connecting the windowed library with the remainder of the court.

===Kitchen or Wren Bridge===
[[File:Bridge over the River Cam, Cambridge, 2008-03-31.jpg|right|thumb|200px|The Wren Bridge from the Backs]]
This was the first stone bridge erected at St John's College, continuing from Kitchen Lane. The crossing lies south of the Bridge of Sighs and was a replacement for a wooden bridge that had stood on the site since the foundation's early days as a hospital. Though Sir Christopher Wren submitted designs for the bridge, it was eventually built on a different site by a local mason, Robert Grumbold, who also built Trinity College Library. As with the Library, Grumbold's work was based on Wren's designs, and the bridge has become known as "the Wren Bridge".

===Kitchen Court===
This tiny court, formed within the walls of the old Kitchen Lane, is used as an outdoor dining area.

===Bridge of Sighs===
[[File:Bridge of Sighs, St John's College, Cambridge, UK - Diliff.jpg|right|thumb|200px|St John's Bridge of Sighs]]
Though it bears little resemblance to its namesake in Venice, the bridge connecting Third Court to New Court, originally known as New Bridge, is now commonly known as the [[Bridge of Sighs, Cambridge|Bridge of Sighs]]. It is one of the most photographed buildings in Cambridge and was described by the visiting Queen Victoria as "so pretty and picturesque".<ref>''A History of St John's College'', produced by Tim Rawle Associates, Cloister Press, p. 24</ref> It is a single-span bridge of stone with a highly decorative Neo-Gothic covered footwalk over with traceried openings. There is a three-bay arcade at the east end of the bridge. The architect was Henry Hutchinson.

===New Court===
[[File:1840 St John's College Cloisters New Buildings Colour Print Le Keux Mackenzie.jpg|right|thumb|200px|St John's College Cloisters New Buildings ]]
The 19th-century neo-Gothic New Court, probably one of the best-known buildings in Cambridge, was the first major building to be built by the college on the west side of the river. Designed by [[Thomas Rickman]] and [[Henry Hutchinson]], New Court was constructed between 1826 and 1831 to accommodate the college's rapidly increasing numbers of students. Despite the college's original intention to get the architects to build another copy of the Second Court, plans were accepted for a fashionably romantic building in the 'Gothic' style. It is also likely that the decision to utilise the neo-Gothic style was made to emulate and compete with the neo-Gothic screen of King's College, designed by William Wilkins and already two years under construction at the time of John's commission. It is a three-sided court of tall Gothic Revival buildings, closed on the fourth side by an open, seven-bayed cross-vaulted cloister and gateway. It is four storeys high, has battlements and is pinnacled. The main portal features a fan vault with a large octagonal pendant, which resembles that of the ceiling found in Bishop Alcock's late 15th-century chapel in Ely Cathedral. The interior of the main building retains many of its original features including ribbed plaster ceilings. Its prominent location (particularly when glimpsed from the river) and flamboyant, tiered design have led it to be nicknamed "The Wedding Cake".

===Chapel===
[[File:LeKeux - Cambridge, c1840 - St John's 05, Chapel - memorialsofcambr01wriguoft 0214.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Old College Chapel]]
[[File:St John's College Chapel, Cambridge, UK - Diliff.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Inside St John's College Chapel]]
The Chapel of St John's College is entered by the northwest corner of First Court. It was constructed between 1866 and 1869 to replace the smaller mediæval chapel which dated back to the 13th century. When in 1861 the college's administration decided that a new building was needed, Sir George Gilbert Scott was selected as the architect. He had recently finished work on the chapel at [[Exeter College, Oxford]], and went about constructing the chapel of St John's College along similar lines, drawing inspiration from Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.

[[File:St John's College Chapel Court, Cambridge, UK - Diliff.jpg|left|thumb|170px|St John's College Chapel]]
The benefactor Henry Hoare offered a downpayment of £3000 to finance the chapel's construction, in addition to which he promised to pay £1000 a year if a tower were added to Scott's original plans, which had included only a small flèche. Work began, but Hoare's death from a railway accident left the college £3,000 short of his expected benefaction. The tower was completed, replete with louvres but left without bells; it is based on Pershore Abbey.<ref>'A History of St John's College', produced by Tim Rawle Associates, Cloister Press, p. 11</ref> The tower is 163 feet high.<ref>{{cite book|title=The New Chapel of St John's College |publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1869|page=3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5tZAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP11}}</ref>

The chapel's antechamber contains statues of Lady Margaret Beaufort and John Fisher. Inside the building is a stone-vaulted ante-chapel, at the end of which hangs a 'Deposition of the Cross' by Anton Rafael Mengs, completed around 1777. The misericords and panelling date from 1516, and were salvaged from the old chapel. The chapel contains some fifteenth-century glass, but most was cast by Clayton and Bell, Hardman, and Wailes, in around 1869.<ref name=ioe/> Freestanding statues and plaques commemorate college benefactors such as James Wood, Master 1815–39, as well as alumni including William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson and William Gilbert. The college tower can be climbed and is accessed via a small door on First Court. However, this access was closed in 2016 for the duration that important structural repairs were carried out to the tower Pinnacles and roof.

===Master's Lodge and garden===
St John's Master's Lodge is located in a grassy clearing to the north of Third Court. It was built at the same time as the new chapel was being constructed and has Tudor fittings, wainscot, portraits and other relics from the demolished north wing of First Court. It has a large garden, and in the winter its westmost rooms have excellent views of the college's old library, the River Cam, and the Bridge of Sighs. The architect was Sir George Gilbert Scott.

===Buildings and courts since 1900===
[[File:Divinity School, St John's College, Cambridge - 01.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Old Divinity School]]
[[File:St John's College, Cambridge, chapel court 03.JPG|right|thumb|200px|Chapel Court]]
Located to the west of the chapel tower lies Chapel Court, which was constructed together with North Court and Forecourt in the 1930s to account for an increase in student numbers. North Court is located just north of Chapel Court and Forecourt is situated to the east, facing St John's Street. The latter is used partly as a car park for fellows and leads to what is now the principal porters' lodge and entrance to the college. All three courts were designed by the architect Edward Maufe.

Further increases in student numbers following the Second World War prompted the college to increase the number of accommodation buildings. The Cripps Building was built in the late 1960s to satisfy this demand. It is located just behind New Court and forms two courts (Upper & Lower River Court). Designed by architects Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, the building is Grade II* listed<ref>{{NHLE|1393223|Cripps Building at St John's College|grade=II*}}</ref> having received an award from the British Architectural Institution. It is considered an exemplar of late 20th-century architectural style and is named after its main benefactor, Humphrey Cripps.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/default.asp?MIS=864 |title=Sir Humphrey Cripps, Honorary Fellow 1978 - 2000 |website=www.queens.cam.ac.uk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925004705/http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/default.asp?MIS=864 |archive-date=25 September 2006}}</ref> In 2014, the building went through an extensive refurbishment programme, which saw renovated accommodation and structural repairs, including the cleaning of the Portland stone from which the building was made.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/cripps-building-1|title=The Cripps Building {{!}} St John's College, Cambridge|website=St John|access-date=2016-07-17}}</ref>

To the west of the Cripps Building stands the School of Pythagoras. Built around 1200, it predates the college by 300 years and is both the oldest secular building in Cambridge and the oldest building continuously in use by a university in Britain. The building now serves as the location for the College Archives. Next to the School of Pythagoras is Merton Hall. From 1266 until 1959 both the School of Pythagoras and Merton Hall were the property of [[Merton College, Oxford]].<ref>{{cite book | title=A History of Merton College | author=Martin, G.H. | year=1997 | publisher=Oxford University Press | isbn=0-19-920183-8 | pages=17 and 342 }}</ref> Merton Court is the college's eleventh and westernmost court.

In 1987 the construction of the Fisher Building was completed. Named after Cardinal John Fisher, the building contains teaching rooms, conference facilities, and a student-run college cinema. It was designed by the architect Peter Boston.

Located opposite the college's Great Gate is All Saints' Yard. The complex is formed from the buildings of the so-called "Triangle Site", a collection of structures owned by the college. An extensive renovation project finished in Michaelmas Term 2012 had a budget of approximately £9.75 million. The centrepiece of the Yard is Corfield Court, named after the project's chief benefactor, Charles Corfield. The site can be entered through one of two card-activated gates or through the School of Divinity. The School of Divinity is the largest building on the site and was built between 1878 and 1879 by Basil Champneys for the University of Cambridge's divinity faculty on land leased by St John's College. Control of the building reverted to St John's when the faculty of divinity moved to a new building on the Sidgwick site in 2000.

{{wide image|St_John's_College_Cambridge_Second_Court_Panorama.jpg|1000px|The Second Court of St John's College}}

===New Court's clock tower===
[[File:St John's College New Court 1, Cambridge, UK - Diliff.jpg|right|thumb|200px|New Court and blank clock tower face]]
New Court's central cupola has four blank clock faces. These are subject to various apocryphal explanations. One legend maintains that a statute limiting the number of chiming clocks in Cambridge rendered the addition of a mechanism illegal. No such limitation is known to exist. More likely explanations include Hutchinson's fear that the installation of a clockface would spoil the building's symmetry and that the college's financial situation in the early nineteenth century made completion impossible.

Other legends explaining the absence of clockfaces claim that St John's and its neighbour, Trinity were engaged in a race to build the final (or tallest) clocktower in Cambridge. Supposedly, whichever was finished first (or was tallest) would be permitted to house the 'final' chiming clock in Cambridge. Trinity's Tower was finished first (or, in another version of the same story, was made taller overnight by the addition of a wooden cupola), and its clock was allowed to remain. In truth, the completion of the New Court and Trinity's Clock (which is in King Edward's Tower) was separated by nearly two centuries. Trinity's famous double-striking clock was installed in the seventeenth century by its then-Master, Richard Bentley, a former student of St John's, who dictated that the clock chime once for Trinity, and once for his alma mater, St John's.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fletcher |first=Hilary |date=2023-03-24 |title=A brief history of time: a guide to Cambridge clocks |url=https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/brief-history-of-time |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=University of Cambridge |language=en}}</ref>

==Outside links==
{{commons}}
*[http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk St John's College]
*[http://lmbc.soc.srcf.net/ Boat Club]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

* Baker, Thomas, ''History of the College of St. John the Evangelist, Cambridge'', edited by John E.B. Mayor, 2 vols.; Cambridge University Press, 1869 (reissued by the publisher, 2009; {{ISBN|978-1-108-00375-9}})
* Crook, Alec C., ''From the foundation to Gilbert Scott. A history of the buildings of St John's College, Cambridge 1511 to 1885''; Cambridge, 1980.
* Crook, Alec C., ''Penrose to Cripps. A century of building in the College of St John the Evangelist, Cambridge''; Cambridge, 1978.
* Henry, N.F.M. & Crook, A.C. (eds), ''Use and Occupancy of Rooms in St John's College. Part I: Use from Early Times to 1983''; Cambridge, 1984.
* James, M. R., ''A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of St John's College, Cambridge''; Cambridge University Press, 1913 (reissued by the publisher, 2009; {{ISBN|978-1-108-00310-0}})
*Linehan, P. A. (ed.), ''St. John's College Cambridge. A History'', Woodbridge; The Boydell Press, 2011; {{ISBN|978-1-84383-608-7}}
* Miller, Edward, ''Portrait of a College. A history of the College of Saint John the Evangelist in Cambridge''; Cambridge University Press, 1961 (reissued by the publisher, 2009; {{ISBN|978-1-108-00354-4}})
* Mullinger, James Bass, ''St. John's College''; (University of Cambridge College Histories) London, 1901.
*{{Pevsner|pp=148-149}}
*Willis, Robert & John Willis Clark, ''The Architectural History of the University of Cambridge. And of the Colleges of Cambridge and Eton''; Vol. II; Cambridge, 1886. pp.&nbsp;263–271.

{{University of Cambridge}}