Old Schools

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Section of the University of Cambridge

title: "Old Schools" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["buildings-and-structures-of-the-university-of-cambridge", "george-gilbert-scott-buildings", "history-of-cambridge", "university-of-cambridge-sites"] description: "Section of the University of Cambridge" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Schools" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Section of the University of Cambridge ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/The_Old_Schools_-geograph.org.uk-_718195.jpg" caption="East range, 1754-8, from the tower of [[Great St Mary's"] ::

The Old Schools is a complex of buildings in central Cambridge, England, which is owned by the University of Cambridge and houses the university offices.

The eastern part, Cobble Court, was built in the 14th and 15th centuries to house the earliest schools of the university and later the Cambridge University Library, while the western part, West Court, was built in 1441 as the Old Court of King's College, Cambridge. The college moved out in 1829 and the university library came to occupy the entire site, before it became Cambridge University Offices when a new library was built elsewhere in the 1930s.

The building is Grade I listed, with a separate Grade I listing for the Cockerell Building on the northern edge of the site. It is located at the end of Trinity Lane, surrounded by other historic university and college buildings - the Senate House, King's College Chapel, Clare College, Trinity Hall and Gonville and Caius College. The Old Schools Site covers the Old Schools, the Senate House, and Great St Mary's, the University Church.

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Cambridge_University_-The_Old_Schools-geograph.org.uk-_2138065.jpg" caption="The west (1430-57) and north (1400) ranges of the schools quadrangle, from Cobble Court"] ::

The University of Cambridge had acquired land to the west of Great St Mary's Church before 1278, and began construction of its schools quadrangle on the site at the end of the 14th century. The first part to be built was the north range, containing the divinity school and Regent House, which was completed in 1400. The quadrangle was completed in 1473 with a building on the eastern side, with a second library above rooms used as courts and for official purposes.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/King's_College,Cambridge_by_Loggan_1690-_sanders_6177.jpg" caption="King's College]] Old Court in 1690 (West Court, looking south); print by [[David Loggan"] ::

In 1441, King Henry I laid the first stone of King's College, Cambridge on a site to the west of the schools, formerly a garden of Trinity Hall. This court was designed to house the 12 scholars specified in the college's original foundation. However, in 1443 Henry produced new statutes expanding the college to 70 fellows and scholars, and began to plan for a far larger quadrangle on a site to the south, beginning construction on the chapel in 1446. The gateway and south range, containing accommodation, of what became known as Old Court had already been constructed, but the remaining buildings, including hall, were swiftly completed in a temporary fashion to serve until the new quadrangle became ready. However, due to Henry's involvement in the Wars of the Roses, funds dried up, and—other than the chapel—the new quadrangle was never completed. Old Court, reconfigured to accommodate the much larger foundation, remained the home of the college until the 19th century.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Old_Schools_from_Oppidum_Cantebrigiae.png" caption="The site depicted on [[Richard Lyne]]'s 1574 map of Cambridge"] ::

The first university librarian was appointed in 1577, but there were few changes to the site, until in In 1715 a large benefaction of books owned by Bishop John Moore made the lack of space urgent. The first floor of the western range was converted from a law school to a library, and a new building was constructed 1718-19 in the north-west angle of the King's College Old Court, including a first-floor room known as the Dome Room.

In 1730, the new Senate House was completed to the East of the site and the library expanded into the previous rooms previously used for this purpose, completing its occupation of the entire first floor of the schools quadrangle. The Senate House had been intended to be one side of a new quadrangle including a new library building on the eastern side, but a lawsuit from the master of Gonville and Caius College, concerned that the development would impinge upon his buildings and obstruct access to his college, meant the development was never completed. Instead, in 1754-8, the eastern side of the schools quadrangle, adjacent to the new Senate House, was reconstructed by Stephen Wright in a classical style.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Gate_of_King's_College,_Cambridge_Old_Court_before_1889.jpg" caption="Gate and partially demolished buildings of west range before 1889 rebuilding"] ::

In 1828, William Wilkins finally completed the front court of King's College and the college's Old Court became redundant. It was sold to the university in 1829 to enable expansion of the university library, and was partly demolished in the 1830s, remaining in a ruined state for half a century. The north wing – blocking the frontage of the 14th century north range of the schools quadrangle – was designed by Charles Robert Cockerell and built 1836-7 in a grand classical style, as part of a scheme to reconstruct the entire building in the same style. However, this scheme was never completed and – although the old divinity school was handed over to the library in 1856 – by the 1860s the lack of space for books was again becoming acute. In 1864 Sir George Gilbert Scott produced plans for an extension on the site of the Old Court, and the southern range was completed in 1867, including a third story over the 14th century south range of the schools quadrangle. By 1878, space issues had again become pressing, and various options were considered including roofing over one or both quadrangles with glass to create a reading room. Instead, John Loughborough Pearson was engaged to design a building on the western side of the site, connecting the Scott and Cockerell buildings and incorporating the former King's College gatehouse, which was completed by 1890. The library continued to expand in the site, until by 1903, after the departure of the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences to its new building, the library occupied the whole of both quadrangles.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Cambridge_-Gonville_and_Caius_College-_1048.jpg" caption="Interior of the Cockerell Building in use as Gonville and Caius college library"] ::

By 1918, the problem of space was again urgent and various options were considered for the Old Schools site, including underground bookstores below the quadrangles, as well as both the 19th century plan to glaze over one of the quadrangles, and the 18th century plan for a new building opposite the Senate House.

In 1968, the Seeley Historical Library, which had been accommodated in the Cockerell Building, moved to a new site, and in 1995 the Squire Law Library followed suit, vacating the building.

Gallery

|File:LeKeux - Cambridge, c1840 - Trinity Hall 01, Entrance to Second Court - memorialsofcambr01wriguoft 0262.jpg|Trinity Hall Second Court entrance in 1840, with Old Court partially demolished to the left |File:Old Schools, Cambridge 00.JPG|The site from the south-west, showing the exterior of Old Court as rebuilt by Scott and Pearson |File:The east range of King's Old Court, Old Schools - geograph.org.uk - 1518555.jpg|The west range of the schools quadrangle, 1430-57, viewed from West Court |File:Old Schools from Kings Parade, Cambridge, UK - Diliff.jpg|Wright's east range, 1754-8 (left) with the 1730 Senate House (right) and the end of the Cockerell Building, 1836-7 (centre)

References

References

  1. [http://www.cambridge2000.com/cambridge2000/html/0006/P6261533.html Trinity Lane: Old Schools], [http://www.cambridge2000.com/ Cambridge 2000].
  2. [http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/contact/directions/oldschools.shtml University Offices: How to get to the Old Schools] {{Webarchive. link. (27 July 2021 , [[University of Cambridge]].)
  3. {{NHLE. (26 April 1950)
  4. {{NHLE. (26 April 1950)
  5. [http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/public/pdfs/Trinity%20Lane.pdf Trinity Lane] {{Webarchive. link. (2011-09-27 , [[Cambridge City Council]].)
  6. [http://www.cam.ac.uk/map/v4/drawmap.cgi?mp=oldsch;tl=Old%20Schools%20Site University of Cambridge Official Map — Old Schools Site].
  7. (1959). "A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely".
  8. "History of Cambridge University Library".
  9. "The Old Schools, University of Cambridge". Public Catalogue Foundation.
  10. Saltmarsh, John. (1959). "A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely". Victoria County History (via the Institute of Historical Research).
  11. Austen-Leigh, Augustus. (1899). "King's College". F. E. Robinson & Co.
  12. Fay, C. R.. (1907). "King's College, Cambridge". J. M. Dent & Co.
  13. Oates, J.C.T.. (1986). "Cambridge University Library: a history". Cambridge University Press.
  14. "College history". King's College, Cambridge.
  15. pages 183 to 196, chapter XI 'The Path to Greatness: Cambridge University Library' in David Watkins: ''The Life and Work of C. R. Cockerell'', 1974, Zwemmer
  16. "History of the Library". Seeley Historical Library.
  17. "History of the Library".

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