Peterhouse, Cambridge
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The chapel cloisters, through which Old Court can be seen. |
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Old Court, facing the chapel |
Peterhouse is the oldest college in the
University of Cambridge. It was founded in
1284 by
Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of
Ely. Peterhouse has 253 undergraduates, 125 graduate students and 45 fellows, making it the smallest
College in Cambridge.
The foundation of Peterhouse dates to
1280, when Hugo de Balsham, the
Bishop of Ely, planned to start a college on land that is now part of
St John's College. In
1284, he transferred to the present site with the purchase of two houses to accommodate a Master and fourteen "worthy but impoverished Fellows", and Peterhouse was founded. A hall was built two years later; this is the oldest college building in Cambridge. Balsham died in
1286, bequeathing a sum of money that was used to buy further land.
In the early seventeenth century, under the Mastership of Andrew Perne, the College was known as a centre for
Arminianism.
In the twentieth century, Peterhouse has had a reputation for excellence in both science and history. Notable history Fellows have included
Adolphus William Ward,
Harold Temperley,
Herbert Butterfield,
Hugh Trevor-Roper,
Maurice Cowling and
Niall Ferguson -
see also Peterhouse school of history. Notable science Fellows have included
Aaron Klug,
Max Perutz and
John Meurig Thomas.
In the 1980s Peterhouse acquired an association with
Conservative,
Thatcherite politics.
Maurice Cowling and
Roger Scruton were both influential Fellows of the College and are sometimes described as key figures in the so-called "Peterhouse right" â€" an intellectual movement linked to
Margaret Thatcher.
Michael Portillo and
Michael Howard both studied at Peterhouse.
The college has an active
Junior Combination Room (JCR) and was one of the few student bodies in Cambridge successful in keeping rents low during a series of rent strikes in
2000.
ChapelFrom the main entrance to Peterhouse from Trumpington Street, the altar end of the chapel is the most immediately visible building. The chapel was built in
1628 when the Master of the time
Matthew Wren (
Christopher Wren's uncle) demolished the College's original hostels. The chapel's style reflects the contemporary religious trend towards
Arminianism The
Laudian Gothic style of the chapel mixes
Renaissance details but incorporated them into a traditional
Gothic building. The chapel's
Renaissance architecture contains a
Pieta altarpiece and a striking ceiling of golden suns. The original stained glass was destroyed by
Parliamentarian forces in
1643, with only the east window's crucifixion scene (based on
Rubens'
Le Coup de Lance) surviving. The current side windows are by
Max Ainmuller, and were added in
1855. The cloisters on each side of the chapel date from the seventeenth cenrury. However, their design was classicised in
1709, while an ornamental porch was removed in
1755. The 1963 restoration of the Snetzler organ in the chapel was one of the many successes of Noel Mander.
Old CourtOld Court lies beyond the chapel cloisters. To the south of the court is the dining hall, the only College building that survives from the thirteenth century. It was re-mediaevalised in
1870 with fine panelling, an impressive
oriel window, and a new timber roof by the architect
George Gilbert Scott. The stained glass, with pieces by
William Morris,
Ford Madox Brown and
Edward Burne-Jones, is a fine example of
Pre-Raphaelite glass. The sixteenth-century fireplace now contains tiles, also by Morris.
The north and west sides of Old Court were added in the fifteenth century, and classicised three centuries later. The chapel makes up the fourth, east side to the court. Rooms in Old Court are occupied by a mixture of fellows and undergraduates. The west and north sides of the court also house Peterhouse's
JCR, and the student bar.
Gisborne CourtGisborne Court is accessible through an archway leading from the west side of Old Court. It was built in
1825. Its cost was met with part of a benefaction of
1817 from the Rev. Francis Gisborne, a former Fellow. When the gift was announced to the Governing Body its size, £20,000, was so great that the Fellows took it at first as a practical joke. The court is built in white brick with stone dressings in a simple
Tudor Gothic style from the designs of William Mclntosh Brookes. Only three sides to the court were built. The College is currently considering plans to build a fourth side in a similar style. Rooms in Gisborne Court are mainly occupied by undergraduates. Many previously housed distinguished alumni, including Lord Kelvin in I staircase.
Fen Court and the Birdwood BuildingBeyond Gisborne Court is Fen Court, a twentieth century building partially on stilts. Fen Court was added in
1940 from designs by H. C. Hughes and his partner Peter Bicknell. It was amongst the earliest buildings in Cambridge designed in the style of the Modern Movement pioneered by
Walter Gropius at the
Bauhaus. The carved panel by Anthony Foster over the entrance doorway evokes the mood in Britain as the building was completed. It bears the inscription DE PROFUNDIS CLAMAVI MCMXL ("out of the depths have I cried out 1940″), the first words of
Psalm 130, one of the
Penitential Psalms, and a depiction of
St Peter saved in the midst of the sea.
In 1933 Bicknell and Hughes also designed the adjacent bath-house, known as the Birdwood Building, that makes up the western side of Gisborne Court. It is now used as a gym.
The Deer ParkThe grounds to the south of Gisborne Court have been known as the Deer Park since deer were brought there in the nineteenth century. During that period it achieved fame as the smallest deer park in England. After the
First World War the deer sickened and passed their illness onto stock imported from the
Duke of Portland's estate at
Welbeck Abbey in an attempt to improve the situation.
The William Stone buildingThe William Stone building lies to the south of the Deer Park and was funded by a bequest from William Stone (1857-1958), a former scholar of the college. Erected in
1963, it is an eight-storey brick tower which was much admired and photographed in the
1960s and
1970s by architectural students, especially from Japan. It houses a mixture of Fellows and undergraduates.
The Burroughs buildingThe Burroughs building is situated at the front of the college, parallel to the Chapel. It is named after its architect, Sir James Burroughs, the Master of
Caius, and was built in
1736. It is one of several Cambridge neo-
Palladian buildings designed by Burroughs. Others include the remodelling of the Hall and Old Court at
Trinity Hall and the chapel at
Clare College.
The Master's LodgeThe Master's Lodge is situated across Trumpington Street from the College, and was bequeathed to the College in
1727 by a Fellow, Dr Charles Beaumont, son of a former Master, Joseph Beaumont. It is built in red brick in the
Queen Anne style.
The HostelThe Hostel is situated next to the Master's Lodge. It was built in a neo-Georgian style in 1926 from designs by Thomas Henry Lyon. The Hostel was intended to be part of a larger complex but only one wing was built. It presently houses undergraduates and some fellows.
Thomas Gray was a Fellow of Peterhouse until he took offence at a practical joke. Terrified of fire, he had installed a metal bar by his window on the top floor of the Burrough's building, so that in the event of a fire he could tie his sheets to it and climb to safety. One night undergraduates decided to play a prank and shouted "fire". Gray climbed down from his window, landing in a barrel of water placed beneath. He is said to have moved across the road to become a Fellow of
Pembroke College as a result.
A popular College rumour that the deer in the Deer Park were eaten as a result of rationing during the
Second World War is apocryphal.
In
1997, Peterhouse's
May Ball was featured in Pseud's Corner in
Private Eye due to the superior nature of tailoring facilities offered by the Ball.
In
1998 Peterhouse was the subject of media interest in the UK after several members of kitchen staff claimed to have seen a ghost in the College's Combination Room. The ghost was said to be that of a former Bursar, Francis Dawes, who is now buried in the churchyard of Little St Mary's, immediately to the north of the College. Francis Dawes had hanged himself with a bell rope in 1789, following irregularities over the election of Francis Barnes, a highly unpopular master. After the ghost was publicised in a series of newspaper articles, the College was rumoured to have conducted an exorcism. This would have been the college's third exorcism; there are suggestions that the college conducted an exorcism in the 18th century, to banish a poltergeist. Also, a former Dean carried out a ceremony because of the appearance of a dark presence in a corner of the old courtyard overlooking the graveyard.
Peterhouse is home to many oddly named dining societies, such as the
Strafford Club, the Cocoa Tree Club and the Adonians. One dining society, the Authenticators, was named in (dis)honour of a previous Master of the college, Lord Dacre, who had made the mistake of authenticating the forged Hitler Diaries in the Sunday Times (see the obituary of Maurice Cowling in the Daily Telegraph which mentions his sponsorship of the first dinner [
1]).
Peterhouse
JCR's official title is the Sexcentenary Club. This is often abbreviated to the Sex Club.
Note: It is incorrect to call it ‘Peterhouse College'; it is either Peterhouse or St Peter's College (anachronistic).
See also :Category:Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge*
Tom Askwith (Permanent Secretary, Blue and Olympic oarsman)
*
Richard Baker (newsreader)
*
Augustus Theodore Bartholomew (Cambridge librarian)
*
Steph Cook (gold medal Pentathlon Olympian)
*
Richard Eyre (film and theatre director)
*
Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton (
Prime Minister 1768-1770)
*
Colin Charles Greenwood (bass Player of
Radiohead)
*
Syed Mohammed Hadi (Olympic athlete)
*
Erich Heller*
Michael Howard (MP, former leader of the
Conservative Party)
*
James Mason (actor)
*
Chris Mead (ornithologist)
*
Sam Mendes (film and stage director/producer)
*
Christopher Meyer (former British ambassador to the USA)
*
David Mitchell (comedian)
*
Michael Portillo (former
Conservative MP )
*
Claudia Pugh-Thomas (trapeze artist)
*
Ed Smith (First-class cricketer and author)
*
Anthony St Leger (soldier, politician, Governor of
Saint Lucia, and founder of the
St. Leger Stakes)
*
Frank Whittle (developed
jet propulsion)
*
Peregrine Worsthorne (journalist)
See also :Category:Fellows of Peterhouse, Cambridge*
Kingsley Amis (novelist)
*
Charles Babbage (his
analytical engine anticipated the modern computer)
*
Herbert Butterfield (historian)
*
Henry Cavendish (scientist)
*
Christopher Cockerell (inventor of the
hovercraft)
*
Maurice Cowling (historian)
*
Richard Crashaw (poet)
*
James Dewar (scientist)
*
Niall Ferguson (historian)
*
Thomas Gray (poet)
*
Lord Kelvin (scientist, after whom is named the
Kelvin temperature scale)
*
Aaron Klug OM PRS (Nobel Prize Winner, Peterhouse Fellow)
*
Archer Martin (Nobel Prize for developing partition
chromatography)
*
Edward Norman (Theologian)
*
Andrew Perne *
Max Perutz (Nobel Prize for determining the structure of haemoproteins)
*
Roger Scruton (philosopher)
*
John Whitgift (archbishop)
*
Peterhouse official website*
Peterhouse Conferences & Catering website*
Virtual tour of Peterhouse*
JCR website*
Peterhouse Boat Club*
The Heywood Society website - Peterhouse theatre & film*
The Peterhouse ghost
