The Civil War
Man not only began to question the authority of the Church. The power of the
crown was challenged. Many rich landowners began to question the policies of
the king, Charles I. They disliked the fact that he did not take the advice of
Parliament, and indeed ruled without Parliament between 1629 and 1640. They
were also worried because they thought he was moving the country in a
Catholic direction. His wife, Henrietta Maria was a Catholic and his
Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud also seemed to have Catholic
sympathies. William Laud was President of St John’s College Oxford from
1611 – 1621 and Chancellor of Oxford University from 1629 – 1641. He thus
had a lot of influence in Oxford. Laud thought that the Church should be treated
with more respect and he was one of the first people to suggest that graduation
ceremonies should not take place in St Mary’s Church. It was he who decided to
construct a much more elaborate porch to St Mary’s church in the hope that
it would give the church greater dignity. This porch was constructed in the
Baroque style and made some people think that he was trying to make England
a Catholic country, as Baroque was the style of the Counter-Reformation.
Eventually in 1642 fighting broke out between supporters of the king and
supporters of Parliament. During this period Charles made his headquarters at
Oxford and set up his court at Christ Church. The Civil War resulted in a defeat
for Charles and his execution in 1649. William Laud had been executed in
1645. After 1649 the most powerful person in the country was Oliver
Cromwell and during this period there was a lot of destruction of stained
glass windows and wall paintings in the churches, because it was believed
that these were Catholic features.
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Porch of St Mary’s Church
Restoration of the Monarchy and Neo-Classicism
In 1660 we see the accession to the throne of Charles II . This is referred to as
the Restoration. The ruling classes became more interested in Classical
architecture which they associated with power, tradition and harmony
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whereas Gothic was linked to too much liberty, conflict and anarchy. Many of
the richer sections of society began to take part in the Grand Tour to complete
their education. This involved visits to Venice, Florence and Rome where
more and more people became familiar with Roman buildings.
Oxford University decided that it needed to move the graduation ceremony
from St Mary’s Church to a new building and as a result we see the construction
of Oxford’s first Classical building.
Sheldonian Theatre.
The Sheldonian Theatre, 1668, was designed by Christopher Wren and has
been used for various university ceremonies and public concerts. It was also the
first home of the Oxford University Press. When there were too many books to
store above the ceiling it was decided that a new building for the OUP was
necessary and consequently the Clarendon Building was constructed in 1711
next to the Sheldonian. From then onwards in the 18th century, most university
buildings were built in the Neo-Classical style. All Saints Church, the City
Church, was the next to be constructed in the High Street and in the middle of
the century the Bodleian library was enlarged by the beautiful Radcliffe
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Camera. In the High Street you will also notice the Neo-Classical Queen’s
College. Christ Church was extended in the 18th century with the construction
of two Neo-Classical quadrangles, the Peckwater Quad and the Canterbury
Quad. The Gothic Magdalen College was extended in the 18th century by the
addition of the Neo-Classical “New Building”. All these Classical buildings
had some of the following features of classical architecture: column, pediment,
pilaster, balustrade, domes, cupola, lantern, rounded arch, rustication. Try
to remember what they are.
Clarendon Building 1711
Magdalen College.
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All Saints Church
Radcliffe Camera
Thus during the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century most university
and public buildings were built in the Classical style. The last Classical building
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to be constructed in Oxford was the Ashmolean Museum. After the
construction of the Ashmolean Museum people’s ideas about architecture, art
and religion began to change
The Ashmolean Museum. 1845
The Gothic Revival
Between 1760 and 1830 there was the period known as the Industrial
Revolution. During this period Britain changed from being an agricultural
country to becoming an industrial country. The steam engine began to power
machinery which was housed in factories near coal mines. The steam engine
also powered steam locomotives. People began to move to the large industrial
towns in the north of England such as Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds,
Sheffield and Birmingham, where the living and working conditions of the
workers were very poor.
At this time there was much dissatisfaction among the educated classes about
the state of the nation.
1) The Oxford Movement was formed by a group of people who felt that the
Anglican Church was losing its sense of direction and losing support
among the poorer sections of the country. Many of the working classes were
turning towards Methodism for spiritual comfort. People such as John
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Henry Newman, John Keble and Edward Pusey believed that the Church
should recover some of the strength it had in the Middle Ages by adopting
some of the features of the medieval Catholic Church. They were supporters
of Gothic architecture and wanted to see the return of stained glass windows,
decorated walls, candles and some Catholic practices that that had been lost
following the Reformation.
2) John Ruskin and William Morris were also medievalists. They criticised
the widening gap between the rich and the poor, the deadening effects of the
factory system and the breaking down of communities. They believed that in
the Middle Ages there was a stronger sense of community and greater
dignity for each craftsman. Both these men had strong links with the PreRaphaelite movement, with whom they shared a love of medieval art and
literature. Morris and Edward Burne-Jones were both close friends at
Exeter College and they remained friends and business colleagues
throughout their lives. Edward Burne-Jones designed many stained glass
windows which were produced by Morris and Co.
The result of these factors meant that in the middle of the 19th century there was
a strong movement for a return to many medieval practices in architecture,
religion, literature and art. This was reflected in the revival of Gothic
architecture and the creation of chapels which closely resembled medieval ones.
The first Gothic Revival building that appeared in Oxford was the Natural
History Museum designed by Benjamin Woodward. The construction of this
building marked a new phase in the development of the university. The
curriculum was expanded by the inclusion of History, Natural Science and
Jurisprudence. Shortly afterwards, Fellows were allowed to marry and nonAnglicans were allowed to become members of the University.
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Woodward, like many other architects of the 1850’s, was influenced by the
passionately held view of John Ruskin, eloquently expressed in “The Stones of
Venice”. Ruskin believed that Gothic was more natural than classicism,
allowing for the creation of a spontaneous system of architectural ornament,
freed from the rigid rules of the Orders. In a pamphlet about the Museum
published in 1859, Ruskin and Acland stated that “all art employed in
decoration should be informative, conveying truthful statements about actual
facts”. Previously in Oxford, the Gothic style had been chosen for its religious
or historical associations. Now it was to be the bearer of ideas about the
meaning of creation. The Museum’s bold and almost symmetrical façade,
with its pointed central tower, has no religious features and is free from
any suggestion of “collegiate Gothic”.
Natural History Museum 1860
Another exciting Gothic building was Keble College, inspired by the Oxford
Movement and designed by William Butterfield.
Butterfield’s most remarkable break with the past was his decision to use brick
instead of stone as the main building material. He said “ The older Oxford
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colleges were made of bad local stone, and there was not a brick to be had.
Oxford has nowadays brick, but not stone”. Not only did he use brick but also
polychromy, with patterns of blue and white brick enlivening the red walls,
and chequered decoration of brick and stone decorating some of the gables.
This change in architectural style was accompanied by a significant change in
the interiors of college chapels, where we see evidence of a conscious desire to
recreate the medieval atmosphere in the spirit of the Oxford Movement. Sir
George Gilbert Scott’s reconstruction of the chapel of Exeter College, and his
work on the east wall of the Sanctuary of Christ Church are notable examples
of this. Equally beautiful are the chapels of Keble College and Worcester
College. Exeter College Chapel was
Keble College 1870
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modelled on Saint Chapelle in Paris, whereas the Keble College Chapel drew
inspiration from Italy. Thus we see important evidence for the desire in the
middle of the 19th century for a return to medieval designs and practices.
Exeter College Chapel
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Keble College Chapel
However some people were critical of the continental Gothic that appeared in
the 1860’s and 70’s and demanded a change to a style that was more suited to
Oxford’s past. One of these was GF Bodley who was a great supporter of
English medieval architecture. His towers over the Hall of Christ Church,
built between 1876 – 9 look as though they were built in the 16th century, and
his St Swithin’s Quadrangle, one side of which faces the High Street, was
designed “to harmonise with the college…….. and to avoid, “any imitation of
foreign architecture”.
Christ Church Quadrangle showing Bodley’s Towers
The key figure in the architecture of the late 19th century was Thomas Graham
Jackson. He was a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott but he reacted against the
“modern Gothic” of the 1860’s and 70’s. His work may be seen in the
Examination Schools and the Ruskin School of Art. Jackson claimed that his
Examination Schools building (1876 – 1882), possessed a collegiate character
which would harmonise with the collegiate traditions of Oxford; however some
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have likened it to an Elizabethan or Jacobean country house with its square
headed and mullioned and transomed windows.
Examination Schools
He was also responsible for a new quadrangle at Brasenose which provided the
college with a High Street frontage.
Brasenose College
The High Street façade, unlike the Examination Schools, is a reinterpretation of
the “Collegiate Gothic” structure, with its central gate tower flanked by rows of
straight sided gables over oriel windows. This is a much more interesting
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“Collegiate Gothic” façade than that provided for Exeter, Lincoln and Jesus
colleges in Turl Street the 1850’s.
Thus the 19th century brought many changes to the appearance of Oxford.
Oxford is thus a medieval city, not only because many buildings were built in
the Middle Ages, but also because of the return to medieval models in the
19th century.
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