Lincoln College
Lincoln College was founded by Richard Fleming, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1427, and named after his cathedral as ‘The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln, in the University of Oxford, commonly called Lincoln College. Fleming’s foundation is still one of the least spoilt legacies of the Middle Ages, straddling Turl Street in the heart of the city and university. The College’s comparative poverty in past centuries has had a happy result that the original pattern and fabric can still be seen with many interiors almost unaltered.
|
The Middle Common Room
The MCR was established in 1958, and its constitution was reputedly the first in Oxford. It was funded partly from the quincentenary fund and partly as a result of a donation from Mrs Mary Lasker. She was an American who wanted to commemorate the medical discoveries of Lord Florey, one of Lincoln’s most distinguished Fellows. (Lord Florey combined Chemistry and Pathology to demonstrate the anti-bacterial properties of penicillin. He won the Nobel Prize in 1944 for his research.)
The existence of the MCR may not always have been a happy or secure one – rumour has it that the SCR has been within one vote of disbanding the MCR on not one, but five occasions. This, of course, is just a rumour… |
The Berrow Foundation Building
(including the MCR)
The Berrow Foundation Building was inaugurated on 25th October 2014 in the presence of the Marquise de Amodio, The Bishop of Lincoln and the Swiss Ambassador to the United Kingdom. It comprises a new MCR on the ground floor complete with a chimney over mantel in oak by a Swiss woodcarver commemorating the Berrow Foundation Scholarships’ connection between Oxford University and the Swiss Universities.
|
Deep Hall (the College Bar)
|
The name is a reference to a neighbouring hostel called St. Mildred’s Hall, or Deep Hall. Originally the only habitable part of the College, the first Rector lived in Deep Hall until his rooms in the tower above the Lodge were completed. The current College bar, set up in 1938 at the end of the Great Cellar under Hall, is a deeper version of this hall. The origin of the three stone pillars in the bar is a mystery, but they are thought by some to be the last remnants of St. Mildred’s Church, on which the College was built. The bar was extended in 2000 to about double its original size, and extensively refurbished.
|
Emily Carr and Bear Lane
Emmelina Carr left instructions on her death in 1436 that the property that she had inherited from her father would pass to the College on her husband’s death. This included the Bear Lane site and numbers 113-114 on the High Street. The tangle of buildings on this site that had resulted from piecemeal development throughout the centuries was replaced in 1976-7 when the first part of Lincoln’s Bear Lane complex was re-developed. The crane that made this construction possible was set up in the Bear Lane quad itself. It was there for a year, and was the second largest crane in Europe. Unfortunately, building this crane required another crane to lift in the component pieces – which blocked the entire High Street for two hyper-active Sundays. As you can imagine, the College was not popular with Oxford’s residents!
|
College Chapel
|
The College Chapel was built during 1629-31 on the site of what was then the College’s bowling alley, partly from the generosity of Bishop Williams of Lincoln. It was consecrated on 15th September 1631, but due to Lincoln’s relatively low income in previous centuries, it has remained untouched since John Wesley’s time at the College. Lincoln’s Chapel is one of Oxford’s hidden treasures. Arguably it is the finest Chapel in the University – it certainly has the finest painted glass windows in Oxford, and possibly in Europe. These were painstakingly restored in the 1990’s through the generosity of alumni and friends of the College. The east window is the best example; presented by Bishop Williams, it depicts scenes from the Old and New Testaments, with the stories of Jonah and Elijah among the most vivid. The side windows, also impressive, are not quite up to the same standard as the east. They depict, on the north side, the Old Testament prophets, bearing emblems epitomising their careers, and on the south side the twelve apostles and the emblems of their martyrdom. Inside the Chapel, the communion table (garlanded with roses, wheat ears and vines), the credence table and the pulpit all date from 1630. The pulpit is portable so it can be moved to the middle of the Chapel for sermons. Read more about the Chapel and our Chaplain here: |