Saint John’s College, Oxford, was founded in 1555 by Sir Thomas White to train or educate priests (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Patrick Comerford
Before visiting the
Lamb and Flag at the end of a day in Oxford earlier this week, I also visited Saint John’s College, which has owned the pub next door for hundreds of years.
I have visited the chapel in Saint John’s College before, but this was my first time to stroll through the quads and gardens and to admire the architecture of the college buildings.
Saint John’s, on the east side of St Giles’ in the centre of Oxford, has over 400 undergraduate students, up to 250 postgraduate students, over 100 academic staff, and about 100 other staff members. The college was founded 470 years ago in 1555. Today it is the wealthiest college in Oxford, with assets worth more than £790 million, largely thanks to the 19th-century suburban development of land it owns in Oxford.
Saint John’s College on the east side of St Giles’ is said to be the wealthiest college in Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Sir Thomas White, a former Lord Mayor of London, was granted a royal patent on 1 May 1555 to create a charitable institution for the education of students within the University of Oxford. White was a Roman Catholic, and his original vision was for a college that would train or educate Roman Catholic clergy who would support the Counter-Reformation under Queen Mary. Saint Edmund Campion, a Roman Catholic martyr, was one of the first students.
White acquired buildings on the east side of St Giles’, north of Balliol College and Trinity College, that had belonged to the former College of Saint Bernard. It had been founded as a Cistercian monastery and house of study in 1437 and was closed in 1540 during the dissolution of the monasteries in the Tudor Reformation. White’s grant also included half of the grove of Durham College, which had also been suppressed and whose buildings had become Trinity College.
White was the Master of the Merchant Taylors’ Company, and he established a number of educational foundations, including the Merchant Taylors’ School.
Saint John’s initially had a strong focus on educating future priest … Front Quad and the Chapel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Initially, Saint John’s was a small college and was not well endowed. But the endowments it received at its foundation and during its first 20 years have since served it well.
During the reign of Elizabeth I, the fellows lectured in rhetoric, Greek, and dialectic, but not directly in theology. However, Saint John’s initially had a strong focus on educating future priest, and in its earlier years produced a large number Anglican clergy. White also included the patronage of the parish of
Saint Giles in the endowments, and for centuries the Vicars of
Saint Giles were either fellows or former fellows of the college.
In the second half of the 19th century, Saint John’s benefited, as ground landlord, from the suburban development of Oxford. The college also it became a more open society in those decades, and it later earned a reputation for degrees in law, medicine and PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics).
The Front Quad incorporates buildings built for the Cistercians of Saint Bernard’s College, dating back to 1437 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Saint John’s is on a single 5.5 ha site, and most of the college buildings are organised around seven quadrangles or quads.
The Front Quadrangle mainly consists of buildings built for the Cistercians of Saint Bernard’s College. Construction began in 1437, but much of the east range was not complete when the site passed to the crown in 1540 at the dissolution of the monastic houses. Christ Church took control of the site in 1546 and Thomas White acquired it in 1554. He made major alterations to create the current college hall, and designated the north part of the east range as the lodging of the president, for which it is still used today.
Front Quad was gravelled until the college’s 400th anniversary in 1955, when the current circular lawn and paving were laid out. The turret clock, made by John Knibb, dates from 1690. The main tower above the Porters’ Lodge has a statue of John the Baptist by Eric Gill.
Inside the chapel in Saint John’s College, first built in 1530 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
The chapel at Saint John’s was first built in 1530, when it was dedicated to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. It was rededicated to Saint John the Baptist in 1557.
Thomas White, William Laud and William Juxon are buried beneath the chapel. All three were presidents of the college, abd Laud and Juxon became Archbishops of Canterbury. To the south of the chancel, a hidden pew is directly accessible from the President’s Lodgings. In the past, it allowed the only woman in college, the president’s wife, to worship without being seen by the men present.
The Baylie chapel in the north-east corner was added 1662-1669 and refitted in 1949. The interior of the chapel underwent major changes in 1840, involving the gothic revival pews, roof, wall arcading and west screen, and the chapel as we see it today is largely a result of reordering by Edward Blore in 1843, with later alterations by Sir Edward Maufe in the 1930s.
The chequerboard floor is said to date back to the Restoration period, but most other features are 19th century: the altar rails installed by Archbishop William Laud were moved to the parish church in Northmoor, west of Oxford, and the remains of the 17th-century screen are in Painswick House, Gloucestershire.
The wooden reredos behind the altar was made by Charles Eamer Kempe in 1892. Kempe also designed the east window, with figures including Sir Thomas White and Henry Chichele, the founder of Saint Bernard’s College.
The reredos in the chapel was designed by Charles Eamer Kempe (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
At the reordering, the majority of the monuments were placed in the small Baylie Chapel to the north of the altar. These include a monument to William Paddy, the physician to James I, surrounded by the snakes of Asclepius; a black urn with the heart of the antiquary Richard Rawlinson; and a marble relief of the baptism of Christ that commemorates William Holmes, a benefactor of the college.
William Laud endowed the college richly during and after his presidency, and the fine pre-Reformation ecclesiastical vestments that he gave are displayed every term. Laud’s friendship with Orlando Gibbons led to the composition of ‘This is the record of John’ for the choir of Saint John’s, and this setting of a text from Saint John’s Gospel is sung regularly in Chapel. It is now recognised as one of the supreme English anthems.
The eagle lectern was carved by John Snetzler in 1773, and the silver candlesticks date from 1720. The altar cross of 1945 commemorates the 300th anniversary of Archbishop Laud’s execution in 1645.
Archbishop William Laud, Richard Baylie and Archbishop William Juxon are commemorated in the window in the Baylie Chapel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
White left instructions for services to be sung by a choir of men and boys. Laud gave the college its first pipe organ, but the original organ was removed in 1651. Nevertheless, Saint John’s continued to have a boys’ choir until the late 1960s.
A new organ was made for the chapel in 2008 by Bernard Aubertin, who also built the small chamber organ at the end of the choir stalls.
The Revd Dr Elizabeth Macfarlane is the Chaplain of Saint John’s College. Morning Prayer is said every weekday in full term at 8.30 am. Sung Evensong at 6 pm on Sundays includes an address by the Chaplain or a guest preacher, an anthem and three hymns. The Eucharist is celebrated on Mondays at12:15 pm and Choral Evensong is at 6 pm on Wednesdays.
The college choir today sings evensong services on Sundays and Wednesdays during term time, and sings the grace at Sunday formal hall. Since 1923, the choir has been directed by student organ scholars. The present three-manual organ by Bernard Aubertin was installed in 2008.
The chapel also houses significant pieces of contemporary art. A small triptych of the Life of John the Baptist is by a local artist Nicholas Mynheer. The Baylie Chapel has a modern Coptic icon of the Baptism of Christ, made in Egypt. Two windows in the chapel by the stained glass artist Ervin Bossanyi depict scenes in the life of Saint Francis of Assisi.
Canterbury Quad, completed in 1636, is the first example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Canterbury Quadrangle is the first example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Oxford. It was substantially commissioned by Archbishop Laud and completed in 1636.
The college library there consists of four connected parts: the Old Library (south side, 1596-1598), the Laudian Library (1631-1635, above the east colonnade, overlooking the garden), the Paddy Room (1971-1977) and the new Library and Study Centre, designed by Wright & Wright Architects (2019). Until it moved to the Kendrew Quadrangle in 2010, the Holdsworth Law Library was in the south-west corner of Canterbury Quadrangle.
The college holds Robert Graves’ Working Library and in 1936 it acquired the AE Housman Classics Library' with 300 books and pamphlets, many with hand-written notes by Housman in the margins or on loose leaves.
The Holmes Building (1794) is a south spur off the Canterbury Quad, with fellows’ rooms.
The North Quad is the irregular product of a series of buildings built since the college foundation (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
The North Quadrangle was not designed as a whole, but is the irregular product of a series of buildings built since the college’s foundation.
The college cook, Thomas Clarke, built a college kitchen in 1612 with residential rooms above. The college bought this building, just north of the hall, from Clarke in 1620 and expanded it in 1642-1643 to produce the current Cook’s Building.
The first part of the Senior Common Room was built in 1676, immediately north of the chapel. Its ceiling, completed in 1742, features the craftsmanship of Thomas Roberts, who also worked on the Radcliffe Camera and the Codrington Library at All Souls’ College.
Various additions and renovations were made in 1826, 1900, 1936 and 2004-2005. The latest renovation and extension to the Grade I listed building were made in 1996 by MJP Architects and received two awards: the Design Partnership Award and an award from the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Dolphin Quadrangle is on the site of three houses that stood at 2-4 St Giles’ where they once formed the Dolphin Inn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Property was bought from Exeter College in 1742 and from 1794 to 1880 it was known as the Wood Buildings. It was replaced in 1880 when today’s St Giles’ range was built. What is today thought of as a single building was built as several distinct sections. The first part (1880-1881) consisted of the gate tower and the rooms between it and Cook’s building to the south. The second part, built in 1899-1900, forms the north half of the St Giles’ range. The Rawlinson Building (1909) formed the north side of the quad. More rooms were added by Edward Maufe in 1933.
With the completion of the Beehive (1958-1960), made up of irregular hexagonal rooms, the quad took on its current appearance. The Beehive was designed by Michael Powers of the Architects’ Co-Partnership and is clad in Portland stone. This east part of the quad previously held the old Fellows’ stables.
Dolphin Quadrangle is on the site of three houses that stood at 2-4 St Giles’ and formed the Dolphin Inn. When they were demolished in 1881, the houses were known as the South Buildings, and used as college accommodation. The college built the neo-Georgian Dolphin Quadrangle, designed by Edward Maufe, on the site in 1947-1948. There was a shortage of building materials in the aftermath of World War II, but the college built the new quadrangle with its own timber from Bagley Wood.
In the gardens in Saint John’s College, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Sir Thomas White Quadrangle or Thomas White Quad was built in 1972-1975. This is not so much a quadrangle, but an L-shaped building partially enclosing an area of garden. The upper floors are predominantly student residences, but the ground floor also has communal facilities including the college bar and the underground areas include the Games Room and Erg Room for rowing.
The Prestwich, Larkin and Graves rooms are multi-purpose rooms used for a variety of events.
The building is an early design by Philip Dowson of Arup Associates and won both the Concrete Society Award (1976) and the RIBA architectural excellence award (1981). It became a Grade II listed building in 2017.
Saint John’s College now owns almost all the buildings on the east side of St Giles’, including the Lamb and Flag (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
The Garden Quadrangle is a modern (1993) neo-Italianate design from MJP Architects that includes the college auditorium, student rooms and kitchens. The complex structure is very unlike a conventional quadrangle. It won five architectural awards in 1994-1995, and an
Oxford Times poll in 2003 it was voted the best building built in Oxford in the preceding 75 years.
The site was previously occupied by the Department of Agriculture, and the Parks Road frontage of this building survives today, separated from the quad by a detached building with three music rooms.
The Kendrew Quadrangle, the most recent quad, was completed in 2010, and was also designed by MJP architects. The quad is named after Sir John Kendrew, former president of the college, Nobel Laureate and the college’s greatest benefactor in the 20th century. The construction has been dubbed ‘the last great quad in the city centre’ and is notable for its attempt to provide energy from sustainable sources.
As the first phase of the Kendrew Quadrangle project, Dunthorne Parker Architects were commissioned to refurbish three Grade II Listed buildings fronting on to St Giles’. Works were carried out to No 20 St Giles, which became alumni residential accommodation, the Black Hall, a 17th-century building that became teaching accommodation and the Barn, which became an exhibition and performance space.
St Giles’ House at No 16 has been described by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as ‘the best house of its date in Oxford’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The college now owns almost all the buildings on the east side of St Giles’. They include the
Lamb and Flag pub, which the college once used to fund graduate scholarships, and Middleton Hall, north of the North Quad and beside the Lamb and Flag.
St Giles’ House at No 16 dates from 1702, and has been described by the architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as ‘the best house of its date in Oxford’. It was previously known as the Judge’s Lodgings, because it was used from 1852 to 1965 by judges visiting for Assizes. Today it is used for college dinners and receptions, and the upper levels include rooms for tutors.
The college also owns a stretch of the west side of St Giles’, including – until its sale in 2023 – the Eagle and Child pub. It was previously owned by University College and was known as the place where JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and their literary circle known as the Inklings once met. It has been undergoing a refurbishment porject for many months now.
Saint John’s College porperty portfolio the west side of St Giles’ once included the Eagle and Child pub (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Saint John’s offers on-site accommodation to undergraduates during their time at the college. This includes accommodation in the Thomas White Quad, the Beehive, and college-owned houses on Museum Road, with some postgraduates in Blackhall Road.
Saint John’s College Boat Club (SJCBC) is the largest of a number of college sports clubs.
Prominent fellows and alumni of Saint John’s have included two 17th-century Archbishops of Canterbury, William Laud and William Juxon, the poets AE Housman, Philip Larkin and Robert Graves, the novelist Kingsley Amis, the historian Peter Burke, the biochemist Sir John Kendrew, and the former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
After more than four centuries of the college being a male-only institution, women were first admitted as students in 1979. Elizabeth Fallaize was the first woman to become a fellow of Saint John’s in 1990.
Saint John’s maintains the largest endowment of the Oxford colleges, and these include the Oxford Playhouse building and the Millwall FC training ground. Students occupied the front quad for five days in January 2020 to protest against the endowment fund’s continued investments in fossil fuels.
The current President of Saint John’s is Baroness Black of Strome (Professor Dame Sue Black), a Scottish forensic anthropologist known for her work on identification in criminal convictions.
Richard Baylie (1585-1667) was twice President of Saint John’s College, in 1633-1648 and 1660-1667 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
