Merton College Chapel
(Image Caption: The Quire as it is Today)
Merton College Chapel has been a place of prayer and worship for over
seven hundred years. Work on the church of St Mary and St John, now the Quire
of Merton College Chapel, started in the late 1280s, to replace the parish
church of St John the Baptist which stood on the site now occupied by the
north wing of Mob Quad. The Quire's large size attests perhaps to
thirteenth-century confidence in the growth of the College as well as the
practical need to accommodate parishioners. Early fittings included vessels
for wine, two banners, a painted lectern, and by 1297-8 six paintings.
Of the seven pairs of windows in the side walls of the Quire, 12 contain the original glass from this period, set in Decorated tracery. This figured and grisaille glass was given to the Chapel between 1289 and 1296 by Henry Mansfield, fellow and benefactor of the College. The heraldic glass and the Annunciation scene in the East Window is also original to the late 13th century; much of the glass for the rest of the window date from the 15th century.
The 1300s saw considerable expansion of the chapel. By the end of the
century the Crossing and South Transept had been built, followed in 1425 by
the North Transept.
(Image Caption: The North Transept) This
space was designated for the use of parishioners until the nineteenth century,
accounting for the unusual ability to enter the Chapel from the street.
(Image Caption: C15th Stained Glass)
By 1450 the tower was complete, but only with money raised by public subscription. The Chapel was never completed; the site originally intended for the nave was sold in 1517 to Bishop Fox, the founder of neighbouring Corpus Christi College. The resulting T-shape became the model for many other Oxbridge college chapels. Despite the strain on College finances, the late medieval chapel was rich in ornamentation, including a gothic screen and a fine set of vestments and twenty-four copes. The pre-Reformation lectern, a gift from John Martock in 1504, is one of the finest examples of the period, and is used at every chapel service.
(Image Caption: C18th View of Quire) As
elsewhere, religion became deeply divisive at Merton during the Reformation.
Under Edward VI traditional worship in the Chapel, including masses and
requiems for the souls of benefactors, would have ceased. It was probably at
this time that the statues and stained glass were removed. In the Marian
reaction of 1553-8 the College was strongly Catholic, and subsequently
attempted to resist Protestant interference in Elizabeth's reign. In a famous
episode the College stood siege against the officers of Archbishop Parker for
three weeks.
By the seventeenth century the Chapel was in need of refurbishment; the
South Transept roof collapsed in 1655, smashing many of the medieval monuments
below.
(Image Caption: Monument of Sir Henry Savile )
Christopher Wren was employed in 1671 to fit up the interior with a new screen
(costing £1,130) and stalls in the classical style. The medieval bells were
also recast. In 1665 the Queen's ladies were entertained at Merton, the court
being in Oxford to avoid the Great Plague in London. Anthony Wood recorded
dryly, 'More women than scholars in chapel'.
The nineteenth century saw extensive changes to the Chapel interior. Under the influence of Blore, Butterfield and Scott monuments from the sanctuary were rearranged in the antechapel. Red and yellow tiles were fitted amongst the black and white ones of the quire floor, a gothic font was introduced to the North Transept and the new Victorian roof was painted. By 1886 the College brewery, that had occupied the Sacristy for nearly sixty years, was removed. Worship changed too; a regular Sunday Communion and morning and evening services were established in 1870. The main neo-classical organ in the antechapel dates from 1960.
J. R. L. Highfield, 'Merton College Chapel, a Lecture' (Oxford, no date).
G. H. Martin and J. R. L. Highfield, A History of Merton College, Oxford
(Oxford, 1997).
Updated
22 September 2007
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