Hertford’s Library has gradually grown over the past two centuries. As the college prepares for a major library rebuild project to create a library fit for the 21st century we look back over some of the key developments in its history.
1820: Magdalen Hall’s dreadful fire
Magdalen Hall was based in a site adjacent to Magdalen College on Oxford’s High Street from its foundation in the late 15th century to the early 19th century. A fire in their buildings on the High Street proved the catalyst for its move to Catte Street.
‘I have just time to inform you, that a dreadful fire broke out in Magdalen Hall…this morning, about three o’clock, which totally consumed the whole range of buildings, consisting of about eighteen sets of rooms, in three hours… No lives were lost. All the furniture, books, &c. destroyed. It is supposed to have originated in the room of a young man over the common rooms…’
Source: Morning Chronicle, 11 Jan 1820
Following this fire, which was caused by a student who left a candle burning and fell asleep, Magdalen Hall moved onto the crumbling Catte Street site of Hertford College (previously Hart Hall). In 1874 Magdalen Hall legally became a college of Oxford University and revived the name Hertford College. In the subsequent 200 years the library collections have moved around the sites as storage requirements and members’ needs have changed. The library has never had a purpose built space on the Catte Street site.
1908: A new chapel
Architect T.G. Jackson designed the new chapel, bridge, dining hall and spiral staircase at Hertford in the early 20th century.
On these plans you can see the new chapel design on the right and the small old chapel on the left, which is now the library. Behind the original chapel is a toilet block (now the site of the library staff office)! Initially the old chapel remained as a single large library room, which would have been a very well lit space.
‘…Chapel is becoming so famous that the local guides, who used to dismiss Hertford in a single sentence, have found it necessary to add a new speech to their repertoire and to extend their itinerary. This is a mixed blessing, but we may set against it the great though very secular advantages which have resulted from the evacuation of the Old Chapel, which, by the abolition of the ‘horse box’ and the addition of a gallery, has been converted into a very serviceable Library. There is room in it for a surprisingly large number of books, and tables have been provided for the accommodation of readers, who are now admitted at most hours of the day.’
Hertford College Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1910)
The Library keeps on growing
Demand for study space and bookshelves continued right through the 20th century (and still does today). In the 1960s a library extension was built onto the old building. The space, including the old building, was split into two floors, creating a light-filled first floor and a very dark ground floor. Further extensions were added in the basement levels in the nineties and noughties to meet the continued demand for more space.
Hertford is planning a library rebuild to support many future generations in their academic studies. This project will create additional accessible individual and group study areas, space for the modern book collections, and specialist storage and consultation space for the special collections.
Related posts
Resources and links
Information about our upcoming library renovation project
Rare Books and Archives at Hertford
Hertford Archives’ guide to the history and records of Hart Hall, Magdalen Hall and Hertford College