{"id":1109,"date":"2025-04-02T15:24:04","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T14:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.hertford.ox.ac.uk\/library-archives\/?p=1109"},"modified":"2025-04-02T15:43:44","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T14:43:44","slug":"buildings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.hertford.ox.ac.uk\/library-archives\/buildings\/","title":{"rendered":"Hertford’s buildings : from medieval hall to modern college"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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With the redevelopment of Hertford’s Library and Archives underway, the Michaelmas Term 2024 archives and rare books display traced the history of the buildings college site on Catte Street in Oxford, from medieval hall to the work of architect T.G. Jackson in the nineteenth and twentieth century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The display was curated by Lucy Rutherford (Archivist), Sophie Floate (Rare Books Cataloguer), Alice Roques (Librarian) and Katherine Knight (Assistant Librarian).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A Medieval Hall<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Hart Hall\u2019s history stretches back to the 1280s, when Elias de Hertford leased a lodgings house, known as Hart Hall, to provide accommodation for Oxford students. Along with other small halls, Hart Hall occupied part of the area on Catte Street in central Oxford that went on to become Hertford College. Despite this long history, none of the buildings on the current site date back to these foundations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S.G. Hamilton\u2019s History of Hertford College<\/a> was published in 1903 and many of his research notes for the book are now part of Hertford\u2019s Archives. The rough sketch below shows Hamilton\u2019s research about the halls on the Catte Street site, including Cat Hall, Black Hall, Hart Hall, Shield Hall and Arthur Hall. The current site has a mixture of buildings dating from the 1400s onwards.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sketch
Image 1: Hamilton\u2019s sketch of the medieval halls and early modern Hertford College on the Catte Street site, 1896, Hertford Archives<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Early Modern Hart Hall<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"1675
Image 2: Loggan’s engraving of Hart Hall from Oxonia Illustrata<\/em> (Oxford, 1675). <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The University\u2019s official engraver, David Loggan, published a volume of images of colleges and university buildings in 1675. It included the 17th<\/sup> century Hart Hall (Aula Cervina), which had grown in size to cover more of the Catte Street site. The sketch includes various early modern buildings that have since been replaced, in some cases multiple times! The Old Hall is one of the oldest remaining parts of these buildings, with windows similar to the ones shown in the buildings in this image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The photographs below show the northeastern part of OB Quad (with what is now known as the Old Hall in the centre) and were taken by Oxford photographer Henry Taunt, before and after by T.G. Jackson’s renovation works in the late 19th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image 3 (L) and 4 (R): the north east corner of OB Quad, with the Old Hall in the centre. Left image shows the 19th century building before Jackson’s 1887-1889 renovations to the quad, and the right image is shortly after the renovations. Both images from Taunt Photograph Album, 1915, Hertford Archives<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The First Hertford College<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the 18th<\/sup> century Richard Newton, Principal from 1710 to 1753, led the transition of Hart Hall into Hertford College. He had extensive plans to rebuild the Catte Street site in an austere Georgian style and paid for the initial construction phase, including a chapel in 1716. However, the works then stalled due to lack of funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Section
Image 5: a sketch of Newton’s 18th century plans for Hertford. Printed in Joseph Skelton, Oxonia Antiqua Restaurata<\/em>, 2nd<\/sup> ed, (Oxford, 1843) and based on G. Vertue’s 1745 engraving. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Pre-1887
Image 6: 19th century Taunt photograph of the south of Hertford’s quad which shows, from left to right: the ‘cottages’, Newton’s Georgian chapel, and the 1820s wing facing Catte Street. From Taunt Photograph Album, 1915, Hertford Archives<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Newton’s Georgian chapel is the core of the 21st<\/sup> century library building, which is undergoing redevelopment. The building is now Grade II listed, which means it must be carefully preserved during the current project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1960s the library was divided into two floors and an extension added. The ground floor was left without natural light. The renovation will see the 1960s extension removed and rebuilt and the original Georgian chapel section of the library opened out into a galleried space, allowing light into the ground floor once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n