Friday 28 August 2015

Introducing Selwyn

A month or so ago we visited Sidney, or in other words we had a look around Sidney Sussex College. You may remember that we found the old fellow hiding behind a rather nondescript door opposite Sainsbury's supermarket. Today I'll introduce you to Selwyn, or rather Selwyn College, who resides in a much leafier part of town.



Immediately you enter through Selwyn's gatehouse you are confronted by the college chapel. In general shape it echoes the structure of the much bigger and more famous King's College Chapel, but there the similarities end. Cambridge colleges fall into two groups, the old and the new. This is because no colleges at all were founded between 1596 and 1800 in Cambridge. So, while "Sidney" is one of the old codgers, "Selwyn" is a new upstart, dating from 1878.


So lets first visit the Chapel, avoiding walking on the grass by following the path past the Hall, which was added by the architects Grayson & Ould in 1908-09. The style is Victorian Gothic Revival, harking back to the style of earlier college buildings, as is the Chapel itself. 


The Chapel, although smaller than the massive King's College Chapel, is nevertheless large for the size of the college. Perhaps this is a reflection of the way in which the college was founded. The "Selwyn", after whom it's named, is George Augustus Selwyn, the first Bishop of New Zealand (and later of Lichfield). It was founded, not by Selwyn himself, but in his honour by the Selwyn Memorial Committee which was set up following his death. There are also Selwyn Colleges in Auckland and Otago.  


The college was originally only for Christian men and especially those who were the sons of clergy or who were planning to take up missionary work. The Chapel, as you've seen already, is very grand with lots of fine carved wood.



Again it recalls earlier architectural styles and there are even imitations of medieval carved bench-ends on the choir stalls. Some of them, like the one on the right above, look as though they might be caricatures.


Despite all this grandeur, Sir Nikolas Pevsner, in his great work on English architecture, dimisses the Chapel with faint praise - "tall and not bad". 



There is a very striking and highly-polished brass lectern of conventional eagle design... 


.....which gives nice fisheye-lens style reflections of the interior, including the modern but traditional Karin Jonzen sculptures beneath the east window.



Rather oddly the view looking back from the altar is even more grand than that when you enter, with the huge expanses of carved woodwork surrounding the mighty organ.

But now it's time we wandered outside into the sunlight and went in search of the gardens.




*****

It's the Horse, of course....

My recent post about the works of sculpture on display in Jesus College asked for your opinions of the various pieces. It was a bit of a non-contest really as many of you (but by no means all) went with Barry Flanagan's sculpture of the horse.

However there was also considerable support for "This And This And This", or the Triangles as many of you re-named it, by Eva Rothschild, which was also my personal favourite. Interestingly none of us could really say what it was that we liked about it. 

Thanks to all you who offered your views which are always interesting.


Take care.



18 comments:

  1. What beautiful wood carvings depicting such fine workmanship John, thank you so much for sharing. Am very glad though not to have to do the dusting, it is bad enough having to keep my cabinet of linen weave free from accumulations!

    Back to those triangles: The Geometry of Triangles: Congruence, Similarity, and the Pythagorean Theorem - all reminding me of my school days and my love of geometry and trigonometry.

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  2. Beautiful college John, but then they all are - it is a beautiful city.Glad you liked the same statue (triangles) as I did.

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  3. So grand and beautiful - and wonderfully captured in your photos, John. Next life around I am going to request that my parents not leave England until I have had a chance to see all its wonders....

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  4. What a beautiful building, so ornate and detailed.

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  5. What a beautiful building! I enjoyed your photos of the close up details.

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  6. Amazing wood carving if you ask me!

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  7. What a grand place this is shown rather magnificently through your superb photos. Thanks for the tour John.

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  8. So much attention to detail, so much work. I like the slightly duck-toed eagle lectern that is supposed to look regal and authoritarian, but, to me, looks rather comical. It would be interesting to know the story behind the carved bench-ends. A very handsome chapel.

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  9. After looking at these beautiful photos, I feel like I've just taken a lovely journey. Thank you for that.

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  10. I love all the beautiful wood and carvings. So serene, inside and out

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  11. English churches give interesting opportunities for the photographer.

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  12. What struck me is that the wood has all been polished. No cobwebs in sight which always bothers me when I go around the churches. I should take a feather duster with me! Beautiful place, thank you for the tour.

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  13. At first glance I would never have guessed that the polished brass was a lectern. But Once I read the copy you wrote, I saw it. I'm thinking it would not be easy to fall asleep sitting on those benches. ;)

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  14. I really like the chapel, the carved wood is rather splendid and I think Pevsner was rather unfair to it. It looks as though you had it all to yourself as well.

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  15. What a beautiful place! I am so glad you post a big enough view for us to get a good look at places/things. I really enjoy your blog.

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  16. Excellent. The chapel has some similarities to the chapel at Hartford's Trinity College, including the impressive woodwork and carvings. I had the triangles as one of my favorites . . . what do I win?

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  17. Such a beautiful place. All those times I visited Cambridge when my daughter was there and I never discovered this. May have to go back!

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