RESORING A COLLEGE

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 110, 5 November 1935, Page 9

RESORING A COLLEGE

CAMBRIDGE DISCOVERIES

Having completed the task of restoring and renovating the front of St. John's College, Cambridge, the authorities have carried out some very necessary work in tha First Court during the long vacation, says the "Daily Telegraph."

It was found necessary last year completely to demolish and rebuild the two front gateway turrets facing St. John's Street. The corresponding pair inside the- court were not in such a bad condition, however, and only the bottom fifteen feet needed to be restored.

On the other side of the court the whole of the parapet over the college offices and the dining hall has been rebuilt, and the brickwork on this side has also been ropointcd and replaced where found necessary. Hand-made bricks of the sixteenth century were secured iti order that the renovation might match the original work.

The whole face of the building has also been thoroughly washed down by hand, only softened water and hard brushes being used. This has resulted in parts of the original diaper pattern in the old brickwork being disclosed.

Repairs to the roof on the east side of the court disclosed considerable damage by the death-watch beetle and a number of the original oak beams had to be removed.

Some fine old oak panelling was disclosed by this operation, revealing what, in all probability, was' part of the old Hospital of St. John. On the suppression of this foundation early in the sixteenth century, the college was founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort, wife of Edmund Tudor, Earl ol Richmond, and mother oC Henry VII.

Other'work in contemplation is the rebuilding of the old archway, leading to the lane between Trinity and St. John's Colleges, and the removal of the small Mansfield stone pillars on the exterior o£ the chapel that have not resisted weather ravages. The chapel was built sixty years ago.

Built to transport a filly-ton sleol tower, a motor lorry in England weighed 22 tons, and several times the road over which' it travelled gave way under the double load.