Old Court 1829

Old Court, view to NW, 1829, by Storer

This print appeared in Illustrations of the University of Cambridge , by J. and H.S. Storer, apparently published in 1829.

Points to note are:

• There are only four dormers over Old Hall, where Greig's print of 1814 has five;
• The windows of Old Hall have plain mullions without tracery (lasted until 1846);
• The clock tower of 1804 is shown - it lasted until 1848;
• There is a dormer (far right of picture) over the Chapel, which had a flat ceiling with attic rooms above until 1845.
• There is a lamp-post in the middle of Old Court (difficult to see in this low resolution image - it appears immediately to the right of the oriel window, with its base just beside the central path and casting a shadow on the lawn);
• Battlements have been erected all around Old Court. There is no record of this change, but consider the following: the erection of battlements required the installation of rain-water pipes (there are none in Greig's print of 1814), and two of these can be seen on the west elevation. The date on the lead hoppers at the top of some of the pipes elsewhere in Old Court is 1819. In the college accounts, there is a surge of expenditure on building-related items in 1819-20. So I conclude that the battlements were erected in 1819. The battlements were an inappropriate change, and were removed again in stages 1910 - 1926.

Drawn and Engraved by James Storer (father) and Henry Sargant Storer (son, died 1837).