Context 151 - September 2017

40 C O N T E X T 1 5 1 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 This plot remains unchanged, with Hobson Street to the south and Jesus Lane to the north.The old ‘King’s Ditch’ (a tributary of the main river but long since covered over) runs through the view: conspicuously in Lyne but made into part of the gardens and bridged over in the 1690 view, where it can be glimpsed crossing the site just above the buildings’ ridges. The simple husbandry of religious times has been replaced by professionally designed horticulture. Fashionable layouts divide the grounds of the college (this is the best or most explicit of Loggan’s set of Cambridge college views) into ‘garden rooms’ with the addition of other spaces for trees (some of them for fruit?) and outdoor exercise in a period before the advent of out-of-town sportsfields and boathouses. Trees are seen on the lawns of one court, and they pop up too in Loggan in front of King’s College Chapel. Self-sufficiency is indicated by two walled garden plots where strips seems to show the cultivation of crops of vegetables and, more likely, herbs.A rare survival of such self-sufficiency may be found even today in the Fellows’ Garden at Christ’s College nearby, where beehives are maintained. Christ’s also once had a small herb garden placed neatly next to the kitchens, but it has since been covered over and used first as the site of a bath house site and later for a modern library. As well as the King’s Ditch, the university city also has the main river circling round it to the west and north. In the course of the 17th to 19th centuries this amenity was exploited for its scenic value as bridges from colleges backing on to the water were constructed. These gave access to the celebrated Backs area, a classic British parkland scene showing the same watery blend of meadows, trees and nearby buildings as found in so many country house settings. The Backs era culminated in the early 19th centurywith the construction of a Bridge of Sighs at St John’s College and the new trans-pontine court it leads to.The picturesque soon led to theVictorians’ love of the herbaceous border, and to more natural or informal landscape effects. This is best seen at the rear ofTrinity Hall, where a new set of red brick buildings was established to lead from the old,rigidly squaredFirst Court towards the river.Symmetry was abandoned and a great tree commands a tapering lawn. This wonderfully artless composition was declared by the writer Henry James to be ‘the prettiest spot in theWorld’. The same Liverpool firm of architects that worked at Trinity Hall, Grayson and Ould, added the Jesus Lane ClergyTraining School to its Cambridge portfolio in 1898. This is now called Westcott House. My own research into the development of the site, as purchased from Jesus College, shows a remarkable innovation.The layout was based on the ancient garden of the demolished Radegund Manor House and an adjoining plot that stood at the rear of a terrace of eight houses. The Church of England training school added buildings (overlooked by the looming church and spire of All Saints’ by Bodley) to forma courtyard/cloister in a gradual process leading up to full enclosure by 1939. The shape of the preserved gardens governed the plan.The institution takes a pride in thewildness of the garden at its heart, and allows long grass and wild flowers to prosper. This gives rise to a superb effect that is matched in Cambridge only by the wild garden in the old burial ground behind Little Saint Mary’s Church.Here again there is a stunning blend of wild landscape with architecture provided by the ancient tower of the church, the rugged rear elevations of Peterhouse and the very pretty row of cottages in the nearby lane. Recent developments include placing modern works of sculpture in garden settings. Here Jesus College leads the way.Temporary exhibitions and permanent installations bring increased interest to the gardens and grounds of a site that is richly endowed with space inherited from the lands of the former nunnery, as occupied since the reformation by the university college. The ‘sacredness’ of the open spaces in gardens has notably been breached at Christ’s College, where the Third Court has a lawn and trees in a south-facing position. Hundreds of students live in the nearby blocks, of which three make up the other sides of the layout. In the 21st century the middle of the court has been provided with works or art, gravel walks and seating to provide a most successful recreation area. GrahamTite is a conservation officer. Kings College Chapel, Cambridge, from David Loggan’s Cantabrigia Illustrata, 1690 (Photo: Public domain, https:// commons. wikimedia.org/w/ index. php?curid=18907533) Richard Lyne’s 1574 view of Cambridge (Photo: http://ecx. images- amazon.com/images/ I/91yz9z1uk7L._SL2000_. jpg, Public Domain, https:// commons.wikimedia.org/w/ index.php?curid=28222059)