The Archives Blog

Document of the Month - January 2020 Christ Church Archives, DP ii.c.1, f.6 In 1566, when Queen Elizabeth I came to visit Christ Church, the costs were absorbed completely by the Dean and Chapter so, when she stayed for the second time, in 1592, Christ Church was firm, and insisted that the expenses were shared with the other colleges and the...

Document of the Month - October 2019 Christ Church Archives P.TOP.NL/9 & 10   Christ Church’s grand ‘New Library’ was built during the eighteenth century, taking about 60 years from start to finish. By the end of the nineteenth, though, it was showing its age. The appalling state of the stonework was first noted in 1893;...

Document of the Month August 2019 Account of the cost of the plays staged for Charles I in 1636 Christ Church Archives DP ii.c.1, f.36 1636 was a busy year in the University and at Christ Church. William Laud, the Chancellor and Archbishop of Canterbury, promulgated a new set of statutes for the University in June. The document formalised...

The Stones of Christ Church: The Story of the Buildings of Christ Church, Oxford, by Christ Church Archivist Judith Curthoys, tells the story of the buildings of Christ Church throughout its five centuries, and of those who brought them into being. Below is part two of a selection of almost 100 illustrations picked from this volume, captioned...

Document of the Month July 2019 Christ Church Archives, DP ii.c.1, f.32 On 12th July 1643, the Dean and Chapter decreed that the Students would receive only one meal each day. The Civil War was making it difficult to source sufficient fuel to keep the kitchen going. They were, however, willing to hear ‘reasonable’ proposals from the...

Document of the Month - May 2019 (DP v.c.1) On the night of 10/11 May 1870, members of the Loder’s Club (the Christ Church Society), stole all the statues from the Library, allegedly to avenge the dismissal of Timms, a friendly porter with a knack of turning a blind eye to undergraduate excesses. Lighting bonfires between the statues,...

Document of the month March 2019 An engraving by William Crotch showing the devastation in the south-west canonry at Christ Church after the fire of 3rd/4th March 1809 - Christ Church Archives D&C xx.b.1 Click small images to view larger versions In a corner of the City of Oxford Museum is a small fire engine that belongs to Christ...

Document of the Month - January 2019 Christ Church Archives P.SOC xxi.c.2 On 3 January 1938, Christ Church mourned the passing of William Francis, the Dean’s Verger, aged 97. Francis was born on 17 July 1840 in Reading, the son of a carpenter. Narrowly saved from joining the Navy by his quick-witted mother, he began to train as a...

In March 1918, Henry Scott Holland died. Holland was 71, a canon of Christ Church and Regius professor of divinity, and one of the ‘old guard’ who remained here while the younger men – tutors, students, and staff - left to serve their country at war. But Holland was not a conservative or traditionalist; he was a friend of artists, such as...

Document of the month - October 2018 Christ Church Archives, S xxxii.c.1 On 30th October 1891, the Steward received a rather tetchy letter from Oxford’s Postmaster explaining that delays in delivering the post to Christ Church were caused by the late running of the mail train, a matter over which he had no control. Perhaps there were leaves...

Document of the Month – August 2018 In 1867, Christ Church was radically changed by its first set of statutes which received the Royal Assent on 12 August.  For over three centuries it had been governed by custom, loosely but informally following the statutes laid down by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in 1525. In 1546, when Christ Church was...

Document of the month - June 2018 Archive Papers, Dean & Censors, D&C i.b.5, p.82. Click the small image on the right to view the full document. During the eighteenth century, Christ Church’s Chapter Books begin to record much more information about student life, particularly disciplinary matters. Undergraduates and graduates alike...

Document of the month - April 2018 Christ Church Archives, Deanery Papers, DP ii.c.1, f.66 Click the small image on the right to view a large version. George Annesley, the son of Baron Mountnorris, came up to Christ Church in 1647. His father, powerful in Ireland, had had a tempestuous relationship with Thomas Wentworth, Lord...

Document of the month - February 2018 Opening up the Treasury strong room to take out the money needed for the day’s business soon after 10am on Monday, 17 February 1828, Edward Goodwin, the deputy Treasurer was greeted by a grim sight. Open in front of him was a chest belonging to one of the canons, broken and empty, the baptismal plate had...