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is one of the
Constituent College s of the
University Of Oxford in the
United Kingdom . Its official name, '''College of St Mary''', is the same as that of the older
Oriel College ; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary," or simply "New College." One of the most famous of the Oxford colleges, it stands along Holywell Street and New College Lane (known for
Oxford's Bridge Of Sighs ), next to
All Souls College and
The Queen's College . It is one of the main choral foundations of the University of Oxford. It is also one of the wealthier colleges, with an estimated
Financial Endowment of
£ 127m (as of 2006).
1
Despite its name, New College is one of the oldest of the Oxford colleges, having originally been founded in 1379. The second college in Oxford to be dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, it was founded by
William Of Wykeham ,
Bishop Of Winchester . It was founded in conjunction with the famous
Winchester College , which was envisaged as a feeder to the Oxford college, and the two institutions have striking architectural similarities, both were the work of master mason
William Wynford . Both Winchester College and New College were originally established for the education of priests, there being a shortage of properly educated clergy after the
Black Death .
As well as being the first Oxford college for undergraduates and the first to have senior members of the college give tutorials, New College was the first college in Oxford to centre on a main
Quadrangle , with student rooms, a dining hall, a library, and study rooms within the square ring of buildings and gates. The quadrangle design inspired many of the later colleges, perhaps most recently
St Catherine's College, Oxford because
Arne Jacobsen was an ardent admirer of "the Oval", or oval-shaped lawn in the old quad. (New College's quadrangle is not the first in Oxford, however, merely the first to contain all of the above elements; the first quadrangle was
Merton 's Mob Quad. Merton's dining hall, though, is in a connecting building outside the quad, as is its chapel.) At the time of its founding, New College had the grandest collection of buildings for a college in Oxford, a testament to Wykeham's experience in administering both ecclesiastical and civil institutions as the Bishop of Winchester and High Chancellor of England.
The New College grounds are among the largest and most beautiful in Oxford. The Cloisters and the Chapel are of particular note, as is the old City Wall (around which the College is built); much of the mediæval stained glass in the antechapel has recently been restored. The gardens are equally impressive and include the decorative Mound (which originally had steps, but is now smooth with one set of stairs).
The bell tower contains one of the oldest
Rings of ten bells, which is rung by the
Oxford Society Of Change Ringers and the
Oxford University Society Of Change Ringers . The college is also in possession of a respectable collection of silver (including the mediæval silver gilt Founder's Crozier, housed in a display case in the chapel), and two notable "
Unicorn horns" (in fact
Narwhal tusks).
In addition to its academic reputation and its impressive set of buildings, New College is internationally renowned for its chapel choir. As part of the original College statutes, William of Wykeham provided for a choral foundation of lay and academical clerks, with boy choristers to sing mass and the daily offices. It is a tradition that continues today with the choral services of evensong and eucharist during term. In addition to its choral duties in the chapel, the choir has established a reputation as one of the finest Anglican choirs in the world through its many recordings and concert tours. The chapel organ was built by the firm of Grant, Degens, and Bradbeer in 1969, in a case designed by George Pace; somewhat revolutionary at the time, the instrument remains no less remarkable and idiosyncratic today.
The College's
Motto , created by
William Of Wykeham , is 'Manners Makyth Man'. The motto was in many respects fairly revolutionary. Firstly, it was written in
English , rather than
Latin , which makes it very unusual in Oxford, and is especially revolutionary considering the College's age; even
St Catherine's College , founded in 1965, has a Latin motto ("''Nova et Vetera"'': "the new and the old").
Secondly, the motto makes a social statement. While it might initially seem to be suggesting that it is beneficial to have good manners, this does not really capture its full scope. What it really means is that it is not by birth, money, or property that an individual is defined, but in how he (or she) behaves towards other people.
:See also .
