Selwyn College
A Victorian memorial college in golden Ketton stone and red brick, with large lawns and a Wren-linked dining hall.
Selwyn was founded as a memorial to George Augustus Selwyn, the first Bishop of New Zealand, who later became Bishop of Lichfield and died in 1878. A committee of Cambridge scholars raised money for a college in his name, and the royal charter followed on 13 September 1882. It had a distinctly Church of England character at the outset and was meant to keep costs low for students who could not otherwise afford Cambridge; it took women from 1976.
What to look for
- Old Court. Building began in 1880, and the court is mostly the work of Sir Arthur Blomfield in Ketton stone and local red brick, in a Victorian Gothic Revival manner. The gateway tower holds the Old Library.
- The Hall. The Jacobean-style dining hall was begun in 1909, after the chapel of 1895. Its panelling, given in 1913, came from the English Church in Rotterdam, a building designed in the office of Sir Christopher Wren. A portrait of the bishop by George Richmond, painted in 1855, hangs in a place of honour here, a gift from St John's College in 1969.
- The gardens. The Victorian gardens now offer wide lawns, mature trees and flowering borders, and the college publishes a printable guide and suggested tour.
- Cripps Court and Ann's Court. Cripps Court, opened in 1969 across Grange Road, is the home of the first-year undergraduates. Ann's Court is the most recent, built in matching Ketton stone and brick.
From hostel to college
Selwyn did not begin as a full college of the university. It was a "Public Hostel", and its undergraduates appeared on Senate House lists marked "H. Selw.", a label that ceased in 1924. The hostel status was replaced by "Approved Foundation" in 1926, and full collegiate status came on 14 March 1958. Chapel attendance was compulsory for students from the foundation until 1935.
The libraries
A permanent library was once planned between F Staircase and the chapel, on land that later became part of the gardens, but it was never built. A newer building, the Bartlam Library, opened in 2021 beside Ann's Court together with the Quarry Whitehouse Auditorium. The college had promised in 2018 to keep the earlier library, and it was converted to a lecture and auditorium room.
Practical notes
The original six-acre plot, bought from Corpus Christi College in 1879, lies off Grange Road, with West Road and Sidgwick Avenue on its other sides. The Sidgwick Site is next door, and Robinson College is an adjacent neighbour. Public opening times are not published, so check with the Porters' Lodge before you go.
Nearby
Within a few minutes' walk
