The School of Pythagoras is the oldest building in St John's College, Cambridge, and the oldest secular building in Cambridge, England. [1] [2] It is a Grade I listed building. [3] To the north is Northampton Street. [4] [5]
The School of Pythagoras was originally built around 1200, before even the University of Cambridge existed. It also predates St John's College, which was founded in 1511. It was initially a private house, but over the centuries it has had many uses. For a period it was a ruin. The reason for the name is unclear.
In the 16th century, a small manor house was added to its west side. This is known as Merton Hall. It is now used for graduate student accommodation. From 1266 until 1959 the School of Pythagoras and later Merton Hall were owned by Merton College, Oxford. [6]
The School of Pythagoras is now used as the College Archive Centre. Previously it was used as a theatre and the base for the St John's College Dramatic Society; Douglas Adams appeared there in a revue in 1972. [7]
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The full formal name of the college is the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge. The aims of the college, as specified by its statutes, are the promotion of education, religion, learning and research. It is one of the largest Oxbridge colleges in terms of student numbers. For 2022, St John's was ranked 6th of 29 colleges in the Tompkins Table with over 35 per cent of its students earning first-class honours. It is the second wealthiest college in Oxford and Cambridge, after neighbouring Trinity, at Cambridge.
Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to support it. An important feature of de Merton's foundation was that this "college" was to be self-governing and the endowments were directly vested in the Warden and Fellows.
Brackley is a market town and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, bordering Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, 19 miles (31 km) from Oxford and 22 miles (35 km) from Northampton. Historically a market town based on the wool and lace trade, it was built on the intersecting trade routes between London, Birmingham, the Midlands, Cambridge and Oxford. Brackley is close to Silverstone and home to the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team.
Brixworth is a large village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England. The 2001 census recorded a parish population of 5,162, increasing to 5,228 at the 2011 census. The village's All Saints' Church is of Anglo-Saxon origin.
Mob Quad is a four-sided group of buildings from the 13th and 14th centuries in Merton College, Oxford, surrounding a small lawn. It is often claimed to be the oldest quadrangle in Oxford and elsewhere, although Merton's own Front Quad was actually enclosed earlier and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, says that its own Old Court is the oldest structure of its type in either Oxford or Cambridge. The quadrangle pattern has since been copied at many other colleges and universities worldwide.
The Vinerian Scholarship is a scholarship given to the University of Oxford student who "gives the best performance in the examination for the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law". Currently, £2,500 is given to the winner of the scholarship, with an additional £950 awarded at the examiners' discretion to a proxime accessit (runner-up).
Kingsthorpe is a suburb and civil parish of Northampton, England. It is situated to the north of Northampton town centre and is served by the A508 and A5199 roads which join at Kingsthorpe's centre. The 2011 Census recorded the population of the district council ward as 4,477.
Helmdon is a village and civil parish about 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Brackley in West Northamptonshire, England. The village is on the River Tove, which is flanked by meadows that separate the village into two. The parish includes the hamlets of Astwell and Falcutt and covers more than 1,550 acres (630 ha). The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 899.
Merton is a village and civil parish near the River Ray, about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 424.
Holywell Manor is a historic building in central Oxford, England, in the parish of Holywell. It currently houses some of Balliol College's postgraduate student population. It is on the corner of Manor Road and St Cross Road, next to St Cross Church, which has become the Balliol College Historic Collections Centre.
Piddington is a village and civil parish about 4.5 miles (7 km) southeast of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England. It lies close to the border with Buckinghamshire. Its toponym has been attributed to the Old English Pyda's tun. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 370.
Queen's Road is a major road to the west of central Cambridge, England. It links with Madingley Road and Northampton Street to the north with Sidgwick Avenue, Newnham Road and Silver Street to the south.
Northampton Street is a street in the north of central Cambridge, England. It runs between Madingley Road and Queen's Road to the west and Castle Street, by Castle Hill, Chesterton Lane, and Magdalene Street to the east.
Hinton Waldrist is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, England. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The village is between Oxford and Faringdon, 9 miles (14 km) southwest of Oxford. The parish includes the hamlet of Duxford. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 328.
St Bene't's Church is a Church of England parish church in central Cambridge, England. Parts of the church, most notably the tower, are Anglo-Saxon, and it is the oldest church in Cambridgeshire as well as the oldest building in Cambridge.
Taynton is a village and civil parish about 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) northwest of Burford in West Oxfordshire. The village is on Coombe Brook, a tributary of the River Windrush. The parish is bounded in the south by the River Windrush, in the north partly by Coombe Brook and its tributary Hazelden Brook, in the west by the county boundary with Gloucestershire and in the east by field boundaries. The 2001 Census recorded the parish's population as 108.
Great Bricett Priory was a medieval monastic house in Great Bricett in Suffolk, England, the chapel of which is now in use as the Church of England parish church of St Mary and St Lawrence. Ralph FitzBrian and Emma his wife, about the year 1110, founded a priory for Austin canons at Bricett, which was dedicated to the honour of St Leonard. The foundation charter endowed the priory with the tithes of Bricett and of 'Losa' with its chapel, a moiety of the church of 'Stepla,' and the associated church of Stangate, Essex, in addition to various plots of land in the vicinity. The founder also gave to the canons a large garden on the south of the monastery and a smaller one on the east, and he ordained that whenever he was in Suffolk the canons were to act as his chaplains and to receive a tithe of his bread and beer. The priory of Bricett was claimed, early in the thirteenth century, as pertaining to the monastery of Nobiliac, in the diocese of Limoges and the Duchy of Berry. This claim was resisted, but in 1295 an agreement was arrived at favourable to the foreign house, whereby Bricett became an alien priory; this composition was renewed and confirmed by the Bishop of Norwich in the chapter house of Bricett, on 16 July 1310. In a long list of royal protections to religious houses in 1295, in return for bestowing on the king a tithe of their income, the priory of Bricett is described as a cell to the priory of 'Noblac in Lymoche's'.
Thomas Lawrence Dale, FRIBA, FSA was an English architect. Until the First World War he concentrated on designing houses for private clients. From the 1930s Dale was the Oxford Diocesan Surveyor and was most noted for designing, restoring, and furnishing Church of England parish churches.
There are 67 Grade I listed buildings in Cambridge, England. In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a building or structure of special historical or architectural importance. These buildings are legally protected from demolition, as well as from any extensions or alterations that would adversely affect the building's character or destroy historic features. Listed buildings in England are divided into three categories—Grade II buildings are buildings of special interest; Grade II* buildings are Grade II buildings of particular interest; and Grade I buildings, which are those of "exceptional" interest. Only around two per cent of listed buildings are given Grade I status.
The University of Stamford was an academic institution founded in 1333 in Stamford, Lincolnshire, by a group of students and tutors from the University of Oxford, including Merton College and Brasenose Hall.