Trinity Great Court

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Trinity's Great Court looking north, showing the King's Gate, Chapel, Fountain and the Great Gate

Great Court is the main court of Trinity College, Cambridge, and reputed to be the largest enclosed court in Europe.

The court was completed by Thomas Nevile, master of the college, in the early years of the 17th century, when he rearranged the existing buildings to form a single court.

Starting in the northeast corner at E staircase, in which Isaac Newton had his rooms, and moving clockwise, one first reaches the Porters' Lodge and Great Gate, begun in 1490 as the entrance to King's Hall and completed in 1535. The Great Gate is home to the famous statue of founder Henry VIII whose sceptre was replaced by a chair leg by students in the 19th century. Next comes the East Range, and staircases F-K (with J omitted out of tradition) that contain the college bursary and rooms principally housing fellows of the college. Staircase I leads to Angel Court, containing rooms for students and fellows, and to the college bar.

Trinity's main entrance, the Great Gate, leading to the Great Court

The South Range runs from staircases L-Q with rooms for students and fellows, with Queen's Gate (named after Elizabeth I) as its centrepiece. R staircase can be found in a passage leading to New Court, while S staircase is on the left in the passage leading past the Hall into Nevile's Court. The West Range is dominated by the Great Hall, the college's dining hall modelled on that of Middle Temple, and the Master's Lodge.

The fourth side begins with staircases A-C, before reaching King's Gate (also called Edward III Gateway), and the entrance to the oldest part of the college, the remaining surviving buildings of King's Hall. King's Gate also houses the famous clock that chimes every 15 minutes and strikes the hour twice. Originally built on the site of the current sundial in the middle of the court, Nevile moved it 20 metres north when completing the court.

Trinity Great Court noon chime (file info) — play in browser (beta)
Problems playing the files? See media help.

Many have tried to run the 367 metres around the court in the 43 seconds that it takes to strike 12 o'clock, a feat recreated in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire (though filmed in Eton College not Trinity). Known as the Great Court Run, students traditionally attempt to complete the circuit on the day of the Matriculation Dinner. The only people believed to have actually completed the run in time are Lord Burghley in 1927 and Sebastian Coe when he beat Steve Cram in a charity race in October 1988.

The final part of the court is completed by the chapel, begun by Mary I in 1554 in memory of her father. The ante-chapel contains statues of many famous Trinity men, including Roubiliac's sculpture of Isaac Newton, and the altarpiece is Benjamin West's St Michael and the Devil.

In the centre of the court is an ornate fountain, built during Nevile's time, and traditionally fed by a pipe from Conduit Head in west Cambridge.