England Guide
Oxfordshire, the Chilterns and the Cotswolds
The Old Schools Quadrangle
Occupied by the Bodleian Library, the beautifully proportioned Old Schools Quadrangle was built in the early seventeenth century in ornate Jacobean-Gothic style. On the quad's east side is the handsome Tower of the Five Orders, with tiers of columns built according to the five classical styles – Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite. On the west side is the library's main entrance and, although most of the complex is out of bounds to the general public, you can pop into the Divinity School (Mon– Fri 9am–5pm, Sat 9am–4.30pm; £2), one large room where, until the nineteenth century, degree candidates were questioned in detail about their subject by two interlocutors, with a professor acting as umpire. Begun in 1424, and sixty years in the making, the Divinity School boasts an extravagant vaulted ceiling, a riot of pendants and decorative bosses, altogether an exquisite example of late-Gothic architecture. However, this elaborate design was never carried right through – funding was a constant problem – and parts of the school were finished off in a much plainer style with the change being especially pronounced on the south wall.