King’s College Chapel c.1948

King’s College, Cambridge

History of King's College Chapel

General Information about King’s College can be found on Wikipedia.

A particular attraction of the college is the Xu Zhimo Memorial.

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In front of the main entrance to the college, on a pillar at the end of a low wall, is the inscription:

IN MEMORIAM SEPTIMI PHILLPOTTS ANNOS LXV COLLEGII REGALIS SOCII HOC MODICO MURO MUTATAT EST FERREA SAEPES

In memory of Septimus Phillpotts who was a a Fellow of King’s College for 65 years, this low wall replaces the [former] iron railings.

Nancy Gregory in Cambridge Inscriptions Explained (2006) provides interesting background information about Septimus. he was a teacher at Bedford School for most of his life but had also been one of the last to be guaranteed a college fellowship under the original Founder’s statutes.

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1728a bell ringer named Henry West was crushed by one of the five great bells falling on him during a marathon bell-ringing session.

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1800

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1830

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1861

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1907

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E M Keynes in A House By The River (p186f) describes how King’s College hosted Belgian scholars during WWI. The Belgian University Committee was headed by Mrs Verrall, widow of professor Verrall, and Mrs Tilley, wife of A A Tilley, a Fellow of King’s since 1876. they were given a room in Gibbs Building for their office.

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The Kennedy Building was constructed by Rattee and Kett circa 1927.

Rattee and Kett restored the masonry of King’s College Chapel circa 1980.

For detailed information about the history of the college chapel follow this link:

https://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/history-chapel

 

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The Cambridge Ghost Book, Halliday and Murdie, 2000, has a chapter on King’s College. One ghost is said to be that of an eccentric fellow of the college called Barrett who lived on staircase A and kept a coffin in his room. He was found dead in his coffin after mysterious screams and each year on the anniversary of his death, screams are heard on the staircase.

Perhaps the most famous writer of ghost stories in the English language, Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936), ‘M R James’, graduated from King’s in 1885 and later became Master of the college. In 1904 he published Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, one of the most influential books of its genre.

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2024 May