King's College

Henry VI established King's in 1441, soon after creating Eton College, and for centuries its scholars came from Eton alone. Today it faces King's Parade across a Gothic Revival screen and gatehouse, with the River Cam running along its back edge. Most visitors come for the Chapel, but the courts around it reward a slower look.

What to look for

• Front Court. The chapel closes the north side, James Gibbs's Fellows' Building (1723-29) the west, and William Wilkins's hall range and screen of the 1820s the rest. A bronze fountain of Henry VI stands in the middle of the lawn.
• The stone line. Work on the chapel stopped when Henry was deposed in 1461. A change from paler stone below to darker stone above still marks where building paused and later resumed.
• The Chapel's fittings. Begun in 1446 and complete by 1544, it holds a fan-vaulted roof, 16th-century stained glass, and Rubens's Adoration of the Magi behind the altar, given to the college in 1961.
• Carols from King's. The Christmas Eve service of Nine Lessons and Carols, adapted for the chapel in 1918, is broadcast each year, and went out even through the war years, when the old glass had been taken down for safekeeping.
• The river side. A bridge of 1819 leads from the college lawn to the Backs, where the college's wildflower meadow replaced part of the lawn in 2020.

Two foundations and the Eton link

Henry VI first issued letters patent on 12 February 1441 for a modest college of a rector and twelve poor scholars, and laid the first stone of its Old Court on a former Trinity Hall garden to the north. The plan grew. Statutes of 1443 provided for 70 fellows and scholars under a provost, and a second royal charter of 12 July 1443 refounded the college on that larger scale, modelled on William of Wykeham's foundations at Oxford and Winchester. In September 1444 the heads of King's, Eton, Winchester and New College signed the Amicabilis Concordia, a "friendly agreement" to support one another legally and financially. Every year the provost and two fellows went to Eton to choose the worthiest boys for any vacancies, keeping the total at exactly 70.

The old court, and a century of reform

The larger community outgrew the Old Court, so in 1443 Henry began buying the land the college occupies today. The "temporary" Old Court buildings nevertheless remained its main housing until the early nineteenth century. In 1828 the northern land was sold to the university, which demolished most of those buildings for a University Library extension; only the gateway arch opposite Clare survives, and the Old Schools now hold the university's administrative offices. Under Provost Richard Okes, who served from 1850 until his death in 1888, King's agreed in 1851 to end members' right to a degree without sitting university examinations. The statutes of 1861 allowed for the first time the election of members who had not been at Eton, with 24 scholarships reserved for Etonians and 24 open to boys from any school.

Practical notes

Visitors buy tickets through the college website, and booking ahead is cheaper than buying on the day. The chapel is a working place of worship, with the choir singing services on most days in term, so check opening times before you arrive. The choristers are educated at King's College School, and the college sits a few steps from Clare College and King's Parade.