Oriel College was built about 1620, but the Hall and Chapel were begun in 1637, and finished in 1642. The character of the building is poor and clumsy. The tracery is of very late character, and it has the grooved
East Window, St. Mary Hall, A.D. 1644.
In this instance the form of the arch of the window, the character of the moldings, and the arrangement of the tracery, are better than was usual at that late period.
fillet above mentioned. The entrance to the chapel is under a bay-window, which has an open parapet of scroll-work.
The windows of the Hall and Chapel of University College, which were built about 1640, are much like those of Oriel. The east window of the chapel is particularly bad. Both colleges are built with fractable gablets.
In the Chapel of Brasenose College, which was built between 1656 and 1666, all traces of Gothic, except the windows and roof, seem to have vanished. The exterior is Corinthian, with pointed windows inserted between the pilasters. The tracery is of rather early form, and the whole is a very incongruous mixture. In the east and west windows even the tracery is altered, and the oval form introduced, so that this may be taken as one of the last and most curious examples of the decline of Gothic before its extinction. The roof of the chapel, which is a kind of hammer-beam with fan-vaulting above, was brought from the chapel of St. Mary’s College, which formerly stood in the Corn Market, and which was founded by Henry VI. in 1435. This kind of vaulting seems to have retained its hold longer than any other feature of the Gothic styles, unless it be the windows. It is extensively used in Oxford under gateways and other small spaces,
Side Window, St. Mary Hall, A.D. 1640.