Bridge across New College Lane

Hertford Bridge

The bridge across the entrance to New College Lane was built in 1913 and is commonly known as the “Bridge of Sighs” (after the Ponte dei Sospiri in Venice, which joins two buildings over the Rio di Palazzo canal). It is a Grade II listed structure (list entry 1046725). It was designed by Thomas Graham Jackson and built in 1913 to link (via an indoor staircase going upstairs and then down) the older part of the Hertford College on the right to its new 1901 building on the left.

The image below (drawn by William Delamotte, engraved by Orlando Jewitt, and published in James Ingram’s Memorials of Oxford) shows what the entrance to New College Lane looked like in 1830s without the bridge. On the left is a glimpse of the side of the former house that stood on the site of Hertford's1901 buiding:

The view below (Historic England: CC50/00298) dates from 1880 and shows the view of New College's bell tower unobscured:

The old part of Hertford College is on the right of the above photograph, and the first three buildings on the left are part of No. 2 and Nos. 3 & 4 New College Lane. In 1901 Hertford College demolished 28 Broad Street on the corner facing west and 1, 2, 3, and 4 New College Lane and built a new block on the site.

Hertford planned from the start that there should be a bridge connecting the two sets of buildings, but not surprisingly (given that New College Lane, as its name suggests, leads to the front lodge of New College), Dr Sewell, the Warden of New College, objected strongly, and Oxford City Council rejected the plan. On 16 December 1905 the Swindon Advertiser reported:

For the fourth time [possibly an exaggeration: see below] the application of Hertford College, Oxford, to erect a bridge over New College Street, came before the City Council last week and was again rejected, this time by eleven votes, viz., for the bridge, 24, against 36. The City Council suggested a subway instead of a bridge across the street to connect Hertford College buildings.

The plans were finally approved on 19 February 1913, ten years after Warden Sewell's death. William Blagdon Gamlen (Secretary of the University Chest from 1873 to 1919 and a partner in the firm of solicitors Morrell, Peel & Gamlen) may be responsible for the bridge's inappropriate soubriquet of “The Bridge of Sighs”. The Times of 20 February 1913 reported thus on his speech to the council:

Alderman Gamlen, the Secretary of the University Chest, in moving the acceptance of the plans, pointed out that this was the third occasion on which the proposal had been before the Council. With a view to the convenience of the public, Hertford College were prepared to set back the frontage of their building in Holywell so as to make the street at some future period capable of being widened, and they were prepared to do that free of charge. With reference to the design of the bridge, if the atmosphere were a little brighter one might fancy oneself in Venice with a combination of the Bridge of Sighs and of the Rialto. The question might be asked — Why had the two former applications for permission to erect a bridge been unsuccessful? The answer was that a strong objection was felt and urged against the bridge from the very first by the late Warden of New College (Dr. Sewell), and he was loyally backed up by his college. The circumstances were now altered. New College did not profess to like the bridge, but they offered no opposition to it. The scheme was ardently desired by the present Principal of Hertford.

The Times on 26 February 1913 published the architect's drawing of the bridge, but the following day reported: “Sir Thomas G. Jackson, R.A., informs us that his design of Hertford College Bridge has undergone revision and improvement in many particulars since the drawing ... was executed”. The building of the bridge was completed during the Christmas vacation of 1913, and a photograph of the bridge was published in the Oxford Journal Illustrated on 31 December 1913.

The Principal who “ardently desired” this bridge was Henry Boyd, and the photograph below of the bridge's arch shows the words HENRICUS BOYD PRINCIPALIS in the panel on the left. In the centre is a composite coat of arms of Hertford College and Magdalen Hall (reflecting the college's history), and the date A.D. 1913 is in the panel the right:

Date on bridge

Left: The arms of Hertford College at the far left of the bridge

Right: The arms of New College on the far right of the bridge