Oxford Inscriptions: Kellogg College, 62 Banbury Road
This carved triangular arch over the Ruskinian doorway of 62 Banbury Road (now the entrance to Kellogg College) shows a hand giving the sign of benediction in the apex, and below that is a seated king with two large birds. Then comes the split inscription, which reads:
PROV. XXX.xxix
THINGS COMELY IN GOING
Under that inscription is a a lion, flanked by a greyhound on the left and a male goat on the right
This is a pictorial representation of Proverbs xxx.29–31, which reads:
29. There be three things which go well, yea, four are comely in going:
30. A lion which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any;
31. A greyhound; an he goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up.
Commentary explaining the meaning of verses 30 & 31
This house was designed by Edward George Bruton and built in 1864/5 for the Revd Richard St John Tyrwhitt by Wyatt's (which operated from Wyatt’s Yard next to 73 St Giles’ Street). Tyrwhitt was the Vicar of St Mary Magdalen Church from 1858 to 1872 and was also a writer on art who in 1857 had helped William Morris with the painting of the ceiling of the Oxford Union Society Debating Hall. Historic England believes that this carving that he chose for his house was by John Hungerford Pollen, who had also worked on the University Museum where the Revd Tyrwhitt had decorated the walls of the geology lecture room in fresco.
The house's address was originally Ketilby, St Giles' Road East, and it was named after an estate in Lincolnshire formerly owned by the Tyrwhitt family. It was the first house of eight houses built on the western frontage of the Norham Manor estate and is a Grade II listed building (List Entry 1184974).
The Revd Tyrwhitt died at this house at the age of 68 on 6 December 1895, and it was then occupied by the Revd Henry T. Inman.
Mrs Archer Tawney and her three daughters (including Lily Sophia Tawney, who in 1936 would be the first woman chosen as Mayor of Oxford) were here from 1911. Mrs Tawney died at this house on 3 November 1915 and her daughters moved away to live with their brother at 14 Northmoor Road. .
Ernest Ashton Burchardt was here by 1927. He died at this house at the age of 78 on 17 January 1932 and his widow Viola, who remained here until 1936, was the last private resident..
From 1938 to 1960 the house was the Beech Lawn Hotel. In 1962 and 1964 it was listed as the home of the Oxford Regional Hospital Board, and then from 1966 it was the Department of Surveying & Geodesy.
Both 60 & 62 Banbury Road are now part of Kellogg College.
For more information on this house and its immediate neighbours, see:
E. O. Dodgson, “Notes on Nos. 56, 58, 60, 62 and 64 Banbury Road” (Oxoniensia, 1967)