Page 9 - Linacre 50 years

Linacre College — Cherwell Edge

The Early Years

Built in 1886 its first two tenants were both

historians. One, J.A. Froude, said of the house

“We are near the Cherwell, close to what they

used to call Parson’s Pleasure. Posi on rather

low, but so far as we can see not damp, and the

house a very good one.” Froude gave classes in

the drawing room, now the Nadel Room.

In 1905 it was taken over as a convent for the

Society of the Holy Child Jesus and the Chapel

wing was added, together with a large

residen al block. The convent provided some

20 study‐bedrooms for female undergraduates,

mainly from the Oxford Society of Home

Students (which was a erwards St Anne’s

College). The convent con nued to occupy the

site for the next 60 years un l 1970.

Shown here are student rooms, the study, the

Common Room and nuns serving in the Dining

Hall, along with the Chapel and its stained glass

windows.