Hall

The Reverend Graham Shaw, the chaplain of Exeter College, once claimed in a sermon that most Oxford colleges had their dining hall on the opposite side of the quad to the college chapel. This, he asserted, was a tacit admission that spiritual food was just as important and of equal value as physical food.

 

Well, yes, maybe. On the other hand, the chapel and the dining hall are two large buildings and it makes sense, from an architectural point of view, to put them facing each other, on opposite sides of the quad. The dining hall (or just "hall", as it was frequently called) was in its own way just as impressive and idiosyncratic as the Victorian knock-off of some French church. The stained glass windows, wood panelling, silver on high table and the innumerable portraits made up for the rather average food.

The denizens of high table ate some rather superior food, I would imagine. At the end of the meal they would disappear into the senior common room, through a doorway in the panelling.  

And of course there was Bill, the college butler. He certainly was a character. At first I was rather afraid of him, but really he was a kind man with a lively sense of humour.

 

Dining in hall was often are rather humdrum affair, but sometimes it was rather special. For guest nights, gowns were worn and perhaps we would have a Latin grace. Maybe the food might be a bit better than normal. Women, the pictures and religion were all "off limits" for conversational topics, with a sconce as the penalty. This was a large silver pot of beer. If you could not drink it all in one go, then you had to pay for it. If you could, then the person sconcing you would pay up.