Cardinal Wolsey’s pantry and kitchen at Cardinal College (now known as Christ Church College, Oxford) date back to 1525. They were built when he was one of the most powerful men in all of England, Lord Chancellor to King Henry VIII.

Excerpted from Quiet Corners in Oxford by Ella Edersheim Overton, published in 1893 The Leisure Hour, Volume 42.

“The first stone of Cardinal College, as Christ Church was originally called, was laid on July 15, 1525, and it was matter of popular joke and comment that the first buildings of Wolsey’s foundation to be finished were the kitchens.”

Jam Cupboard

“And who shall record the wonders of the jam cupboard, where from floor to ceiling, all labelled with their names, and with the Cardinal’s hat, stand the rows of preserve: quince, on which the college specially boasts itself, plum and damson, raspberry and strawberry, marmalade, currant jelly? All are home-made. And below again stand tins of sardines and pate de foie gras, quails and such-like dainties; while the eggs lie stored in huge baskets against their doom.”

“Time fails us to note the magic bread-cutter, whence the slices fly off smooth and even, the gas apparatus under which twelve rounds of bread may at once be nicely toasted, the apple-peeler, which does its work so noiselessly and so waste-less!).”

Storage Cellars

“Nor can we do more than refer to the storage cellars, where lie in snug preparation the pickled meats, the vegetables, and the ice. One set of cellars is exclusively given over to reserve crockery. The visitor might imagine himself in some great china store, where he may find plates, dishes, and bowls of every size, but all of one description — for the college crockery all bears a simple red line and the college crest.”

Pastry Larder

Leaving the kitchen on the south side we reach the pastry larder. Here we are first struck by the endless vista of fruit tarts, then by the beautiful order and dainty cleanliness of all, then by the massive old door, once the original entrance to the kitchen, with its handle of twisted or rather knotted iron, and its lock, measuring some two feet by one.

A marble slab offers the best facility to puff-paste-making, and penetrating further down this winding larder we find that it finishes in a brick oven. Over this a fire is lighted for two hours every morning, and then allowed to go out. Sufficient heat is thus generated to keep the oven fit for use all day. It is fourteen feet deep by six wide, and a very long-handled shovel, called a ” peel,” is used for fetching out from its recesses the trays of tarts and cakes. Below it a smaller square space is utilised for a drying oven. When we saw it, it was packed full with the delicate flaky shells of meringues, here kept deliriously crisp and fresh — as we can testify.”

Meat Larder

“In the meat-larder hangs the great curiosity of the college kitchen. This is Cardinal Wolsey’s gridiron. It is a large, square, clumsy-looking iron structure on four small wheels. It is thought that probably, before the days of the chimneys and fireplaces, it was used for the cooking of all meats, being placed over the wood fire in the centre of the room. The wheels would allow of its being run off when the meat required ” basting ” or turning.

The meat-larder also boasts the oldest door in the college. It is of massive oak, very roughly finished, and studded with nails. It has a square peep-hole, defended with lattice-work of iron, at present covered with zinc-net, against the raids of a more insidious foe — the fly.

The larder is roomy enough to hold comfortably the four cart loads of meat which are laid in on a Friday alone. From it opens out the cold meat larder, where lie such stores of hams, of tongues, of sirloins, of beef boiled and pressed, of fowls roasted, of pies and brawn, of pickled salmon, kidneys, and ducks, of cold lamb and sides of bacon, as should totally put to shame those lists of good things chronicled with such unction by Charles Dickens in his ” Christmas Tales.”

Cardinal Wolsey’s Kitchen

“At the other side an oaken door is thrown wide, and immediately we are in the full blaze and warmth of Cardinal Wolsey’s great kitchen. No wonder that for a moment we make pause.”

“Down the middle of the room runs a great table of Indian teak, supported on solid English oaken legs. To one side of it we mark the massive chopping-block, which is formed from the trunk of one of the huge elm-trees blown down in the Broad Walk.

Near by are neatly piled some six dozen fowls, ready for roasting, and giving some hint of college appetites. A little to one side again a small counting box-office stands. Here the chef receives, either directly or through the scouts {i.e. college- servants), all orders. The rows of books and ledgers testify that this alone is no unimportant branch of his work.

Kitchen fireplaces

On three sides of the kitchen, in vaulted recesses some fourteen feet long, are the fireplaces. That on the west side is both the most important and the most curious. An open fire of very much the same design as the modern ” poor curate’s grate ” runs the entire length of the recess.

This fire-place is only four and a half inches deep, but on account of its height and length it gives out a most prodigious heat. Before it turn perpetually spits, on which forty-eight legs of mutton can be accommodated, and which are worked by means of a fan in the chimney, which revolves with the draught.

Before this furnace stands a long, high screen, in which are cupboards for warming dishes, and which absorbs most of the fury of the furnace, so that the rest of the great room is comparatively cool.

Boiler, ovens, and steamers

This principal fireplace is flanked by a large boiler, which supplies steam for smaller coppers for washing up and boiling cabbages, for hot plates, and for an ingenious oven-cupboard in which potatoes can be steamed in great quantities to a nicety.

On the other side stand large double steamers, all in copper, which may be used either over the gas stoves, which occupy most of the south side of the kitchen, or the soup-stoves, which run along the east wall. All around the flash and ruddy warmth of fire-light reflected in copper adds tone and colour to the scene. The utensils of every description in the kitchen are of well-burnished copper.

Kitchen details

“To return to the kitchen, we notice here very much the same arrangements, on a small and concentrated scale, as at Christ Church. The chopping-board has a history attached to it, being supported on one of the enormous benches formerly in the Magdalen deer park.

Our palates are tickled by the sight of the apple pies and rice puddings for which this kitchen is justly famous. They are made and cooked in large shallow earthenware pans, round and red, and in this form are particularly appetizing. The kitchen counting-house stands in a recess where formerly was the bake house.”

For pictures of what Cardinal Wolsey’s kitchen looks like in the 21st century, you can visit the Christ Church blog. They have pictures of the kitchen rooms as they are still in use today.

And of course, the famous dining hall is recognizable from film.