Wykeham, William of

Wykeham, William of (1324–1404). English ecclesiastic and builder. In 1356 he was named as Clerk of the Royal Works at Henley and Easthampstead, and later Surveyor of the Royal Castles at Windsor, Leeds, Dover, and Hadleigh. He superintended the erection of the Royal apartments east of the keep at Windsor Castle (1360–9), and built a new castle on the Isle of Sheppey, called Queenborough (1361–7), known from plans drawn by Hollar, but destroyed. In the 1360s his rise as an ecclesiastic was meteoric, and he was showered with livings. He was responsible for the foundations of New College, Oxford (1379) and Winchester College, Hants. (1382). Both were erected on similar plans, with hall, chapel, and sets. They were the models for later colleges including Eton and King's, Cambridge. Wykeham does not appear to have been an architect, however, and obtained the services of William of Wynford to act in that capacity. Wykeham's name is primarily associated with major works at Winchester, where he was Bishop from 1366. There, using Wynford, he remodelled the Romanesque nave from 1394 in the Perpendicular style of Gothic, which explains the abnormally substantial piers for that style.

Bibliography

J. Harvey (1987);
Hayter (1970);
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)