| Somerville College Chapel, Oxford | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| 51°45′33.8″N 1°15′47.1″W / 51.759389°N 1.263083°W | |
| Location | Somerville College, Oxford, England |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Denomination | none |
| Website | Official website |
| History | |
| Founder(s) | Emily Georgiana Kemp |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Courtenay Theobald |
| Completed | 1935 |
| Laity | |
| Director of music | William Dawes |
| Organ scholar | Melissa Chang, Joseph Lord |
| Music group(s) | Choir of Somerville College |
| Parish administrator | Monty Sharma (Chapel Director) |
Somerville College Chapel is the chapel of Somerville College, Oxford. The chapel is unique among Oxford colleges because it has no religious affiliation - reflecting the non-sectarian foundation of the college as place for the higher education of women.[1] It can be seen as both a manifestation of the aspirations of liberal Christianity in the interwar years, including the advancement of women and ecumenism, and of the contestation of the role of religion in higher education among elites in the same period.
The chapel is made of dimension stone ashlar masonry and is located opposite Somerville College Library, on the southern side of the main quad. When he visited the chapel in the early 1970s, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described it as bleakly classical, ashlar, of three windows with narrower altar and lobby protections, bleak also inside - unloved-looking somehow.[2]
- ^ Moulin-Stozek, Daniel; Gatty, Fiona (2018). "A house of prayer for all peoples The unique case of Somerville College Oxford.docx". Material Religion. 14: 83–114. doi:10.1080/17432200.2017.1418478. S2CID 192220204.
- ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus, Sherwood, Jennifer (1974). Oxfordshire. OCLC 1108047 – via WorldCat.
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