You’ve made it to your final stop: Campion Hall! Let’s pause and take in the quiet dignity of Brewer Street-though, I must confess, back in the day it would’ve sounded more like the Oxford Brewery Festival! Imagine the shuffling feet of students, the grumble of delivery carts, and yes, the cheerful clinking of beer barrels-after all, Brewer Street earned its name for a reason.
Now, to the main event: Campion Hall is one of Oxford’s few permanent private halls, and it’s the only one owned and run by the Jesuit order. This place is named after Edmund Campion, a real-life historical hero from the 16th century. He was a famed scholar and fellow at St John’s College, and later became a Catholic martyr. If you ever feel your finals are tough, just remember: they didn’t burn you at the stake for a bad essay!
The Hall’s origins are packed with as much drama as a detective novel. It began in 1896, when Father Richard Clarke left the busy streets of London to open a humble hall-imaginatively named Clarke’s Hall-right here in Oxford. He started with just four students, keeping the Jesuit dream alive in a modest house on St Giles’. But alas, the place was quickly outgrown, and within barely over a year they moved to Middleton Hall. Then, just as things were getting comfortable, Father Clarke died suddenly. The dream flickered out for a moment, but it wouldn’t be Oxford without a little resurrection. The hall reopened as Pope’s Hall, under the stewardship of Father O’Fallon Pope. Different names, more students, and a whole lot of Jesuit identity.
Names kept changing-think of it as Oxford’s very own “Who’s Who?” game. By 1918, the Hall finally settled on ‘Campion Hall’ in honor of Edmund Campion, and it gained permanent status at the University of Oxford. From there, the Jesuits just kept going-like marathon runners in cassocks.
By the 1930s, space was again tight, and instead of making like undergraduates and squeezing one more bunk bed in, they decided to make a permanent home. Their search led them here, to Brewer Street-a neighborhood that once echoed with the sounds of breweries and horse-drawn trams. They snapped up Micklem Hall, an old lodging house that had once belonged to a beer brewer (because who doesn’t want a little character in their college?), and next door, a garage that had once housed the tram horses. Now, that’s a quirky Oxford real estate story if there ever was one.
Demolition and construction began, and this time, the job was handed to Britain’s famed architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. Here’s the plot twist: Campion Hall is the only building in Oxford designed by Lutyens! He brought a touch of stately Cotswold flair and some memorable design quirks that you can still see today. Take a look at the chapel-notice the semi-circular apse and the tassels hanging on the light fittings, as red as a cardinal’s hat. Lutyens even slipped in architectural details from his work designing New Delhi in India, such as little bells on the capitals of the columns. If you listen closely, you might almost hear them.
The hall is more than bricks and mortar; it’s home to an extraordinary collection of religious art spanning nearly 600 years, much of it collected by the legendary Father Martin D’Arcy in the 1930s. It even made international headlines when a painting long thought to be a lost Michelangelo-potentially worth a cool £100 million-was discovered hanging just over a coffee table here! Spoiler: experts now suspect it might be by Marcello Venusti, but hey, who hasn’t got at least one dubious masterpiece on their wall?
Today, Campion Hall keeps its doors open to graduate students from all over the world, focusing on the arts, humanities, and social sciences. It’s not just about academia here-there’s a deep commitment to research with big global impact. The Laudato Si’ Research Institute, launched in 2018, brings together thinkers to tackle pressing environmental issues, and the spiritual journal ‘The Way’ has called Campion Hall home since 2001, sending ideas out into the world much like papers at exam time-only less rushed, and perhaps better edited.
So, as you finish this tour at Campion Hall, think of all the layers hidden behind its sober stone: brewing, painting, debate, faith, and a never-ending quest for the next big idea. Oxford might be famous for tradition, but here, the magic is always in the mix. And who knows? Maybe you’ll leave with your own story of discovery just like those who’ve passed through these doors.
Congratulations! You’ve completed your Oxford adventure-cheers to you and, just maybe, a toast to all the Jesuits and brewers who made it possible.
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