St Stephen's House

St Stephen's House occupies a remarkable Victorian site in east Oxford, tucked into the block between the Iffley and Cowley roads, with entrances onto Marston Street and James Street as well as the two main thoroughfares to either side. It trains Anglican clergy within the Anglo-Catholic tradition, and for the two decades from 2003 to 2023 it was one of Oxford's Permanent Private Halls. That status ended in September 2023, when the college began routing most of its qualifications through Durham's Common Awards scheme instead. It now holds only observer status within the collegiate university — still an Anglican theological foundation, but no longer formally a hall.

A foundation of the Oxford Movement

The college was set up in 1876 by figures associated with the Oxford Movement — the Anglo-Catholic revival that had reshaped English Anglicanism a generation earlier. Its main founding figure was Edward King, then holder of the Regius chair in moral and pastoral theology at Oxford, who later went on to become Bishop of Lincoln. The original site was right in the centre of the city, on what later became the New Bodleian Library on Broad Street. In 1919 the college moved out to Norham Gardens in north Oxford, near the University Parks, where it stayed until outgrowing those quarters in turn.

The Cowley Fathers' monastery

The 1980 move to the present site brought St Stephen's House into the buildings of the Cowley Fathers — formally the SSJE, the first Anglican religious order for men since the Reformation. The community had built a substantial mission complex here from the late nineteenth century onwards, and the college inherited a set of buildings of unusually high architectural quality for an east-Oxford site.

The main chapel is the former conventual church — dedicated to St John the Evangelist — and was put up between 1894 and 1896 to designs by George Frederick Bodley. Heritage England gave it the top grade of listing in 1968, putting the church in the same architectural class as the Radcliffe Camera. Around 1900 a set of stained glass by C. E. Kempe was added to the east, west and north-east windows; the building also holds a set of painted Stations of the Cross — fourteen panels by the late-Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Arthur Fellowes Prynne. Most of the central buildings around the chapel received Grade II listing in 1992 — including Bodley's main cloister of 1899, the King Building (which contains the refectory, library and common room) and the two smaller chapels.

The Cowley community itself eventually closed its Oxford mother house and the buildings passed to the college. Since 2012, the chapel has also been a public concert venue, run as SJE Arts Oxford, with an annual summer choral festival.

Visitor info

The college is at 16 Marston Street, a short walk from Cowley Road and the East Oxford restaurants. It does not run formal visitor hours, but the chapel can be visited during services and the SJE Arts programme of concerts is open to the public — a number of professional choirs, including the Oxford Bach Soloists, use the building regularly. The walk in from Cowley Road or Iffley Road takes a few minutes; coming from the city centre, allow about twenty minutes on foot from Magdalen Bridge.

Frequently asked questions

Is St Stephen's House still a Permanent Private Hall?

No. The hall held PPH status from 2003 until September 2023, when that arrangement ended. It is still an Anglican theological college and retains observer status within the collegiate university. The change followed a decision to route most of the college's qualifications through Durham's Common Awards scheme — a Church of England framework administered by that university.

What was on the site before the college?

The buildings were originally the Oxford headquarters of the Cowley Fathers — formally SSJE — the first male Anglican religious community since the Reformation. The conventual church was designed by George Frederick Bodley and built in the 1890s; St Stephen's House moved into the site in 1980, after the community closed its mother house.

Can I visit the chapel?

The chapel — Bodley's Grade I-listed Church of St John the Evangelist — is open during regular services and for concerts organised by SJE Arts Oxford. The summer choral festival is the easiest way to see inside the building; the church is one of the best concert spaces in east Oxford for choral and organ music.