38 St. Giles
GB- Oxford OX1 3LN (Oxfordshire)

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Kontakt / Contact:

Fax.: +44 (0)1865 280 556

Info: +44 (0)1865 280 556
enquiries@stb.ox.ac.uk
http://www.st-benets.ox.ac.uk/...
 
Träger/Financial provider:
English Congregation
 
Lage/How to reach
Frequent 24-hour direct services connect Oxford with London (peak times every 10-20 minutes). The Oxford Espress service includes Victoria Coach Station, Grosvenor Gardens, Marble Arch, Baker Street/Gloucester Place and Hillingdon (tel: 01865 785 410). The Oxford Tube service includes Grosvenor Gardens, Marble Arch, Notting Hill Gate, Shepherd's Bush, and Hillingdon (tel: 01865 772 250). For information on coaches to other major cities and airports contact National Express (tel: 08705 808 080). Coaches arrive at Gloucester Green Coach Station which is about 10 minutes walk from St Benet's.

 
Allgemeine Informationen/General information
Saint Benet's Hall was not known by that name until 1918. Its origin lies in an arrangement made by the University for any Master of Arts to maintain a private hall from which he could present candidates for degrees. This Benedictine Hall owes its foundation mainly to the vision and energy of Fr Anselm Burge, Prior of Ampleforth. In considering its history, however, we have to look further back in time than the Oxford (or the Benedictines) of the 1890's. From Queen Elizabeth to Queen Victoria the English Catholics laboured under a burden of penal law, at first oppressive, indeed fatal, and later easing gradually. One of the effects was to cut them off from the Universities. When 'emancipation' came, it was a gradual process, extending from 1778 to 1856, the opening of Oxford (1854) and Cambridge (1856) to Dissenters: it was no longer a condition of a degree to subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles. Oxford of this time was passing through a period of agnosticism, perhaps in part a reaction to the Tractarians: consequently the Bishops, and in particular Manning, were anxious not to expose young Catholic men to the dangers of the University market-place of ideas.

Yet eighteenth century English Catholics were by no means detached from the spirit of the Enlightenment, and from the early part of the century there was an interest in higher learning. The revolutionary upheaval which moved all the English (and Scottish and Irish) religious houses and colleges out of France, and from other sites in Europe, in fact released a good deal of energy which expressed itself in the rapid foundation of new ones, especially St Edmund's, Ware, Stonyhurst, Ushaw, Ampleforth and Downside between 1794 and 1814. The desire for 'Higher Education' of some kind grew spontaneously, and developed in these places. Lingard was working at Ushaw; similar growth was occurring within the Jesuit sphere at Stonyhurst, and Ampleforth was teaching Hebrew (to boys?) at the time of Waterloo.

Catholic educational history in England during the nineteenth century was somewhat undeveloped. Indeed, there was a good deal of suspicion of the motives of those calling for freer access to the Universities: Oxford meant social advantage, and connection with the careers network, for the better-off. In the eighties, Bishop Hedley found it hard to decide which way to lean, for he thought there were only about 200 of the 'rich, noble and leisured class' who at any one time would be in a position to go up to the Universities.

Accomodation

The Hall is a quiet and good place for study.

St Benet's has accommodation in Hall for first year undergraduates, and for all monk members of the Hall. Accomodation for finalists and graduate students is dependent upon availability of rooms. It is expected that all second year undergraduates will live out of the Hall.

15 of the 25 rooms have ensuite or adjacent facilities. First year undergraduates are therefore likely to be in standard rooms at the top of the Hall, with wash hand basins and nearby showers. This has one significant advantange: spectacular views over Oxford and beyond.

All rooms have Internet connections and direct dial telephones. Calls within the University are free to over 12,000 numbers; other calls may be made using a calling card.

Use of the Hall's laundry machines is available without further charge to both resident and non-resident members.

All charges for electricity and heating are included within the termly charge ("batells").