Blackfriars Hall in Oxford has expanded into a building formerly used as a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
The four-storey building on St Giles, close by the current ground of Blackfriars Hall, and will be used to provide four new student bedrooms, shared spaces for researchers, dedicated teaching and meeting rooms, offices, and a new Student Common Room. A spokesperson for Blackfriars clarified that the expansion is one of four strategic steps being taken in the run-up to the 800th anniversary of Blackfriars’ first foundation in 2021.
Blackfriars hosts the Priory of the Holy Spirit, the motherhouse of the English Province of the Order of Preachers, often referred to as the Dominicans in reference to their founder, Saint Dominic. As well as housing a community of friars, Blackfriars also operates as a centre for the theological education of seminarians, and as the residence of undergraduate and post-graduate students at the University of Oxford.
The hall currently houses around 30 friars and 54 undergraduate and postgraduate Oxford students. For some years, this has led to students being housed and taught in rented accommodation, as the space available in the original buildings is limited. When the Prior of Blackfriars, Fr Robert Gay OP, launched a funding appeal for the latest expansion in July 2019, he stated that struggle with the lack of space in the past few years had led the Priory to consider building over part of Blackfriars’ garden.
In November of last year a fundraising campaign was launched to offset the costs of the expansion, which have climbed to well above a million pounds. Whilst this has had some success, a spokesperson has stated that “donations from any members of the public who value the educational work of Blackfriars” remain very welcome. Notable alumni of the house of studies include the Archbishop of Newark Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the Archbishop of Liverpool Malcolm McMahon and the theologians Fr James Alison, Fr Herbert McCabe OP and Fr Aidan Nichols OP.
The Dominican Order’s history in Oxford stretches back 800 years, with the first Dominican friars setting up a house of studies there in August 1221, barely a week after the death of Saint Dominic. As such, Blackfriars, as their house began to be called, predated any of the colleges that have dominated the history of the university. Suppressed during the reformation, the Dominicans returned to Oxford after 400 years absence in 1921, at the instigation of their then-provincial Bede Jarrett OP. It was recognised as a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford in 1994.
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