Ripon College Cuddesdon
Grade II listed |
Ripon College Cuddesdon (RCC) is a Church of England theological college in Cuddesdon, a village 5.5 miles (8.9 km) outside Oxford, England. The College trains men and women for ministry in the Church of England: stipendiary, non-stipendiary, local ordained and lay ministry, through a wide range of flexible full-time and part-time programmes.
History
Ripon College Cuddesdon was formed from an amalgamation in 1975 of Cuddesdon College and Ripon Hall. The name of the college, which is incorporated by royal charter, deliberately contains no comma.
Cuddesdon College and links with Oxbridge
Ripon Hall
Ripon Hall was founded in Ripon, Yorkshire, in 1897 or 1898. It was originally a hostel for theological students, known as Bishop's College, founded by William Boyd Carpenter, Bishop of Ripon. In 1902, it was merged with Lightfoot Hall, Birmingham and became known as Ripon Clergy College. In 1919, the college moved from Ripon to a site in Parks Road in Oxford and was renamed Ripon Hall. There, it became known as a liberal Anglican college.
In 1933, Ripon Hall moved again, this time to a house then known as Berkeley House at Boars Hill, near Oxford, the former home of the 8th Earl of Berkeley. The college remained there until the merger with Cuddesdon in 1975, when the site, renamed Foxcombe Hall, became the regional headquarters of the Open University.[4]
Ripon College Cuddesdon
The college incorporated the Oxford Ministry Course (OMC) in 2006 and the West of England Ministerial Training Course (WEMTC) in 2011, making it the largest provider of Anglican ordination training in the UK. The college partners the
In 2010 the college launched a £10 million appeal to build a new education centre and chapel, as well as to raise funds for endowing bursaries, fellowships, studentships and research. The new
Ripon College Cuddesdon became internationally more active during
Present
Men and women with a range of previous experience, not necessarily graduates, take a two or three-year course of study incorporating pastoral and academic training. There are just over a dozen full-time students taking courses of study, either as matriculated students at
Cuddesdon students come from across the spectrum of the Church of England but it retains a liturgical approach to worship and a broad approach to theology. It maintains a regular and disciplined approach to daily prayer and seeks to train students in a modern critical approach to the Christian tradition of the Church of England.
From 2008 the part-time Oxford Ministry Course, with about fifty ordinands, has been integrated into the college. The West of England Ministerial Training Course, which trains clergy and readers principally in the dioceses of Hereford and Gloucester was incorporated in 2011.
The college runs a fortnightly part-time programme in theology and ministry; the Cuddesdon School of Theology and Ministry. In 2011 a new programme of training for pioneer ministers was set up in partnership with the Church Mission Society. The college has also hosted a research centre for practical theology, the Oxford Centre for Ecclesiology and Practical Theology (OxCEPT). It is a sponsor of the Society for the Study of Anglicanism.
In August 2014, two ordinands, Shemil Mathew (who later became an associate lecturer) and Joseph Fernandas, partnered with the support of the college to organize a significant conference titled "One Body, Many Parts." This landmark event marked the inception of the Anglican Minority Ethnic Network (AMEN). Since then, AMEN has flourished to become the Church of England's largest independent network of its kind, consisting of individuals from UK Minority Ethnic and Global Majority heritage. The network is dedicated to promoting inclusivity, representation, and active engagement of Minority Ethnic people at all levels within the church.[5]
The principal, since 2015, has been Humphrey Southern, former Bishop of Repton; the vice principal is Mark Chapman, Dean of College and Reader in Modern Theology at the University of Oxford. Roger Latham is Director of the Gloucester & Hereford Pathway supported by Jacqui Sewell in the Ludlow teaching centre; Michael Brierley is the Director of Formation, Hywel Clifford teaches Old Testament and Hebrew; Rebecca Dean is Tutor for Admissions and Lecturer in New Testament. Associate staff include Joanna Collicutt, Ray Gaston, Shemil Mathew, Elaine Flowers and Eddie Howells.
In 2012 the college became the new home of the Sisters of the
Since 2011, the College has hosted the biennial international "Christian Congregational Music: Local and Global Perspectives" conference,[7] a gathering of scholars and practitioners across disciplines to discuss issues in contemporary congregational music. It also collaborates with the Bible Reading Fellowship for an annual Festival of Prayer
Bishop Edward King Chapel
The College is home to the Bishop Edward King Chapel. It is funded by the Sisters of the Communities of St John the Baptist and the Good Shepherd, who moved from Begbroke Priory to live in the College community. The 120 seat Chapel is elliptical in shape and its distinctive dog-tooth stone banding both complements the existing buildings in its material but remains very distinct in its form. The Chapel has a lattice-work timber frame which comprises curved laminated columns and beams to support a 13m high roof. It also features a series of clerestory windows, to the top of the walls, and floods the interior with light. The Chapel has won several awards, including:
- BCIA Small Building Project of the Year award in the British Construction Industry Awards.
- The structural award and the Gold Medal at the Wood Awards.[8]
- Oxford Preservation Trust Award
- RIBA Award for South East
On 1 February 2013, the Bishop Edward King Chapel was dedicated by
List of principals
Ripon Hall
- John Battersby Harford (1902 to 1919)
- Henry Dewsbury Alves Major(1919 to 1947)
- Robert Douglas Richardson (1947 to 1952)
- Geoffrey Allen (1952 to 1959)
- Gordon Fallows (1959 to 1968)
- Anthony Dyson (1969 to 1975)[9]
Cuddesdon Theological College
- Alfred Pott (1854 to 1859)
- H. H. Swinny, vicar of Wargrave (1859 to 1862)
- Edward King (1863 to 1873)
- Charles Wellington Furse (1873 to 1883)
- William Ducat (1883 to 1894)
- John Johnston (1895 to 1913)
- James Seaton (1914 to 1928)
- Eric Graham (1928 to 1944)
- Kenneth Riches (1945 to 1952)
- Edward Knapp-Fisher (1952 to 1960)
- Robert Runcie (1960 to 1970)
- Leslie Houlden (1970 to 1975)
Ripon College Cuddesdon
- Leslie Houlden (1975 to 1977)
- David Wilcox (1977 to 1986)
- John Garton (1986 to 1996)
- John Clarke (1996 to 2004)
- Martyn Percy (2004 to 2014)
- Humphrey Southern (2015 to present)
Notable former staff
Among the college's previous staff members are:
- Edward King, later Bishop of Lincoln
- Grahamstown, subsequently Dean of Salisbury.
- John Johnston (principal 1895–1913)
- Charles Gore, successively Bishop of Worcester, Birmingham and Oxford and Founder of the Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield.
- Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury: When Runcie retired from the archbishopric, he was created a life peer as Baron Runcie, of Cuddesdon in the County of Oxfordshire.
- John Clarke, Dean of Wells Cathedral.
- Paula Gooder, Tutor in Biblical Studies from 1995 to 2001.
- Charlotte Methuen, lecturer in church history
Notable alumni
- Simon Aiken – Dean of Kimberley
- Bishop of Melanesia, Whitby
- Roly Bain – clown-priest
- .
- MP for Rhondda
- Richard Chartres – formerly Bishop of London
- Owen Chadwick – Vice-Chancellor of University of Cambridge, Master of Selwyn Cambridge, Regius Professor of Modern History, Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Chancellor of University of East Anglia, President of British Academy, Rugby Union International
- David Chillingworth Primus of the Scottish Episcipal Church
- Archbishop of Cape Town
- Harold de Soysa – Anglican Bishop of Colombo
- John Delight – Archdeacon of Stoke (1982–1989)
- Philip Egerton – founder of Bloxham School
- Austin Farrer – Warden of Keble College, Oxford
- Nicholas Frayling – Dean of Chichester
- Cyril Garbett – Archbishop of York (1942–1955)
- John Hall – formerly Dean of Westminster Abbey
- Archbishop of Papua New Guinea
- Richard Harries – formerly Bishop of Oxford (1987–2005)
- John Hind – Bishop of Chichester
- Graham James – formerly Bishop of Norwich
- Keith Jones – Dean of York
- Cosmo Gordon Lang – Archbishop of York (1909–28), Archbishop of Canterbury (1928–1942)
- John Langdon, Royal Marine officer at D-Day, later became an Anglican priest[10]
- Diarmaid MacCulloch – Professor of church history at the University of Oxford
- Michael Mayne – formerly Dean of Westminster Abbey (1986–1996)
- Bishop of Melanesia
- Bishop of Ripon and Leeds
- Michael Perham – formerly Bishop of Gloucester
- Stephen Platten – Bishop of Wakefield
- Anthony Priddis – formerly Bishop of Hereford
- Michael Ramsey – formerly Archbishop of Canterbury (1961–1974)
- Howard E. Root – Dean of Emmanuel College, Cambridge (1956–66), Professor of Theology, University of Southampton (1966–81) and Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome (1981–91)
- Bishop of St Helena(1957–1961)
- Michael Scott-Joynt – formerly Bishop of Winchester
- David Stancliffe – formerly Bishop of Salisbury
- Bishop of Bloemfontein
- Tim Stevens – formerly Bishop of Leicester
- Bishop at Lambeth(2013–present)
- Stephen Sykes – Bishop of Ely (1990–2000)
- Robert Willis – Dean of Canterbury
- David Hoyle – Dean of Bristol currently Dean of Westminster
- Andrew Swift – Bishop of Brechin
References
- ^ Sherwood & Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire (Penguin Books Ltd, 1974), p.564.
- ^ Sherwood & Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire (Penguin Books Ltd, 1974), p. 564.
- ^ Chisholm 1911.
- ^ "Seeking God – the Story of Ripon Hall" in Oxfordshire Limited Edition, supplement to the Oxford Times, May 2009
- ^ Mathew, Shemil (2021). Martyn, Percy (ed.). Fearful Times; Living Faith (1st ed.). Wipf and Stock Publishers.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Ripon College Cuddesdon | Christian Music Conference". Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
- ^ "Home". Wood Awards. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
- ^ Graham, Elaine (17 October 1998). "Obituary: The Revd Professor Anthony Dyson". The Independent. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- ^ "The Rev John Langdon". The Times. 21 November 2015. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
Sources and further reading
- Chapman, Mark D. (ed.), Ambassadors of Christ: Commemorating 150 Years of Theological Education in Cuddesdon 1854–2004, Burlington (Ashgate) 2004.
- Chapman, Mark D., God's Holy Hill: A History of Christianity in Cuddesdon, Charlbury (The Wychwood Press) 2004.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 803.
- Russell, George William Erskine (1912). Edward King, Sixtieth Bishop of Lincoln: A Memoir. London: Longman-Green.