Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

in England. Its main buildings are on

Parks Road Parks Road is a road in Oxford, England, with several Oxford University colleges along its route. It runs north–south from the Banbury Road and Norham Gardens at the northern end, where it continues into Bradmore Road, to the junction with Bro ...

, opposite the University Museum and the

University Parks The Oxford University Parks, commonly referred to locally as the University Parks, or just The Parks, is a large parkland area slightly northeast of the city centre in Oxford, England. The park is bounded to the east by the River Cherwell, tho ...

. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to the south by Museum Road, and to the west by Blackhall Road. Keble was established in 1870, having been built as a monument to John Keble, who had been a leading member of the

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Un ...

which sought to stress the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

nature of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. Consequently, the college's original teaching focus was primarily theological, although the college now offers a broad range of subjects, reflecting the diversity of degrees offered across the wider university. In the period after the Second World War, the trends were towards scientific courses (proximity to the university science area east of the University Museum influenced this). As originally constituted, it was for men only and the fellows were mostly bachelors resident in the college. Like many of Oxford's men's colleges, Keble admitted its first mixed-sex cohort in 1979. Keble remains distinctive for its once-controversial neo-gothic red-brick buildings designed by William Butterfield. The buildings are also notable for breaking from

Oxbridge Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford, Universities of Oxford and University of Cambridge, Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most prestigious universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collect ...

tradition by arranging rooms along corridors rather than around staircases, in order that the

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

s could supervise the comings and goings of visitors ( Girton College, Cambridge, similarly breaks this tradition). Keble is one of the larger colleges of the University of Oxford, with 460 undergraduates and 525 graduate students as of 2022. Keble's sister college at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

is Selwyn College.

History

The best-known of Keble's Victorian founders was

Edward Pusey Edward Bouverie Pusey (; 22 August 180016 September 1882) was an English Anglican cleric, for more than fifty years Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford. He was one of the leading figures in the Oxford Movement, with interest ...

, after whom the Pusey quad and Pusey room are named. The college itself is named after John Keble, one of Pusey's colleagues in the

, who died four years before the college's foundation in 1870. It was decided immediately after Keble's funeral that his memorial would be a new Oxford college bearing his name. The chosen architect was William Butterfield. Two years later, in 1868, the foundation stone was laid by the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

St Mark Mark the Evangelist (Koine Greek, Koinē Greek: Μᾶρκος, romanized: ''Mârkos''), also known as John Mark (Koine Greek, Koinē Greek language, Greek: Ἰωάννης Μᾶρκος, Romanization of Greek, romanized: ''Iōánnēs Mârkos;'' ...

's Day (25 April, John Keble's birthday). The college first opened in 1870, taking in thirty students, whilst the chapel was opened on St Mark's Day 1876. Accordingly, the college continues to celebrate St Mark's Day each year. Butterfield produced a notable example of

Victorian Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

architecture, among his few secular buildings, which Pevsner characterised as "actively ugly", and which, according to Charles Eastlake, defied criticism. The social historian G. M. Trevelyan expressed the then commonly held, and highly dismissive, view: "the monstrosities of architecture erected by order of the dons of Oxford and Cambridge colleges in the days of William Butterfield and

Alfred Waterhouse Alfred Waterhouse (19 July 1830 – 22 August 1905) was an English architect, particularly associated with Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known for his designs ...

give daily pain to posterity." Sir

Kenneth Clark Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director and broadcaster. His expertise covered a wide range of artists and periods, but he is particularly associated with Italian Renaissa ...

recalled that during his Oxford years it was generally believed in Oxford not only that Keble College was "the ugliest building in the world" but that its architect was

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...

, author of '' The Stones of Venice.'' The college is built of red, blue, and white bricks; the main structure is of red brick, with white and blue patterned banding. The builders were Parnell & Son of Rugby. Keble SCR

On its construction, Keble was not always admired within the university. Undergraduates at St John's College started the ''Destroy Keble Society'', which aimed to dismantle the college brick by brick. An apocryphal story claims that a French visitor, on first sight of the college exclaimed ''C'est magnifique mais ce n'est pas la gare?'' ("It is magnificent but is it not the railway station?"). This is a play on Field Marshal Pierre Bosquet's memorable line, referring to the

Charge of the Light Brigade The Charge of the Light Brigade was a military action undertaken by British light cavalry against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, resulting in many casualties to the cavalry. On 25 October 1854, the Light Br ...

, ''C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre'' ("It is magnificent, but it is not war"). This story may have been borrowed from Arthur Wing Pinero's identical quip said to have been made at the opening ceremony for the

Royal Courts of Justice The Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is a court building in Westminster which houses the High Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The High Court also sits on circuit and in other major cities. Designed by Ge ...

in London. Keble is mentioned in

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman, (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architect ...

's poem "Myfanwy at Oxford", as well as in the writings of

and in

Monty Python Monty Python, also known as the Pythons, were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy ser ...

's "Travel Agent" sketch. Horace Rumpole, the barrister in John Mortimer's books, was a Law graduate of Keble. In 2005, Keble College featured in the national UK press when its bursar, Roger Boden, was found guilty of racial discrimination by an employment tribunal. An appeal was launched by the college and Boden against the tribunal's judgement, resulting in a financial out-of-court settlement with the aggrieved employee. In Christmas of 2017, a team of alumni from Keble College won the ''

University Challenge ''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...

Alumni Christmas Special'', a seasonal programme on BBC2. They beat the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

by 240 points to 0 in the final.

Buildings

The main site of Keble contains five quads: Liddon (the largest, named after Henry Parry Liddon), Pusey (named after

Edward Bouverie Pusey Edward Bouverie Pusey (; 22 August 180016 September 1882) was an English Anglican cleric, for more than fifty years Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford. He was one of the leading figures in the Oxford Movement, with interest ...

), Hayward (named after Charles Hayward), De Breyne (named after Andre de Breyne) and Newman (named after

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was previously an Anglican priest and after his conversion became a cardinal. He was an ...

Original buildings

The best-known portion of Keble's buildings is the distinctive main brick complex, designed by Butterfield. The design remained incomplete due to shortage of funds. The Chapel and Hall were built later than the accommodation blocks to the east and west of the two original quadrangles and the warden's house at the southeast corner. The Chapel and Hall were both fully funded by William Gibbs and were also designed by Butterfield.

Modern buildings

A section west of the chapel was built in a different style in the 1950s with funds from Antonin Besse. Later still further significant additions have been added, most notably the modern, brick Hayward and de Breyne extensions by Ahrends, Burton and Koralek (ABK). The extensions were made possible by a generous response from the businessmen Charles Hayward and André de Breyne and other fund-raising efforts. The ABK buildings included the college's memorable, futuristic "goldfish bowl" bar, opened on 3 May 1977 and later refurbished and expanded. In 1995, work was completed on the ARCO building by the US-born architect Rick Mather. This was followed in 2002 by another similarly styled building also designed by Mather, the Sloane Robinson Building. Along with a number of additional student bedrooms the Sloane Robinson Building also provided the college with the

O'Reilly Theatre The Sloane Robinson Building is a building in the Newman Quad at Keble College, Oxford, Keble College, one of the University of Oxford colleges. The building is in brick, reflecting the adjacent Victorian Grade 1 listed buildings by William Butte ...

(a large multipurpose lecture theatre), a dedicated room for musical practice, several seminar rooms and a large open plan space which during term time is used as a café and social space for all members of the college. The original fellows' garden was lost in the programme of extension, as were a range of houses on Blackhall Road.

O'Reilly Theatre

The

is a flexible

studio theatre A black box theater is a performance space, typically a square or rectangular room, with black walls and a black, flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interact ...

that was completed in 2002. The seating capacity of the space ranges from 128 to 250, depending on the setup chosen. The standard configuration is end-on, but alternatives include traverse and in-the-round. The theatre is named after Sir

Tony O'Reilly Sir Anthony John Francis O'Reilly (7 May 1936 – 18 May 2024) was an Irish businessman and international rugby union player. He was known for his try scoring in rugby, his involvement in the Independent News & Media Group, which he led from ...

, the billionaire Irish businessman and former international rugby union player, who contributed most of the funds.

Construction

The theatre is part of the Sloane Robinson Building development which was designed by Rick Mather Architects from 1996–2002. Theatreplan designed the theatre itself in collaboration with Rick Mather Architects, at a cost of £1.2 million. The project won the following awards: ; 2003 * Brick Awards Building of the Year * Brick Awards Best Public Building * Oxford Preservation Trust Environmental Award ; 2004 *

RIBA ''Riba'' (, or , ) is an Arabic word used in Islamic law and roughly translated as " usury": unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business. ''Riba'' is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an3:130

Award ; 2005 *

Civic Trust Award The Civic Trust Awards scheme is a British awards scheme to recognise outstanding architecture, planning and design in the built environment. It was established in 1959, and is the longest-standing built environment awards scheme in Europe. The ...

– Commendation

Performances

The Theatre is managed by the Martin Esslin Society, who are responsible for choosing the productions staged in the theatre each term. Talks are also given by well-known actors. ; 2020 * '' The Entertainer'' (February 6 – February 10) ; 2018 * ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

'' (January 17 – January 20_ * '' The 39 Steps'' (January 31 – February 3) * ''Oxford Alternotives'' (March 7) ; Other performances More performances have occurred but are not listed. Performances are often reviewed in the ''

Oxford Mail ''Oxford Mail'' is a daily tabloid newspaper in Oxford, England, owned by Newsquest. It is published six days a week. It is a sister paper to the weekly tabloid ''The Oxford Times''. History The ''Oxford Mail'' was founded in 1928 by MP Fra ...

'' newspaper.

H B Allen Centre

In July 2004 Keble announced the purchase of the former Acland Hospital for £10.75 million. This site, situated a couple of minutes walk from the main college buildings, housed an estimated 100 graduate students. In October 2015 it was confirmed that Keble College had received funding from The H B Allen Charitable Trust to redevelop the Acland Site in order to provide double the number of graduate rooms. This was the largest single donation in the college's history. Work on construction of the H B Allen Centre, designed by Rick Mather, began in 2016, with the first graduate students moving in in October 2018. Keble previously owned several houses across Oxford which were used as additional student accommodation, but these were sold following the purchase of the Acland site. The H B Allen Centre was officially opened by

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge William, Prince of Wales (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982), is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales. William was born during the reign of his pat ...

on 3 October 2019.

Student life

The college publishes a termly magazine called ''The Brick'' which is sent to Keble alumni to update them on college life. Students used to publish an irreverent spoof version on the last Friday of each term, also named ''The Brick'', recording college gossip but this version has not been published since Hilary 2006. The college has since seen the release of a student publication calling itself ''The Breezeblock'', containing both college gossip and a satirical take on college life. Each graduate is given a red brick along with their degree certificates. Keble Brick 2016-05-08 06

Keble were champions of the television quiz show ''

'' in 1975 and 1987. Each year the Advanced Studies Centre invites distinguished speakers for their Creativity Lecture Series. In 2011 the list included

Nicholas Humphrey Nicholas Keynes Humphrey (born 27 March 1943) is an English neuropsychologist based in Cambridge, known for his work on the evolution of primate intelligence and consciousness. He studied mountain gorillas with Dian Fossey in Rwanda; he was t ...

Tim Ingold Timothy Ingold (born 1 November 1948INGOLD, Prof. Timothy
''Who's Who 2014'', ...

and Steve Rayner; in 2012

Robin Dunbar Robin Ian MacDonald Dunbar (born 28 June 1947) is a British biological anthropologist, evolutionary psychologist, and specialist in primate behaviour. Dunbar is professor emeritus of evolutionary psychology of the Social and Evolutionary Neuros ...

, Kevin Warwick and

Margaret Boden Margaret Ann Boden (born 26 November 1936) is a British academic who is a Research Professor of Cognitive Science in the Department of Informatics at the University of Sussex, where her work embraces the fields of artificial intelligence, psyc ...

were featured. The Keble Ball is planned by the student committee to coincide with the day-long graduation ceremony in

Trinity term Universities Trinity term is the third and final term of the academic year at the University of Oxford,Cuppers Cuppers are intercollegiate sporting competitions at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The term comes from the word " cup" and is an example of the Oxford "-er". Each sport holds only one Cuppers competition each year, which is open to al ...

, having also been finalists in 2008 and 2010. Keble College Boat Club, the college rowing club compete annually in Torpids and

Summer Eights Eights Week, also known as Summer Eights, is a four-day regatta of bumps races which constitutes the University of Oxford's main Colleges of the University of Oxford, intercollegiate Sport rowing, rowing event of the year. The regatta takes ...

. Keble has also had significant success in football, with the college football team (colloquially known as KCFC) recently completing a historic treble by winning the Men's first XI, second XI and Women's Cuppers in the same season. Keble College Sports Ground is located on Woodstock Road, and as well as hosting intercollegiate ("Cuppers") matches, also lays the stage for annual fixtures between current undergraduates and Old Members ("Ghosts"), particularly in football and cricket. Keble famously won a historic footballing Treble in the 2023/24 season when they won the Men's, Men's Reserve and Women's Football Cuppers. The first ever Football Cuppers Treble. Commemorative photographs of important matches adorn the walls of the Keble Cricket Pavilion inside the ground.

''The Light of the World''

Keble owns the original of

William Holman Hunt William Holman Hunt (2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910) was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His paintings were notable for their great attention to detail, vivid colour, and elaborate symbolism ...

's painting '' The Light of the World'', which is hung in the side chapel (accessed through the chapel). The picture was completed in 1853 after eight years of work and originally hung in the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

. It was then given as a gift to the college. Hunt originally wanted the painting to be hung in the main chapel but the architect rejected this idea, as a result, he painted another version of the painting which is in

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

, London. This copy was painted by Hunt when he was nearly 70.

College stamps

Keble College has the distinction of being the first college to issue stamps for the prepayment of a porter/messenger delivery service in 1871 only one year after it was founded, and it set the pace for other Oxford colleges to issue their own stamps. This service was successfully challenged by the post office in 1886. Keble also issued a college stamp in 1970 to mark its 100th anniversary.

Notable conferences at Keble

* The Declaration of Clergy on Ritual Conference (January, 1904) * The Conference on New Ideals in Education (31 March – 7 April 1923) * The Oxford Movement Conference (July, 1983) * The

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

Centenary Conference (17–24 August 1992) * The 12th International Conference on Brain Tumour Research and Therapy (September, 1997) * The 19th International Radiocarbon Conference (April, 2006)

In popular culture

Keble, under snow, appears as Baidley College in an episode of the television detective show '' Endeavour'', with the young Morse investigating the murder of a don.Phoebe Taplin, ''Oxford Film Locations'' (Pitkin, 2018, )
p. 45
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Notable members of Keble

File:Imran Khan 2019 crop.jpg,

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

Cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

turned philanthropist & politician, (former

Prime Minister of Pakistan The prime minister of Pakistan (, Roman Urdu, romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Cabinet of Pakistan, cabinet, desp ...

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Ed Balls Edward Michael Balls (born 25 February 1967) is a British former politician, broadcaster and economist. He served as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families from 2007 to 2010, and as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2011 to ...

, former

Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer The shadow chancellor of the exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom), Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the Chancellor of the Exchequer, chancellor of ...

File:Lord Adonis.jpg,

Andrew Adonis Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, (born Andreas Adonis; 22 February 1963) is a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and journalist who served in HM Government for five years in the Third Blair ministry, Blair ministry and the Brown mi ...

, British Labour Party politician File:David Wilson 2008.jpg, David Wilson, former

Governor of Hong Kong The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the United Kingdom, British The Crown, Crown in British Hong Kong, Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council of Hong Kong, Executiv ...

References

Sources

* * *

External links

*
Gallery of photographs of Keble College

Virtual Tour of Keble College

Keble College JCR

Keble College MCR
{{Authority control 1870 establishments in England Anglo-Catholic educational establishments Buildings and structures of the University of Oxford Colleges of the University of Oxford Universities and colleges established in 1870 Grade I listed buildings in Oxford Grade I listed educational buildings William Butterfield buildings