Bishop Edward King Chapel

Selected by

Sir Luke Rittner, CEO of the Royal Academy of Dance (retired April 2022)

Luke has spent all his working years in various roles in the arts. He ran the Bath international Festival of music in the late 60s through to the 70s, which together with Edinburgh was one of the first post-war UK international music festivals. As founder and director of the Association for Business Sponsorship of the Arts (ABSA) he developed and encouraged corporate support for the arts in the UK. A move to London saw him established at the Secretary General of the Arts Council of Great Britain (now Arts Council England), with a staff of over 300. From 1990-1992 he acted as UK Cultural Director for EXPO ’92 World Fair in Seville before joining Sotheby’s as Senior Director of Marketing, Communications and Public Affairs. His role as CEO of the Royal Academy of Dance, from the late 90s to April of this year, involved leading the Academy’s international operations and strategic development. He retired in April of this year. Numerous honorary posts include Chairman of the Board of Trustees of LAMDA, Foundation Trustee of the Holbourne Museum in Bath, trustee of the Theatre Royal Bath and the Bath Preservation Trust.Luke has an Honorary doctorate of Civil Law, Durham University, and Honorary Doctorate of the Arts, University of Bath. He was awarded a CBE in the New Year's Honours List, January 2017 and knighted in the recent New Year's Honours list for his services to dance.
Location

Wheatley Road, Cuddesdon, Oxford OX44 9EX

01865 874404

Requests to visit the chapel: enquiries@rcc.ac.uk.

Visits are usually possible on weekdays between 10am and 4.00pm.
Architecture

Niall McLaughlin Architects
www.niallmclaughlin.com

Niall McLaughlin Architects were commissioned to design a new chapel for Ripon Theological College in Cuddesdon, after winning a RIBA competition in 2009. The clients for the project were the College and the Sisters of St John the Baptist, a small community of nuns then resident on the site.

On the site is an enormous beech tree on the brow of the hill. Facing away from the beech and the college buildings behind, there is a ring of mature trees on high ground overlooking the valley that stretches away towards Garsington. This clearing has its own particular character, full of wind and light and the rustling of leaves. The design sought to capture these qualities within the building.

The starting point for the project was the hidden word ‘nave’ at the centre of Seamus Heaney poem Lightenings viii. The word describes the central space of a church but shares the same origin as ‘navis’, a ship, and can also mean the still centre of a turning wheel. The architects created an elliptical enclosure holding two banks of seating facing across a central space which has an altar and a lectern for the liturgies of the word and of the eucharist.

The building is made from Clipsham stone laid in a dog-tooth pattern. It is surmounted with a carousel of clerestory windows with stone mullions. Inside, there is an overarching timber frame supporting the roof and simple wooden benches for the congregation.

Born in London in 1829, Edward King, both as a priest and then as a bishop, was revered for the holiness of his life and the wisdom of his counsel. He was chaplain, then principal, of Cuddesdon Theological College, followed by a dozen years as a professor of theology in Oxford, during which time he exercised a great influence on a generation of ordinands. In 1885, he was consecrated bishop of the diocese of Lincoln, a position he held until his death. His advocacy of Catholic principles involved him in controversy, but his significant gift to the Church was his example as a pastoral and caring bishop to both clergy and laity.
Interesting facts

There has been a theological college at Cuddesdon for over 160 years. Cuddesdon College was established in 1854 by Bishop Samuel Wilberforce
Resources

dezeen

Niall McLaughlin Architects

www.rcc.ac.uk

Bishop Edward King Chapel ©Niall McLaughlin Architects

“...it has an ethereal, powerfully spiritual atmosphere and emanates a sense of calm, of tranquility, of beauty and reassurance.”

The stunning timber frame of the Bishop Edward King Chapel ©Niall McLaughlin Architects

In 2013 Ripon Theological College in Cuddesdon and the Sisters of St John the Baptist commissioned Niall McLaughlin Architects to design them a new chapel.

A detail of the roof of the Bishop Edward King Chapel ©Niall McLaughlin Architects

Situated on high ground surrounded by trees and looking out across the valley the site has imposed a strong influence on the key elements and qualities of the building itself. The gentle hollow of the site in which the chapel sits was already a natural meeting place for the small community and inside the delicate, almost ship like, timber structure seems to soar towards the tree tops. These two forces, seem to be at play in this magical building: the natural hollow being the strong centre and the soaring wooden structure suggesting an almost spiritual sense of uplift as it rises towards the light and the sky beyond.

In short, for me, this building is not only aesthetically pleasing in every aspect but it has another quality- it has an ethereal, powerfully spiritual atmosphere and emanates a sense of calm, of tranquility, of beauty and reassurance. It has an almost otherworldliness about it and it gently embraces one with a sense of safety and comfort so we might feel that there is more that lies beyond the sadness and strife of a troubled world.

“The relatively small scale of this project contrasts with its major significance as an opportunity to set new standards for liturgical design. ... McLaughlin’s proposal stood out because of the depth of understanding and inspiration it demonstrated from a strategic to a detailed level. “
David Morley. Chair of the Jury panel and RIBA architect, advisor for the project

“...it has an ethereal, powerfully spiritual atmosphere and emanates a sense of calm, of tranquility, of beauty and reassurance.”

“The relatively small scale of this project contrasts with its major significance as an opportunity to set new standards for liturgical design. ... McLaughlin’s proposal stood out because of the depth of understanding and inspiration it demonstrated from a strategic to a detailed level. “

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