Permanent private hall

A permanent private hall in the University of Oxford is an educational institution within the University. There are four permanent private halls at Oxford, three of which admit undergraduates. They were founded by different Christian denominations.
Students at PPHs are members of the University of Oxford and have full access to the University's facilities and activities.

Overview

is the largest PPH and is, to all intents and purposes, a small college specialising in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences with a total student body of c.200. Regent's also trains Baptist ministerial students. Since 1919, Regent's has admitted both men and women. Blackfriars Hall, and Wycliffe Hall were all male-only institutions historically, but both are now co-educational, training ordinands for their respective denominations, and also admitting students for a range of other courses of study. Campion Hall admits graduate students in Humanities and Social Science subjects, and occasionally in other disciplines.

History

Private halls

The Oxford University Act 1854 and the university statute De aulis privatis of 1855 allowed any Master of Arts aged at least 28 years to open a private hall after obtaining a licence to do so. The longest lived of the thirteen private halls was Charsley's Hall. Notable masters of private halls included William Edward Addis and George Butler.
The Universities Tests Act 1871 opened all university degrees and positions to men who were not members of the Church of England, which made it possible for Roman Catholics and Nonconformists to open private halls. These non-Anglican private halls included Clarke's Hall, opened by the Jesuit Order in 1896, and Hunter Blair's Hall opened by the Benedictine Order in 1899.

Permanent private halls

In 1918 the university passed a statute to allow private halls which were not run for profit to become permanent private halls and the two halls took new names.
In some cases, a PPH can be granted full collegiate status; recent examples include St Peter's College, Mansfield College and Harris Manchester College.
Greyfriars closed in 2008. St Benet's Hall closed in 2022. Students from both Greyfriars and St Benets Hall were subsumed into Regent's Park College when their halls closed. St Stephen's House became a permanent private hall in 2003, and ceased to be one in September 2023, but continued to be an Anglican theological college.

List of permanent private halls

Name	Founded	PPH status since	Association	Undergraduates	Graduates	Visiting students	Total students	Undergraduate degree subjects
Blackfriars Hall	1221; refounded 1921	1994	Roman Catholic	4	39	9	52	PPE, Philosophy and Theology, Theology
Campion Hall	1896	1918	Roman Catholic	0	9	0	9	—
Regent's Park College	1810	1957	Baptist Union of Great Britain	115	70	16	201	Classical Archaeology and Ancient History, Classics, Classics and English, English, Geography, History, History and Politics, Law, Philosophy and Theology, PPE, Theology
Wycliffe Hall	1877	1996	Church of England	77	27	55	159	Philosophy and Theology, Theology

Former permanent private halls

Name	Founded	PPH status from	Association	Current status
St Peter's Hall	1929	1929	Church of England	Became a new foundation 1947, full college 1961
Mansfield College	1886	1955	Nonconformist	Became a full college 1995
Manchester College	1889	1990	Nonconformist	Became a full college 1996
Greyfriars	1224; refounded 1910	1957	Roman Catholic	Closed 2008
St Benet's Hall	1897	1918	Roman Catholic	Closed 2022
St Stephen's House	1876	2003	Church of England	Remains a theological college from 2023