St John's College, Durham

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St John's College
Durham University

Motto

Fides nostra victoria
Faith is our victory

Colours

Named after

St John the Evangelist

Established

1909

Principal

Revd Dr David Wilkinson

Senior Tutor

Dr Mark Ogden

JCR President

Martin Hodgetts

Undergraduates

392

Postgraduates

Website

St John's College

JCR Website

St John's JCR

Campus

Durham City

St John's College is a college of the University of Durham in the United Kingdom. It is one of only two 'Recognised Colleges' of the University, the other being St Chad's. This means that it is financially and constitutionally independent of the University and has a greater degree of administrative independence than the other, 'Maintained', colleges. However, in order to maintain its status as a Recognised college, the University Council must approve the appointment of its Principal and be notified of changes to its constitution.^[1]

St John's is Durham's second smallest college, and comprises John's Hall for undergraduate and postgraduate students studying any University course and Cranmer Hall (named after Thomas Cranmer and with its own master or Warden), an Anglican theological college in the open evangelical tradition. The Methodist Wesley Study Centre, named after John Wesley, is also based within Cranmer Hall, despite not, technically, being part of the college.

The college is renowned for its Chapel Choir, which has flourished in recent years thanks to the college's commitment to supporting a generous number of Choral Scholarships. Another distinctive feature of St. John's College is its bar, which was created from the cellars of Linton House.

1 Buildings
2 History
3 Student Life
4 Notable alumni
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Buildings

Formed from a number of Georgian houses on the Bailey between Durham Cathedral and the River Wear, its setting is spectacular. The main house of the college is Haughton House. The houses which make up Cranmer Hall were once owned by the Bowes-Lyon family (the late Queen Mother's family). The majority of the college buildings are grade II listed, with parts of 3 and 4 South Bailey grade II* listed. Linton House, no 1 South Bailey, has much earlier origins and, before coming into the possession of St Johns, was the main property of St. Chad's College. The frontage seen today was added to an existing timber framed building after the Restoration of the Monarchy. No 2 South Bailey has distinctive circular 'blind' windows which were revealed during a re-rendering in the 1980s, and date the building very precisely to the late 17th century.

The college chapel, dedicated to St Mary, is of Norman origin and was rebuilt in the 1840s, and was re-ordered at the turn of the 21st century. It is known as St Mary the Less. It became the college chapel in 1919, before which it had been the parish church of the South Bailey. It is still a chapel of ease in the parish of St Oswald.

[edit] History

Founded as a Church of England theological college in 1909, it became a full constituent college of the University in 1919. In 1958 it was divided into the theological college Cranmer Hall, and the non-theological John's Hall. The Halls have always held to a broadly evangelical tradition.

St John's was the first Church of England Theological College to a have both a lay person and a woman as Principal, Dr Ruth Etchells.

[edit] Student Life

Despite its size, St. John's has merits that the other larger colleges do not. For instance its sense of community. Owing to its small population, it is not surprising that Johnians tend to know one another regardless of year, course, or accommodation (all first years and the majority of finalists live in college, with the second years required to find their own accommodation), and this bond contributes to College Life immensely. The Johns freshers week is different from many other colleges in the way that relationships form more quickly due to the freshers population being only between 90 to 150. Elected Freshers Reps are generally well known throughout college, with the strongest personalities, thereby giving new Johnians more opportunities for one-on-one interaction, providing a more solid foundation in their first few weeks than in the larger colleges.

St. John's performs well in a number of Sports such as Cross Country Running, Rowing, Rugby, Table Tennis and Women's Basketball among others. It is also renowned for its contribution to university theatre, with the Bailey Theatre Company producing successful versions of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House (directed by Peter Godden) in the Michaelmas term of 2007 and Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus (directed by Nick Robson and Sarah Holden-Boyd) in the Epiphany term of 2008, as well as the annual Summer Shakespeare. This involves an outdoor performance on Library Lawn with strawberries and cream and free glasses of Pimms.