The Chapel
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The chapel is a space for all members of college, their families, and friends. We are a friendly community, and we invite you to step inside and be at home in chapel.
The College Chapel
The chapel is a sacred and welcoming space set aside for contemplation, reflection, prayer, and worship. A place to find peace or simply be and enjoy some quiet and beauty. It is also a place for music making and practice.
The chapel entrance is on Deer Park, and the chapel is always open for members of college. Collective worship in chapel is Christian and Anglican, conducted according to the rites of the Church of England. However, the chapel is home to Christians of many traditions, as well as those who are not Christian but wish to participate in our worship and common life. It is also the natural location for college gatherings at times of celebration and for memorials, as well as concerts and other events.
Whatever your religious background, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexuality, you are welcome!
Our Services
Services take place in chapel every day except Saturday during University term time, and are open to all members of college, families, and friends. Attendance at services is of course entirely optional.
- Morning Prayer: 8.10–8.30am, Monday to Thursday
- Silent Stillness: 12.30–1pm, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday
- Holy Communion: 12.30–1pm on Thursdays in odd weeks of term (1 February, 15 February, 28 February, 15 March)
- Morning Prayer: 9.15–9.30am
- Evening prayer/choral evensong: 6pm (see choral evensong below)
- Choral evensong takes place on Sundays at 6pm during term time. The service is sung by the Chapel Choir with organ music, congregational hymns, and includes a sermon.
- On Tuesdays from week one to six of Hilary term (18 January to 22 February), a shorter choral evensong takes place from 6–6.30pm.
The Chapel Team
Revd David Sheen, College Chaplain
Our College Chaplain provides pastoral support to all members of Brasenose. Contact: chaplain@bnc.ox.ac.uk
Other members of the team
David is supported by Taona Makunganya, Bible Clerk, and Peter Chen, Assistant Bible Clerk.
The Director of Music is Dr Alexander Flood, who holds an interim appointment as maternity cover until summer 2026, supported by Senior Organ Scholar Jaylen Cheng and Junior Organ Scholar Simeon Wren.
The Organ
The first organ was installed in the Chapel in 1892, paid for by the then Principal, Charles Heberden. The organ case, designed by Sir Thomas Graham Jackson, was restored in 2024 to house a new instrument built by Orgues de Facto. The new organ follows the English Romantic design of the original and has restored the 1892 façade pipes to speaking voice.
Organ recitals regularly take place during term time.
About the Chapel
The Chapel at Brasenose, dedicated to St Hugh and St Chad, was built between 1656 and 1666, replacing an earlier chapel that stood where the Senior Common Room is now.
The building incorporates materials salvaged from St Mary’s College (now the site of Frewin Hall), including a 15th-century hammerbeam roof. The result is a distinctive mix of Gothic, baroque and neoclassical styles – a blend that reflects the competing architectural traditions of its time.
The Chapel was consecrated in 1666.
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The Chapel choir -
Façade of the organ -
View from the nave towards the alter -
Revd David Sheen with the choir -
Chapel organ façade and gallery