May 20, 2025, by Nicholas Blake

The University of Nottingham Chapel

If you mooch around in the depths of the Portland Building you may stumble across Oasis, the Chaplaincy and Faith Support services at the University of Nottingham.  There you will find – alongside a multi-faith room, Muslim prayer rooms, and cosy common room – the University’s chapel.  Beautifully decorated with elaborate wooden trim, panelled doors, and impressive stone archways, the chapel is a hidden gem which many staff and students may not even know exists.

Photograph of a long room with chairs facing an altar, with elaborate wooden decoration down the sides and a stone archway.

The Portland Building chapel, photographed in 2025.  (UMP/3/15)

 

Photograph of a room with chairs and small tables, with bookcases lining the walls.

The chapel lounge, complete with bookcases and kitchenette. (UMP/3/15)

Although the chapel is as old as the building itself, it was a relatively late addition to the plans.

The Portland Building, which opened in 1956, was designed by T. Cecil Howitt in the late 1940s as a space for the Students’ Union.  Construction kept being delayed due to post-war shortage of building materials and limited funds available to the University Executive Board.

Tensions arose between Vice Chancellor Bertrand Hallward and the Students’ Union over the new building.  The Union considered that they should be in charge of overseeing its design, running and administration.  Hallward, however, felt that the building should be for use by both staff and students, taking inspiration from the communal living spaces he had seen in modern American colleges.

Black and white photograph of a half completed structure with scaffolding.

Photograph showing the construction of the Portland Building, University of Nottingham, 1950s. (UMP/3/8/1)

 

Black and white photograph of a building with people walking down steps.

Photograph of the newly opened Portland Building, University of Nottingham, 1956. (UMP/11/29/3)

Howitt made significant revisions to the building in January 1953, mere months before construction started, to accommodate Hallward’s vision of communal facilities such as a dining hall and art gallery.  When a boiler house was ultimately deemed not necessary for the building, space became available to incorporate a chapel.

For the interior of the Portland Building, various architects and designers were employed.  The lecture hall was by Ward and Austin, the restaurant by John Wright, and the Fine Art Gallery by H.T. Cadbury Brown.  The design of the chapel was undertaken by Lord Mottistone, more commonly known as John Seely, of architectural firm Seely and Paget.

Painted illustration of a chapel showing seated pews on either side and a fenced altar at the top end.

Artist’s impression of John Seely’s design for the Portland Building chapel. (© English Heritage Trust/Justin Piperger)

 

Black and white photograph of a chapel, including wooden seating on either side, an altar and cross, and archways. A man can be seen playing an organ.

Photograph of the University Chapel, taken in the 1960s (UMP/7/1/5/75/176)

Praise for Seely’s work was forthcoming from Architect and Building News, who called it ‘perhaps the most unexpected and dramatic room in the building’.

‘The congregation sit in delicately detailed stalls lining either side of the long, narrow room, and these are lit by artificial candle lights in two tiers, one to each member.  The 8 volt candle lamps, originally designed for use in the royal houses, are particularly appropriate in this context … The emotional effect is heightened by a red curtain hung behind the altar, which glows in the semi-darkness of the space.’ Architect and Building News, 15 August 1957 (as quoted in Campus critique: the architecture of the University of Nottingham by A Peter Fawcett and Neil Jackson, 1998).

The inclusion of the chapel became a source of discussion amongst the student body.  Although praised by the Christian Union, there was a worry that other societies may feel like their needs were unlikely to be taken into the same consideration, or that other faiths were being neglected.  A suggestion that the chapel not be consecrated so that it would be used for non-Christian worship also caused some debate.

Image of newspaper clipping where a student defends the inclusion of a chapel in the plans for the new Union Building though also points out that other religions would not use the chapel even if it were not consecrated.

Article from the University of Nottingham student newspaper, Gongster, 30 January 1953, p.4. (UoNC os.X.Periodicals Not 5.G14.8.F48)

Image of a newspaper clipping titled "Soft Answer", a letter from a student rebutting the idea that the Christian Societies feel guilty about the inclusion of the chapel, and supports the idea that not consecrating the chapel would make it available for non-Christian worship.

Letter published in the the University of Nottingham student newspaper, Gongster, 13 February 1953, p.3 (UoNC os.X.Periodicals Not 5.G14.8.F48)

On the 26th October 1956, the day of the opening of the Portland Building, the Bishop of Southwell performed a dedication of the chapel.

Image of a handwritten register listing events taking place in the chapel

First page from the University of Nottingham Anglican Society’s Register of Chapel Services, showing the dedication of the chapel by the Bishop of Southwell, 1956. (UU 4/1/5/1)

Bertrand Hallward pledged more money for additional furnishing, and – encouraged by the Professor of the Music Department, Ivor Keys – donated £1000 of his own salary for the purchase and installation of an organ.

Black and white photograph showing a chapel organ with wooden seating and candles nearby.

Photograph of the Portland Building Chapel organ in 1958. From: ‘The organs of the University of Nottingham’ by W.L. Sumner. (UONC Not 5.E2.F58 SC167435)

 

Page of printed text.

Description of the Portland Building Chapel’s organ from the article ‘The organs of the University of Nottingham’ by W.L. Sumner, 1958. (UONC Not 5.E2.F58 SC167435)

 

Pages of text from a printed article.

Continuation of article ‘The organs of the University of Nottingham’ by W.L. Sumner, 1958. (UONC Not 5.E2.F58 SC167435)

 

Photograph of a small organ inset into a wall, with multiple keyboards, pipes, and stool.

The chapel’s organ, photographed in 2025.  (UMP/3/15)

Groups such as the University’s Anglican Society were excited to use the chapel for weekly communion, though Hallward was still keen for those of all Christian denominations to continue supporting local churches, and that the chapel was not to be used for ‘preaching purposes’.  Religious services also continued to be held elsewhere in the University; communion for Church of England and Catholic Mass were held in the Portland Lecture Hall, while every other Sunday saw the University Service held in the Great Hall in the Trent Building.

Photograph of pages of handwritten text in a minute book.

Pages from the University of Nottingham Anglican Society minute book, 28 June 1956, detailing the new Chaplain’s vision for the Chapel. (UU 4/1/1/2)

Use of the chapel beyond the Christian societies was initially slow.  The newly appointed Chaplain, Reverend Ingram Cleasby, wrote an article for the student newspaper suggesting that unless the chapel was utilised by more students then it ‘would have been better to leave it as a boilerhouse’.  Within a couple of years, however, the paper reported that there were not enough seats for everyone who wanted to attend morning prayers.

Photograph of newspaper cutting titled 'Is the chapel a hole for the holy?' by Ingram Cleasby. Includes a photograph of the chapel.

Article by Ingram Cleasby, the new Chaplain, appealing to the student population to use the new chapel. From: Gongster, 7 December 1956, p.3. (UoNC os.X.Periodicals Not 5.G14.8.F48)

 

Image of a newspaper clipping titled "Floorspace only" about how the University Chapel is becoming crowded at prayers and Sunday Communion.

Article reporting on the lack of space in the chapel.  From: Gongster, 31 October 1958, p.3. (UoNC Periodicals Not 5.G14.8.F48)

 

Photograph of a page of printed text with a section titled 'The Chapel'.

Page from the University of Nottingham Students’ Union handbook for 1958/59 promoting the chapel and its functions. (UoNC Periodicals Not 5.G14.21.F58)

 

Music was a big part of the chapel.  As well as regular Evensong each Friday, there was a chapel choir, and the organ was used for performances.  New compositions would occasionally feature, such as the one mentioned in this article by Ivor Keys and Audrey Beecham.  From: Gongster, 23 October 1959, p.8 (UoNC os.X.Periodicals Not 5.G14.8.F48)

The role of the Chaplain at the University became more than just counsel for Christians, with many non-religious students with personal difficulties benefitting from their pastoral care.  With the numbers attending too high, communion was moved from the chapel to the Portland Building’s lecture theatre.  As the student population was anticipated to grow further in the 1960s, it became clear that needs justified the appointment of Chaplains of other denominations, but also a larger centre for religious and pastoral activities.

The prospect of building a new, bespoke University church, was a passion project of Bertrand Hallward.  His excitement was shared by long-standing University funders, the Cripps Foundation, and work quietly began, with architectural firms contacted to begin considering location and designs.

News of an upcoming 1500-seater church being built on campus surprised many of the University community, with Reverend Cleasby suggesting that plans should be carefully developed from the ground up by assessing the needs of the community, rather than purely on the whim of the Vice Chancellor.

Bolstered by a group of academics who were concerned with the presence of a church on campus grounds, there was much debate regarding the design of the proposed building.  A Chapel Advisory Committee was established, with input from the Chaplains and the Department of Theology, who pushed for a more modest design than Hallward had envisioned.  Their view was that a grander building would controversially imply that the University was a Christian community, as opposed to being a University with a Christian community.

Image of a newspaper clipping titled 'The new University church, 1, a modest request' by Tony Barker.

Article analysing the need for a church on campus. From: Gongster, 28 October 1960, p.9 (UoNC os.X.Periodicals Not 5.G14.8.F48)

 

Photograph of a newspaper clipping titled 'The new University church, 2, Functional church' by Tony Barker.

Article discussing the potential architectural style for a new church on campus. From: Gongster, 11 November 1960, p.13 (UoNC os.X.Periodicals Not 5.G14.8.F48)

 

Photograph of newspaper cutting titled 'Chaplain's views on the new University church' by Ingram Cleasby.

Article by Ingram Cleasby, the Chaplain, about the potential new University church.
From: Gongster, 9 December 1960, p.6. (UoNC os.X.Periodicals Not 5.G14.8.F48)

The consultation took several years, though the specifications put forward by the Chaplains and the Department of Theology were largely ignored by the Advisory Committee, many of whom – along with the Cripps family, who were still willing to fund £300,000 for the building – pushed for the finest design and materials possible.

Photograph of a newspaper cutting titled 'University builds its own church'.

Article about an endowment put forward to begin work on the new University church. From: Gongster, 11 October 1963, p.1. (UoNC os.X.Periodicals Not 5.G14.8.F48)

Ultimately, after many rejections, the Advisory Committee reached a stalemate between two differing architectural designs: a traditional concept by J.G. Woollatt favoured by Hallward and the Cripps family, and a more modernist approach by F.E. Woolley.  Afraid of their money potentially being used to build an ‘avant-garde’ church, the Cripps decided to withdraw their offer of funding.

Unable to force through the more traditional design without alienating the University community, Bertrand Hallward had no other option but to completely abandon the plans for a University church.

Photograph of newspaper cutting titled 'But not church'.

Article about the cancellation of plans for a new church on campus. From: Gongster, 24 January 1964, p.1. (UoNC os.X.Periodicals Not 5.G14.8.F48)

 

Photograph of the chapel lounge, from an article about dwindling numbers of religiously active students in the University of Nottingham student newspaper, Impact, 30 November 1988, p.4.  (UoNC os.X.Periodicals Not 5.G14.8.F85)

In early 1990s the Portland Building was renovated.  This included a ‘reordering’ of the crypt chapel which removed a lot of John Seely’s original design.

Gone were the side pews, candles, and chequered flooring, making space for chairs to be arranged as required, in a more modern, functional, and less formal setting, appropriate for all denominations.  A stained glass window decorated with a colourful, abstract tree design, was installed above the altar.

Photograph of an alter covered in tablecloth, with a colourful, circular stained glass window in the wall above it, with an abstract tree design.

The reordered chapel as it appears today. (UMP/3/15)

 

Photograph of a colourful, circular stained glass window with an abstract tree design.

The stained glass window for the chapel was created by M.D. Stokes. (UMP/3/15)

The new look chapel was not beloved by everyone.  The book Campus critique: the architecture of the University of Nottingham describes the 1994 redesign as a ‘crass re-ordering’ and ‘assault’ of Seely’s work.

The Portland Building chapel may not be quite as a dramatic as it once was, but is still a surprisingly beautiful part of the busy Students’ Union building.  It is regularly used by staff and students for private worship, by student societies for meet ups and events, and by music students who play the organ.  The chapel is always open for Christian worship of any denomination, and can be booked for events.

For more information on the services provided by the Chaplaincy and Faith Support, visit the Chaplaincy and Faith Support website.

The material featured in this blog is available to view in our Reading Room, upon request.  Please see the Manuscripts and Special Collections website for more information.

With thanks to Dr Peter Forsaith, Dr Andrew Hann, and Rev Grant Walton.

Posted in From the collections

Previous Post

The British Cotton Growing Association

Next Post

The Beginnings of University Park