Manor
Founded in 1978, Manor was the first purpose-built girls’ boarding House at Lancing; one of four girls’ Houses now in the school. The House is now home to some 40 day and boarding girls aged 13 to 18 years. Every year the House warmly welcomes ten to twelve new girls. Contact with the new girls begins before the start of term and the whole House is involved in helping them settle in, make friends and find their way around.
Being the smallest girls’ House, Manor has an intimate family feel where the girls become part of a close knit community and where friendships last well beyond Lancing. The special and diverse mix of girls and personalities in the House gives opportunities for everyone to be part of the House and get involved. Close friendships and support networks develop between day girls and boarders, and holiday exchanges are a frequent occurrence.
The girls make the House and give it an unmistakable sense of family. The central staircase and single front door give the girls and House staff plenty of opportunities to meet and mix together. Socialising also takes place in the common rooms, kitchens and on the landings where there is space to sit and share experiences.
School life during the Lancing week and also importantly at weekends is busy. Manor girls are frequently performing in school plays, music concerts and take part in a variety of sports representing Lancing and also the House. Quiet time at weekends is used to catch up on study, watch TV, go on an organised school/House visit, chat with friends or join in the famous Manor baking sessions.
Sited slightly away from the Upper Quad, the House is close enough to feel part of the school but also sufficiently removed for it to feel like a real home.
Meet the House Staff
History of the House
Manor House was the first girls’ boarding House at Lancing. It was named, at the request of OLs, to perpetuate the memory of the former boys’ House of that name.
The College bought Lancing Manor from the Carr-Lloyd family in 1920. It consisted of the ancient manor house which stood where the present Lancing Leisure Centre stands, with an extensive park and access to the Downs. The old walled garden and yew trees can still be seen north of the Leisure Centre and the staff houses in Hoe Court were built round the edge of the park. With school numbers rising as Lancing recovered from the First World War, the Manor House was converted into a boarding house in 1925.
The Revd W F (Billy) Bond moved from Second’s to be the first Housemaster and ran the house with his wife. It was self-catering and the boys cycled to classes and games across the park and the 16-acre, and paid £15 per annum extra for the privilege. The Revd H Lucas, who had been in News and Gibbs’, took over in 1929, but with the decline in numbers following the Great Depression, the house closed in 1934. The College gave the park to the parish and in 1969 the old manor house was demolished to make way for the Leisure Centre.
By the late 1970s there were some day girls in the Sixth Form who were attached to boys’ houses. At Lancing, as at many similar schools, there was then a high demand for girls’ Sixth Form places. The present Manor House was built for this purpose and began the move towards full co-education. It occupies what was literally a ‘green field site’ between the Upper Quad and the San and was named on 13 May 1978, the day of the dedication of the west wall of the Chapel and the rose window, by HRH the Prince of Wales who quipped that a girls’ house in a boys’ school would indeed be ‘manna’. The first Housemistress was Mrs Audrey Butler, later Head of Queenswood School, followed by Mrs Judy Young, Mrs Susannah Whitty and Mrs Hilary Dugdale. When Lancing went fully co-educational in 2000, Manor welcomed the first Third Form girls. In 2002 some of them moved with Mrs Dugdale to Field’s and Mrs Ann Stone took over.