Close
We are delighted to have achieved an Award in the Ecclesiastical category for the completion of Lancing College Chapel.
Speaking of the newly build addition to the Chapel’s west end, the Sussex Heritage Trust Awards judges said: ‘A superb addition which improves on the original concept and completes this exceptional building with a covered porch and glass doors. The Friends of the Lancing College should be recognised in supporting this magnificent chapel.’
Sussex Heritage Trust is a charity established to preserve, improve and encourage the appreciation of the architectural and natural landscape of West and East Sussex.
The completion of the new porch in the west end has been possible thanks to the generosity of a dedicated group of people, particularly The Friends of Lancing Chapel, Lancing College and the Lancing Chapel Trust. An astonishingly generous response to the Chapel Completion Campaign, launched in 2019, made it possible to finish this remarkable architectural masterpiece, after nearly 154 years since the laying of the foundation stone in 1868. The new porch was completed in 2021 and dedicated in April 2022. The project was commissioned to Architect Michael Drury and the team at St Ann’s Gate Architects, and executed by the skilled masons from Chichester Stoneworks Ltd.
Michael Drury’s creation of two new buttresses stepping out from the level of the rose window gives the west end stability and a profile; a symbolic three to two to one progression ascends the west wall and leads through into the nave. The plate glass doors let in light and the new Portland stone paving brightens the narthex and makes access easier. And within the porch itself, a serene and sheltered space ensures dignified and safe access.
Lancing Chapel is known for being the tallest school chapel in the world and the fourth tallest ecclesiastical building in the British Isles. It houses both the biggest rose window built in modern times and the last great tapestries woven on the William Morris looms. It is used as a performance venue for broadcasting globally and is open daily to the public; every year we welcome over 6,000 visitors. The Chapel has also a very significant role in the lives of the College’s pupils and of the school community; it is a place of prayer, reflection, memory, inspiration and wonder.
