Chapel Completion Update

A High Point

There is an old tradition of holding ‘topping out’ ceremonies when the last piece of a new building is installed in the presence of representatives of all interested parties.

On 25 May the final two stones of the top gable of the north buttress of the new porch at the west end of Lancing Chapel were tapped into place by Capt Jolyon Woodard RN OL, great-great grandson of the Founder, and blessed by the Provost, Bishop Jonathan Meyrick. The ceremony took place at the top of the scaffolding in the presence of the Architect, the CEO and Managers of Chichester Stoneworks, the Masons themselves, the Chairman and Secretary of the Friends of Lancing Chapel, the Head Master, Mrs Tilda Woodard and the Foundation Director, with the Chaplain and others in attendance below.

Although more work remained to be done, this was an event of heightened significance as it echoed the Founder himself setting the top stone on the eastern apse when he challenged his successors to complete the building to the scale he had decreed. Thus, five generations of the Woodard family have seen the Chapel through from foundation to finish over 153 years.

JEREMY TOMLINSON Steward of Lancing Chapel

“Vision, courage and faith. Three words that define this extraordinary legacy. ‘A temple of such vast scale and dignity to rival the naves of our most admired cathedrals and churches.’ 153 years after the foundation was laid, the top stone is in place. The vision is complete.”

CAPT JOLYON WOODARD RN OL Great-great grandson of the Founder, Nathaniel Woodard

Right: Architect Michael Drury, Head Master Dominic Oliver, Chair of Friends of Lancing Chapel Peter Birts and Capt Jolyon Woodard