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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 April 2016
Conventional knowledge has long credited five architects with varying degrees of responsibility for the design of Lancing College Chapel; the main personae being Richard Cromwell Carpenter (1812–55), his pupil William Slater (1819–72), Carpenter’s son Richard Herbert Carpenter (1841–93), Temple Lushington Moore (1856–1920) and Stephen Dykes Bower (1903–94). Of these Richard Herbert Carpenter is usually cited as the key individual, being identified as the one who originated the executed design. However, recent research has shown that while R. H. Carpenter played an important role in converting an architectural dream into structural reality, it was the less well-known William Slater who was responsible for conceiving much of what Carpenter later developed. This paper recounts the results of these researches, reconsiders the origins of the designs, and sketches their evolution during the nineteenth century.
1 A Plea for the Middle Classes, p. 3.
2 Ibid., p. 4.
3 Ibid., pp. 4-5.
4 Ibid., p. 6.
5 Ibid., p. 7.
6 Letter to Henry Martin Gibbs dated 12 January 1882 (Lancing College Archive).
7 Letter to Lord Salisbury dated 28 December 1882 (Lancing College Archive).
8 Ibid.
9 Ecdesiologist, 16 (1855), p. 220.
10 Illustrated London News, 26 January 1856, p. 104.
11 The crypt being dedicated on 26 October 1875.
12 See two drawings of 1868 in the Lancing College Archive.
13 These were the colleges at Lancing, Hurstpierpoint and Ardingly.
14 Builder, 15 August 1868, p. 602.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Leaflet written by Woodard dated 1882 (Lancing College Archive).
20 R. H. Carpenter was in partnership with Benjamin Ingelow from 1875 until his death in 1893.
21 See letters from Carpenter to Woodard dated 26 April, 24 May, 15 June, 30 November and 2 December 1871 (Lancing College Archive).
22 Letter Carpenter to Woodard dated 1885 (Lancing College Archive).
23 Letter Carpenter to Woodard dated 13 March 1882 (Lancing College Archive).
24 Letter Carpenter to Woodard dated 11 June 1874 (Lancing College Archive).
25 Symondson, A. J., ‘Stephen Dykes Bower and Victorian Church Architecture’, The Victorian Society Annual 1994, (1995). p. 50 Google Scholar.
26 Ibid., p. 51.
27 See the obituary written by Beresford, A. J. Hope and published in the Ecdesiologist, 16 (1855), p. 139 Google Scholar.
28 RIBA Transactions 1873-74, p. 214
29 Ibid., p. 215.
30 He was responsible for several illustrations published by the Builder. For instance illustrations of restoration work in France at Charmont, Limoges, Lyon, Nimes and Leon (Builder, 1880, i, p. 666 and 1881, i, p. 643), plus photographs of the cloisters at Wurzburgin (Builder, 1883, ii, p. 182). Letters in Lancing College Archive and the RIBA, plus other articles in the Builder refer to visits Carpenter made to Cairo, to Alhambra, to the mosques of Cordova, Seville, Damascus and Kairawan (see RIBA LC/13/5/31, LC/17/8/2, LC/21/9/11; RIBA Transactions XXXLLL, pp. 101 and 116; Builder, 1879, p. 808.
31 According to R. H. Carpenter his father had based his design for town churches upon the Austin Friars church in London and on the German hall churches. At the bidding of the Ecdesiologist Slater adopted a form of domestic voussoir which was borrowed from Nürnberg, and R. C. Carpenter had made a feature of an oriel which was most probably borrowed from Sebaldershof in Nürnberg.
32 Summerson, John, ‘The Style of the Chapel’, Lancing College Magazine (1955), p. 16 Google Scholar.
33 Ibid.
34 Ibid.
