Page 4 - Other Points of Note
On entering the nave, the height may be the thing that impresses first,
but the eyes are drawn quickly to the wonderful tapestries which cover the
walls of the high altar. In the original design of the Chapel a massive reredos
was planned, but costs negated this and the tapestries were made to replace
it.
The central tapestry depicting Our Lord in Glory
These tapestries were woven on the the great loom at Merton Abbey, designed
by Lady Chilston, started by William Morris. The centre panel depicts Christ
in Majesty with the archangel Michael and St. Nicolas, a heavenly choir above
and in the foreground a fountain from which flow the four rivers of paradise.
The left panel has Saint John the Evangelist, The Virgin Mary and Saint
Anne. The right panel shows Saint Cuthbert, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint
Ethelburga. The central figures on each of the tapestries are surrounded by
Angels, Saints and Emblems of Saints.
I have only placed the central tapestry here to view as to appreciate the
details of each would have taken up a fair amount of data which would make
downloading a long wait.
The Organs
The two organs at Lancing Chapel are worthy of a page in themselves.
The west end organ is the largest which was built for the Chapel in 1914
by J.W. Walker and rebuilt and completed in 1986 by Walkers and voiced by
Paul Fulger.It has four manuals, 70 drawstops and 3,509 pipes with great organ
reeds 'en chamade' in the manner of Cavaille-Coll. The organ weighs in at
over 20 tons and rises 36 feet above the gallery floor. The smaller organ
is next to the choir stalls, built by the Danish firm of Th. Frobenius. Built
in 1986 it has two manuals, 25 drawstops and 1,370 pipes, it was voiced by
Mogens Pedersen.
The organs, although independent of each other, have been linked electronically
by a multicore cable so that the west-end organ can be played in part from
the choir. The Frobenius organ is best suited to the classical repertoire
and is used to accompany the liturgy, whilst the Walker instrument retains
it's traditional 'English' sound and supports the congregation. Together they
can produce antiphonal effects of fill the chapel with music.
The rose window
The rose window at Lancing Chapel weighs well over 50 tons
This window is without doubt one of the main features of the Chapel. At
thirty-two feet in diameter, it is the largest in England and the work of
Dykes Bower. It is Supported outside by double flying buttresses and forty-two
foot pinnacles. The stone tracery at eighteen inches thick and weighing in
at 52 tons, contains 30,000 separate pieces of glass held together with generous
leadwork and bronze stanchions.
The heraldic glass in the rose window symbolises the unity of the schools
of the Woodard Corporation in their central Minster. The Shield of Lancing
in the centre is surrounded by the motto of the Corporation.
The petals of the inner rose are filled with decorative ornament, leading
to the arms of the dioceses in which the schools are situated. In the outer
ring are the arms of the schools, all of which contributed to the cost of
the window, which was made by Mr A.E. Buss of Goddard and Gibbs Studios.
Lancing Page 1 - Lancing
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