Lancing College is an independent boarding and day school founded in 1848 by Nathaniel Woodard. The school is based in 550 acres (2.2 km2) of countryside in West Sussex, east of Worthing near the village of Lancing, on the south coast of England. Lancing educates c.550 pupils between the ages of 13 and 18; the co-educational ratio is c.60:40 boys to girls.
The college is situated on a hill which is part of the South Downs, and the campus dominates the local landscape. The college overlooks the River Adur and the Ladywell Stream, a holy well or sacred stream within the College grounds has pre-Christian significance. Woodard's aim was to provide education "based on sound principle and sound knowledge, firmly grounded in the Christian faith." Lancing was the first of a family of more than 30 schools founded by Woodard (others include Hurstpierpoint College, Ardingly College, Bloxham School and Worksop College).
Roughly 65% of pupils are boarders, at a cost of £32,910 per year; c.35% are day pupils, at a cost of £23,130 per year. Occasional overnight stays are available to day pupils at an additional cost.
The school is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. Girls were first admitted in 1970. The school is dominated by a Gothic revival chapel, and follows a high church Anglican tradition. The College of St Mary and St Nicolas (as it was originally known) in Shoreham-by-Sea was intended for the sons of upper middle classes and professional men; in time this became Lancing College, moving to its present site in 1857.
The school's buildings of the 1850s were designed by the architect Richard Cromwell Carpenter, with later ones by John William Simpson.
In 1998 Lancing commissioned the choral piece Triodion to mark its 150th anniversary. In 2003 it was one of fifty of the country's leading independent schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel which had allowed them to drive up fees for thousands of parents, although the schools made clear that they had not realised that the change to the law (which had happened only a few months earlier) about the sharing of information had subsequently made it an offence. Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared. Jean Scott, the head of the Independent Schools Council, said that independent schools had always been exempt from anti-cartel rules applied to business, were following a long-established procedure in sharing the information with each other, and that they were unaware of the change to the law (on which they had not been consulted).
The foundation stone of the college chapel was laid in 1868, but the chapel itself was not finished in Woodard's lifetime. In fact, the chapel remains unfinished. It stands at about 50 metres (with foundations going down 20 metres into the ground), but the original plans called for a tower at the west end which would raise the height to 100 metres. The apex of the vaulting rises to 27.4 m (90 ft). It was designed by R. H. Carpenter and William Slater, and is built of Sussex sandstone from Scaynes Hill.
The chapel was dedicated to St Mary and St Nicolas in 1911, although the college worshipped in the finished crypt from 1875. Inside can be found, amongst other things, the tomb of the founder, three organs, and a rose window designed by Stephen Dykes Bower, completed in 1977, and the largest rose window in England, being 32 ft in diameter. It is the largest school chapel in the world.
The eastern organ is a two-manual mechanical organ built by the Danish firm Frobenius and was installed and voiced in situ in 1986. That year also marked the completion of the rebuild of the four-manual Walker organ at the west end of the chapel - both of which were showcased in the opening concert by the American organ virtuoso, Carlo Curley.
A stained glass window was commissioned in memory of Trevor Huddleston OL, and consecrated by Desmond Tutu on 22 May 2007.
The chapel is open to the public.
During World War II, students were evacuated to Downton Castle in Herefordshire. Both the main college and the prep school buildings were requistioned by the Admiralty and became part of the Royal Navy shore establishment HMS King Alfred.
In 1856 Lancing created its own code of football which (unlike other school codes) was regarded as a means of fostering teamwork.
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Andrew Croft (1906—1998), explorer and member of the Special Operations ExecutiveVAdm Herbert Ward Dowding (1843-1915), Naval Officer in Charge, Jamaica (1895-1898)Lt-Gen Sir John Fullerton Evetts (1891–1988), Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff (1942–1944), Master-General of the Ordnance (1944–1946)H.S.H. Maj Prince George G. Imeretinsky (1897-1972), Grenadier Guards and Royal Flying Corps OfficerH.S.H. 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Smith, sportsman rated the greatest footballer of the nineteenth centuryJohn Inge, former chemistry teacher and Assistant Chaplain and current Bishop of WorcesterEdward Clarke Lowe (1823–1912), former Second Master, Provost of St Nicholas College Lancing and key participant in the foundation and development of the Woodard Schools, and first Headmaster of Hurstpierpoint CollegeArthur Temple Lyttelton, Provost of St Nicholas College Lancing, third Bishop of Southampton (1898–1903)Sheppard Frere, former House Master, Professor of the Archaeology of the Roman Provinces at the University of London (1961–1966), Professor of the Archaeology of the Roman Empire at Oxford UniversityJ. F. Roxburgh (1888-1954), former Housemaster, first Headmaster of Stowe SchoolHaldane Campbell Stewart (1868—1942), former Director of Music. Musician and composer. Organist and choirmaster at Magdalen College, Oxford (1919-1938, 1941-1942). Cricketer for Kent County Cricket Team (1892-1903). Father of concert viola performer, Jean Stewart, and of Lorn Alastair Stewart (Johnnie Stewart), who was creator of Top of the Pops.Henry Jacobs (Aug–Dec 1848)Charles Edward Moberly (1849–1851)John Branthwaite (1851–1859)Henry Walford (1859–1861)Robert Edward Sanderson (1862–1889)Harry Ward McKenzie (1889–1894)Ambrose John Wilson (1895–1901)Bernard Henry Tower (1901–1909)Canon Henry Thomas Bowlby (1909–1925)Cuthbert Harold Blakiston (1925–1934)Frank Cecil Doherty (1935–1953)John Christopher Dancy (1953–1961)Sir Erskine William Gladstone KG Bt (1961–1969)Ian David Stafford Beer (1969–1981)James Stephen Woodhouse (1981–1993)Christopher John Saunders (1993–1998)Peter M. Tinniswood (1998–2005)Richard R. Biggs (acting, 2005–2006)Jonathan William James Gillespie FRSA (Sept 2006–2014)Dominic Oliver (2014–present)