The Lady Chapel

With the main Chapel taking years to complete, the Lady Chapel was built as a separate project by one of King’s most loyal benefactors, Martin Gibbs. Gibbs was a member of the merchant and banking family of Tyntesfield, near Bristol and had been educated at Woodard’s original school, Lancing College. He personally designed and funded the Lady Chapel, dedicating it to Henry Meynell. The Lady Chapel was completed in 1904.

Gibbs presented the Lady Chapel with its altar and the Flemish triptych. The doors when closed illustrate The Annunciation and when open depict (from left to right) the slaughter of the innocents, the Nativity and Jesus’ presentation at the Temple. The triptych dates from around 1550 and is unusual in having a carved central panel.

Also in the Lady Chapel is a portrait of Bishop Richard Fox. The portrait, believed to date from the mid-17^th century (although much restored), originally hung in the schoolroom of Fox’s Grammar School in Taunton. It was purchased along with the buildings by Nathaniel Woodard in 1879 who wished it to be permanently hung in his new school.