A West Sussex Action Group Committed to Protecting a Valued Local Asset
On Saturday the 15th March 2025, many of those involved in getting the Gateway Arch reinstated were able to join the Friends of Centurion Way to celebrate the successful installation that took place on Thursday the 13th.
Other images showing the FoCW archway installation celebration are available in the gallery below.
The Arch is now restored near to Bishop Luffa School with an exotic new livery emphasising the sculptures!
The team from Peter Clutterbuck Blacksmiths and Balfour Beatty started at just after 8 o’clock today, March 13th 2025, and erected the refurbished sculpture and structure with minimal disruption. Tomorrow should see the final concrete and soil infilled to complete the process.
View of The Arch looking north: showing the new joining bracket with the reinstallation date of 2025 facing south and the original 1995 installation date facing north
Carley Sitwell and Sarah Sharp eagerly watched the installation progress. They both spoke on camera in the following two videos. There was a lot of construction noise in the first location so we made a second recording taken further South on the path. Both videos are included below. They both cover the similar points but with less background noise in the second recording.
Images of the installation work in progress are available in the following gallery.
Ian Swann is organising a medium pace mountain bike ride for Wed 12th March starting at Centurion Way Bridge over Newland’s Lane.
Anyone is welcome to join this informal ride but with the understanding that it is not an officially led ride and FoCW lacks insurance for accidents. Therefore, participants will be responsible for their own safety.
The plan is to ride over Kingley Vale arriving at the Selsey Arms for Dinner and a Pint. We will then return to Chichester riding along Centurion Way.
Last week brought panic and a flurry of activity. Indeed, concerns from WSCC, lamp-post companies and also with issues of excessive cutting of nearby tree roots, caused doubts that the project could proceed at all.
Julia Smith and Carley Sitwell have now skilfully negotiated an alternative site, about 50 meters further North along the path, where the restored Archway can be installed.
This alternative location appears to keeps everyone happy – Bishop Luffa school, Miller-Linden developers, WSCC, Balfour Beatty and tree wardens. It’s in a clearing where the sun shines down! It really looks a good location!!
The Archway project also benefits from Chichester City Council kindly granting an additional £900 funding.
The new location is already being excavated in readiness for installation of the footings.
Carley has recently visited Peter Clutterbuck’s forge in Southsea and met with the SDNPA.
Julia Smith describes progress as “Exciting!!”.
WSCC and the lamp-post companies have decided the archway can no longer be reinstated in its original position. The concern seems to be about space needed to maintain the lamps (presumably changing the bulbs) and potential damage to the lighting cables when installing the new footings.
In addition, excavations around the remaining “archway boot” on Bishop Luffa’s land, reveal there is too much embedded concrete to contend with and too many tree roots to cut. It also seems impossible to reinstate the archway in its original position without dangerously weakening the surrounding tree roots.
As all our plans to reinstate the Archway hinge on us having obtained planning permission to re-erect the arch in its original position, it looks doubtful the project can proceed.
This is a disaster as Southsea blacksmith Peter Clutterbuck has almost finished his work reconstructing and rebuilding the arch.
We are now considering if the newly restored Archway could instead be erected in Carley Sitwell or Julia Smith’s garden because we now lack permission for it to be installed on a public site.
Work has started today on the footings for the renovated Centurion Way arch at the railway bridge with our WSCC appointed contractors. It has taken five years of work and fundraising to get to this point. Super exciting! The concrete footings will take three weeks to set and so we are on track to get the arch restored, gilded and back up in March. In conjunction with the South Downs National Park, plans for an information board are in progress and will follow.
We are still fundraising so if you can support please donate via GoFundMe at https://gofund.me/c039016c
Centurion Way is now the permanent home of a scale model of the Solar System
For those that remember, back in 2021 there was a temporary scale model of the solar system along Centurion Way…well it’s back, and this time permanently!
Starting with The Sun, just under the bridge at Brandy Hole copse and finishing with Pluto, by the slope down to West Dean, this 6.5km route has markers placed for each planet, at the distance they would be in relation to each other at a scale of ~928,000,000:1.
On top of each marker is a QR code which takes you to the interactive ‘Centurion Way Solar System Scale Model’ website, which has pictures of each celestial body to the same scale, as well as lots of fun facts.
It’s a great way to encourage kids interested in space to go out on a walk or for a cycle, and to appreciate relatively just how far away the planets are from the Sun, and us!
More details are available on the following website.
https://solarsystem.eastbroyle.org/
Images of parts of the Solar System model installation are shown below
Ian Swann and I paid a visit to Peter’s forge/workshop last week with Richard Farrington, the original arch sculptor. It was such an amazing feeling walking down a narrow alleyway behind Osborne Road in Southsea and entering a tiny courtyard full of old bits of metal of many sizes, to find the two
key people of the Arch Restoration Project comfortably chatting away in the sunlight discussing the finer details of the arch construction. I had been looking forward to this visit ever since the FOCW had engaged Peter Clutterbuck to carry out the reconstruction of Richard Farrington’s original Gateway Arch to Centurion Way in November 2022.
It was an exciting and really interesting morning and lovely to meet Peter’s team of two, John Duffield and Patrick Mannerings, (not forgetting Mouse the long haired dachshund) who assist Peter in the creation an exceptional variety of structures in such an amazingly small space. There are so many examples of their work all over Portsmouth, in the surrounding areas of Hampshire and much further afield.
Do have a look at their website, Peter Clutterbuck Blacksmiths – https://peteclutterbuck.co.uk . We are very lucky to have such a competent and inspirational team restoring the Centurion Way Arch.
Carley Sitwell
Below is a picture of Carley Sitwell with Richard Farrington (Sculptor and creator of the original archway), Peter Clutterbuck (designer craft blacksmith restoring the Archway), John Duffield and Patrick Mannerings (Peters team of forge blacksmiths).
Below are examples of some of their work
On the 1st January 2025, the Friends of Centurion Way hope you can join us for an informal walk From Chichester to the Amphitheatre and Railwaymen Gang Sculptures.
We will meet at the railway bridge at Bishop Luffa at 11am.
Carley Sitwell (Leader of the FoCW Archway Restoration Project) will begin at 11:00am with a brief update about the projects progress. Indeed, our blacksmith Peter Clutterbuck should already be beating the archway metal into shape as we begin beating the pathways bounds on the 1st of Jan.
At around 11:10 we will begin a stroll up to the amphitheatre at people’s own pace. Chichester Trishaw may be making an appearance. You are very welcome to bring a bike, if you’d prefer to explore the path further North up to to Singleton.
If possible, please promote the upcoming event using the poster available on this PDF format link.
FoCW meetings on the path to start the New Year are becoming a local tradition. Links to some previous years event posts and images are shown below.
New Years Day 2024 Meeting at Mid-Day on the Path to Launch Sculpture Archway Reinstatement Bid
New Years Day 2022 Walk and Cycle on Centurion Way
New Years day of 2021 the Centurion Way people counter first began continuously logging how many people use the Southern end of Centurion Way.
On New Years Day 2020, the Friends of Centurion Way met on the path to enjoy mince pies, sausage rolls and mulled wine.
New Years Day 2019 Walk and Cycle on Centurion Way
Theo did a great job playing the backing to the Christmas Carols on the electric piano despite the inclement wind and rain.
Friends of Centurion Way raised their voices in song as the rain did its best to dissolve the song sheets.
Carley kept everyone’s spirits high by supplying mulled wine and mince pies.
Mark Simmons who organises the Chichester Fun Bike Rides, kindly took photos of the FOCW Christmas event.
Come and join the Friends of Centurion Way on the path for mulled wine and mince pies and some carols to celebrate Christmas. We will be meeting:
Where – at the site of the Arch Restoration Project (next to the railway bridge crossing on Centurion Way)
When – Wednesday 18th December 2024 at 5.30pm – 6.30pm
Do come along – we can also tell you more about the Arch Restoration with a little display!
Image file of the event’s poster available on this link and is also shown below.
