A West Sussex Action Group Committed to Protecting a Valued Local Asset
Project to restore Richard Farrington’s wonderfull Archway Sculpture
The Friends of Centurion Way team who manage our archway restoration and path enhancement fund, joined an evening meeting at the Chichester Inn on the 17th November 2025. Carley Sitwell excitedly showed a photo of Peter Clutterbuck’s latest sketched ideas for a bench to be sited near to the Southern Gateway Arch on Centurion Way.…
The South Downs National Park Authority are opening a new route through to Singleton Station and beyond to Cucumber Hill. Please follow this “Full Seam Ahead” link to navigate to the official South Downs National Park Authority introduction to their event. On the weekend of the 23rd and 24th August from 10am to 2pm, a…
FoCW will hold an invitation only official opening of the reinstated archway that will take place on the 20th August 2025. Afterwards, South Downs National Park Authority will hold another invitation only opening event. This will be for the Centurion Way route extension to Singleton Station and beyond. Ian Swann (Chairman of FoCW) provides the…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…