Page 9 - Percy Currey - Derby School Architect

However, the foundation stone was preserved by the contractors and the inscription can be translated as:
“In memory of a most beloved man and brother, the Reverend Walter Clark BD, headmaster of Derby School for 22 years, this stone was placed by Clara Clark 18th December 1891 in the foundations of the chapel built by the devotion of his
First Phase of the Chapel Build
friends and pupils.”
Work progressed and the readership was informed in July of 1892 that the “new chapel is rapidly becoming a reality.” The three bays of the chancel building were completed in March 1893, being described as in the Decorated style consisting of Leicestershire brick and Coxbench stone drawn from the quarries close to Little Eaton, the work so far costing £1003. High above the
foundation stone and the east window was a niche in which, said the local paper, “may be placed a figure of the founder of the School, Walter Durdant, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield in 1160.” (These east front niches were to become something of a Currey trade mark in his later church building, but it appears that only St. Thomas at Somercotes (1901) has a statue in situ. The School chapel was never graced with a statue, whether of the said bishop or as was later
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