Chichester College Students Carve Out Success in Traditional Carpentry Challenge 

Students from the college recently joined others from the Chichester College Group for a fascinating training day covering traditional carpentry & joinery techniques.

The two-day course was organised for students from Brighton MET, Chichester and Crawley College by the Sussex Heritage Trust.

Held at the same site as the hit BBC TV show The Repair Shop, this workshop utilised the skills of specialist lecturers at the Weald and Downland Living Museum.

It was designed to give students a taste of classic carpentry techniques, using the same tools they would have utilised roughly 300 years ago.

The day began with a tour of the museum, including a viewing of some original 300-year-old timbers that were taken from an old house.

After the tour, students were challenged to recreate this element by constructing a wall plate – a horizontal, load‑bearing timber used in traditional frameworks to support the structure of a house roof.

This proved particularly challenging, as students were not allowed to use nails or screws. Instead, they had to rely solely on hand‑cut joints, meaning every piece had to fit together with absolute precision.

Helen Loftus, Principal of Chichester College, said:
“Opportunities like this are invaluable for our students. The task required a level of precision that pushed them beyond modern‑tool convenience, and they rose to it brilliantly.

“Experiencing traditional carpentry first‑hand, using the same tools and techniques craftspeople relied on hundreds of years ago, gives them a much deeper appreciation of their trade. We’re incredibly proud of the craftsmanship they demonstrated throughout the course.”

To learn more about some of the Construction courses available at the college, please click here.