Eastgate Chapel was eventually put up for auction by Messrs. Whitehead and Whitehead of South Street, Chichester on 24th March, 1954 and was subsequently purchased by the Chichester City Council for use for secular purposes. The Charity Commission were willing to consider half the proceeds being devoted to the new Baptist Church, the other half to the Unitarians, but the Trustees (The General Baptist Assembly) and the British and Foreign Unitarian Association, invoked the Agreement of 1916 and in a letter, dated 10th January, 1955, the then General Secretary of the Baptist Union, Dr. Ernest Payne, said he had consulted “some of our older and trusted leaders” and it was felt that the Union was morally bound by the Resolution of 1916 and accordingly must “use to the utmost its influence to prevent anything being done which would in any way break in upon this Agreement and Settlement”.

When eventually (in October 1958) 2 Raper & Co., Solicitors of 55, West Street, Chichester, gave notice on behalf of the Charity Commission to establish a Scheme for the regulation of the General Baptist Chapel and associated Charities, six Charities were enumerated, viz:

1. The Charity called the General Baptist Chapel;
2. The Charity consisting of the Endowment for the General Baptist Chapel;
3. The General Baptist Chapel Repair Charity;
4. The Charity of Dame Elizabeth Farrington and others for the minister of the General Baptist Chapel;
5. The Charity consisting of certain trust funds administered in connexion with the General Baptist Chapel;
6. The Charity of Sarah Evershed.

The total value of these Charities at that time was £7167.10s.8d.

Dr. Payne acknowledged that the decision of the Union that nothing could be done about dividing the proceeds of this sale would be disappointing to the new Church, but as by that time a site for a new building was being acquired at Sherborne Road, Chichester, he undertook to see what grants could be made available both towards the purchase of the site and the cost of the first building.

‘Chichester’ and its history had been brought to the notice of the Baptist Union and there was a mind to help on the part of the General Secretary.

At that time also, the General Superintendent of the Southern Area, the Rev. Harold V. Larcombe, covered Hampshire as well as Sussex, and the Secretary of the new Baptist Church reminded him of the 17th century connections between Chichester and Portsmouth and suggested that, although the two cities were now in different Baptist Associations, any surplus money in Portsmouth might possibly be ‘ported’ to Chichester. The outcome was astonishing. But that must wait until a later chapter.

Records relating to Eastgate Chapel and Baffins Lane Chapel were deposited with the West Sussex County Record Office, Chichester, by the General Secretary of the British and Foreign Unitarian Association in April 1976 and by the Vice-President of the Unitarian Historical Society in February, 1992. They included a catalogue of books belonging to the Baptist Church library, Chichester, 1791, an Amsterdam Bible and four pewter church plates.

In September 2000, following representations from the Chichester Society, the Department of the Environment decided that Eastgate Hall (the former General Baptist Chapel) be listed as a Grade II Building of historic and architectural interest.

²Public Notice dated 31st October, 1958, in the Chichester Observer