THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY IN CHICHESTER

Registered charity 1205740 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL

Chichester Cathedral is a living, working place of worship that has been at the centre of life in Chichester for over nine centuries. Built to the glory of God, the Cathedral is the Mother Church of the Diocese of Chichester which covers East and West Sussex. It was founded in 681 as the ancient Diocese of Selsey, which was based at Selsey Abbey, until the see was translated to Chichester in 1075.

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Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the Cathedral incurred an operating deficit of £752,387 and a total deficit of £884,079 for the year ended 31 March 2025, resulting in a reduction of total funds to £35,899,075. The trustees acknowledge that this level of deficit is not sustainable long-term and have launched a five-year financial recovery strategy to reduce the deficit and rebuild unrestricted reserves. Despite the deficit, the auditors concluded that the use of the going concern basis of accounting is appropriate with no material uncertainties identified.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Lewis Brownlee (Chichester) Limited. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Chichester Cathedral (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• The Very Reverend Dr Edward Dowler — Dean of Chichester (source)
• Alison George — Director of Fundraising (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Property (HM Land Registry)

8 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (7 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~1.5 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 26.5% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Anita Rolls · trustee of 1 other charity
• Dr Robert Edward Mackenzie Dowler · trustee of 6 other charities
• Gabrielle Higgins · trustee of 1 other charity
• Howard Castle-Smith
• John David Sebastian Booth · trustee of 1 other charity
• Justin Peter Harrington · trustee of 1 other charity
• Rev Angela Martin · trustee of 1 other charity
• Revd Canon Vanessa Baron · trustee of 1 other charity

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: West Sussex

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).