Pair Of Chapels In Cowpen Cemetery

The pair of chapels in Cowpen Cemetery, built around 1875, are designed in a free 14th-century style. Constructed from tooled stone with ashlar dressings, the roofs are made of a mix of Welsh and Lakeland slates, featuring a terracotta ridge. The north elevation is divided into three parts, with a central porch that has a tall moulded arch, stepped diagonal buttresses, and corner pinnacles. These are connected by flying buttresses to an octagonal turret topped with a spire, which rises from the crown of the arch.

On either side of the porch are the gable ends of the chapels, each featuring 3-light windows and trefoiled panels in the gables. These are linked to the porch by lower lobbies that have cinquefoil-headed windows and parapets adorned with pierced quatrefoils. The returns of the chapels each consist of three bays with lancet windows, and the lower bay at the rear of each chapel includes a 2-light window. The chapels are connected by a 20th-century crematorium built in the same style.

Immediately to the left and right of the porch entrance, just clear of the wall, are small flat-topped stones with incised letters: a 'C' on the left and a 'U' on the right. Cowpen Cemetery, which serves both the Church of England and Dissenters, was opened in 1877.