Eastern Cemetery

Eastern Cemetery, Kingston Upon Hull

Cemetery chapel complex designed in 1931 by David Harvey, Hull City Architect. The building is constructed in red brick with limestone banding and detailing, executed in Lombard or striped Neo-Romanesque style.

The complex follows an abstracted butterfly plan with two symmetrical chapels diverging northwards on either side of a trapezoidal cloister. The centre line of symmetry aligns with the main approach drive through the cemetery. A lavatory and service block occupies the north side of the cloister, while the principal entrance porch is positioned on the south side. The two chapels are mirror images of each other, each with its own internal line of symmetry.

Within each chapel, a central nave is lit by clerestory windows and flanked by side aisles. At the south end is a mortuary separated from the nave by an arcade and three pairs of double doors, with vestibules on either side providing access to the chapel. At the north end is a dais with an arcade matching that of the side aisles, flanked by a vestry on one side and service rooms on the other.

The exterior is built in red brick using Flemish Stretcher Bond with tapered stretchers forming round-headed openings. Three flush bands of limestone ashlars encircle the building: the lower band forms the window cills, while the upper band forms the springs for the brick arches. Similar spaced bands encircle the clerestorys of the two chapels, extending from double cut-back stone surrounds to the clerestory windows. Stone is used for capping the parapets that conceal the low-pitched roofs of the chapel naves and the flat roof of the remainder of the complex. Tuscan columns flank three principal entrances on the south façade. Stone surrounds frame the square-headed entrances to the chapel vestibules and lavatory entrances to the rear. Windows and fanlights over the mortuary doors are metal-framed with fine glazing bars. Rainwater downpipes of square section with decorated hopper-heads form part of the architectural design. The cloister features simple brick-built arcading supporting a lean-to tile roof.

Inside the chapels, the naves are outlined by simple arcading with round-headed arches on plain rectangular Tuscan piers. A cornice runs below the cills of the clerestory windows, and a barrel vault springs from the lower quarter of these windows. Three shallow marble steps rise to the dais at the north end, flanked by unadorned marble pulpits. A reredos formed of three decorative metal grills stands to the rear. Doors throughout the complex are panelled hardwood; the double doors separating the mortuaries and naves are part-glazed. Mortuary flooring is terrazzo.

A war memorial featuring a stylised lion is positioned in the central porch to the left of the entrance to the cloister. It is inscribed with "The British Gas Light Co Ltd 1914 1918. These names shall remain for ever and their glory shall not be blotted out" followed by 62 names in alphabetical order with no indication of rank.