Nonconformist Cemetery Chapel

Nonconformist cemetery chapel, 1847, by GH Stokes under the direction of Joseph Paxton.

MATERIALS: limestone ashlar facing to sandstone masonry, with a slate roof.

PLAN: the chapel stands towards the southern end of the cemetery, on relatively level and open ground.

The main range is a roughly north-facing oblong, with wings projecting to the east and west. It resembles a classical temple, with an in antis plan.

EXTERIOR: the chapel takes the form of a classical temple. On the north front are two giant fluted ionic columns in antis, closely flanked by paired Tuscan antae. The entablature and pediment have dentil cornices. Set back in the plain wall behind the Ionic columns is a central doorway with a pair of double panelled doors, in a moulded architrave with a frieze and cornice above. Above the doorway is a blank tablet.

Single-storey wings, slightly recessed, project on either side. Each has three bays articulated by pilasters; the bay adjoining the chapel is blind, and the outer two are open, leading into enclosures intended to house mural tablets. Roofs, originally hidden behind the parapets, have been lost.

The return elevations have two bays separated by paired pilasters, and the south end, like the north, has a pediment and paired angle pilasters. There are flat-arched windows, now blocked, in eared architraves.

INTERIOR: following the early-C21 fire the chapel has an unfinished interior, having lost its dado panelling and plasterwork. The inner sandstone structure is exposed, showing brick linings to the openings, all but one of which have been temporarily blocked up. The roof has been completely replaced.