Lodge House to Friends' Cemetery

Lodge House to Friends' Cemetery is a cemetery lodge built in 1855, designed by local architect Frederick Chancellor. It is in the Italianate style, constructed from stock brick with stone dressings around the windows and a projecting stone stringcourse at the first-floor cill level. The slate roof features two tall lateral brick stacks with decorated heads on the north and west sides. The building has an L-shaped plan and stands two storeys high.

On the left side, there is one window with a double round-headed cast iron window on the first floor and a triple round-headed cast iron window on the ground floor, both with semi-circular stone heads and subdivided by marginal and horizontal glazing bars. The eaves project with exposed rafter feet and shaped brackets at the corners and under the ridge. There is a lean-to on the south side and single-storey pitched roof extensions to the north, which include a double round-headed window.

Inside, the timber shutters for the windows remain in place. Quaker meetings were held in a purpose-built Meeting House in Duke Street, Chelmsford, from 1824 to 1957. Frederick Chancellor, who arrived in Chelmsford in 1846 and became the first Mayor in 1888, designed various types of buildings throughout his career. The Lodge is an early example of his work while he was a partner in the firm Beadle, Son and Chancellor. Drawings of the lodge can be found in the Essex Records Office under reference D/F8.596.