Cemetery Chapel, Gorleston Old Cemetery

Cemetery Chapel, Gorleston Old Cemetery

This cemetery chapel was built in 1889 by J. W. Cockrill, the Borough Council Surveyor, and is designed in the Gothic Revival style. It stands on the west side of Magdalen Way in Gorleston-on-Sea.

The chapel is constructed of knapped flint with terracotta quoins, terracotta detailing and a plain tiled roof. It has a rectangular plan with a porch on the south side and an apse at the west end.

The exterior is notable for its imaginative use of contrasting materials. Groups of three tall lancet windows adorn both the apsidal west end and the east end, framed in terracotta and standing in stark contrast to the grey knapped flint walls. Two groups of two similar, although smaller, windows are positioned in the north wall. The chapel is entered through a wrought iron gate into the south porch. The gate is flanked by terracotta columns with rosette-decorated capitals linked by dogtooth decoration around the architrave. This decorative detail extends around the eaves of the building and the lancet windows at the eastern end. Angle buttresses stand on each corner of the building, and gable parapets with kneelers sit at each end of the roof. Most of the plain roof tiles have been replaced recently, though the roof structure beneath remains in its original form.

Internally, the walls are faced in brown and cream glazed tiles, a characteristic feature of many of Cockrill's buildings. The terracotta is continued for quoins, columns and lintels, with courses of brown and cream tiles alternating on the upper courses of the east and west walls. The coupled rafter roof is simple in execution with corbels displaying the coat of arms for Great Yarmouth and Gorleston. The dogtooth terracotta decoration used on the external face is also applied internally to frame the large windows at the east end. All the pews, lectern, organ and coffin bier survive.

Cockrill (1849–1924) was born in Gorleston and designed five listed buildings in the area. He laid out the cemetery in 1879 and designed the gate lodge that same year. His wife and family are buried in the cemetery. The chapel was integral to his overall design scheme for the cemetery and remains substantially unaltered.