Pair Of Chapels At Isleworth Cemetery

The pair of chapels at Isleworth Cemetery, dating to 1879, were designed by Mr Farnell and represent a vigorous example of High Victorian Gothic architecture, influenced by Ruskin and William Butterfield. They form part of a compact two-and-a-half acre cemetery opened in 1879, and were originally accompanied by a lodge and mortuary building in a matching style.

The chapels are constructed of yellow stock brick with red brick decoration and yellow Gault brick to the interiors, with Bath stone dressings and a fish-scale red tiled roof. The design is a Free Gothic Revival style, comprising a Nonconformist chapel to the north and an Anglican chapel to the south, linked by a central porte cochere. Each chapel has a three-bay plan with a chancel, and features paired lancet windows set between buttresses, with yellow brick window arches and red brick surrounds. Banded red brick is used to the walls. The chancels at each end have clasping buttresses, and the west ends feature rose windows over two lancets, all incorporating brick banding. The central porte cochere incorporates a large, moulded archway within a gable, with angle-set buttresses and a cross motif above, enclosing a shield with the IHS monogram. Above the archway is an octagonal, two-stage spire with a slatted belfry, with lancet openings set between buttresses, and a parapet to the lower section featuring an arcade of trefoil-headed blind openings. The roof of the central crossing is polychrome, featuring moulded ribs and a central boss. Decorative brick facing is visible to some arches, and plank doors feature decorative hinges.

The interior of the Anglican chapel was inspected and features an open-trussed roof, decorative brick polychromy to the walls, serpentine colonnettes to the moulded chancel arch, and a reredos with decorative carving to the centre, flanked by a trefoil-headed arcade. Encaustic tiles are laid to the chancel floor. A stained-glass window in the east wall depicts the Ascension of Christ flanked by Apostles, with a drip-mould featuring carved bosses above.

The Anglican chapel was last used for services around 1970 and has since been used as a council store. Stabilising repairs were carried out to the formerly dangerous spire around 2000.