Milton Cemetery Chapel

Cemetery chapel, 1910-11, designed by GE Smith. Built in red brick with English bond and stone dressings, with Welsh slate roofs in a Neo-Jacobean style.

The building comprises a 1-bay chancel, 3-bay nave, a projecting south entrance porch, a north-east vestry, and a shallow entrance porch to the east face of the chancel.

The west face of the nave features a moulded stone capped plinth and clasping buttresses, each terminating with a double curved stone coping with two iron finials. Stone banded brickwork runs across the elevation. At the centre is a 6-light wide stone mullioned and twice transomed window with three tiers of segmental pointed headed lights set beneath a serpentine arch with hoodmould. Flanking stone pilasters, each set on an octagonal brick pilaster, frame this window. Sculpture in flat relief appears on each side of the window head and in the tympanum of the facing gable, with lower stone framed brick panels below. A stone parapet and coping with an iron cross at the apex, supported on three stone finials, crowns this elevation.

The south face of the nave has two mullioned and twice transomed 4-light stone windows with a single transomed window at the centre; the lights are segmental pointed headed and set beneath serpentine arches with hoodmoulds. Flanking buttresses match those on the west face, with stone banded brickwork, parapet, and coping. A spirelet rises from an octagonal bellcote at the centre of the roof.

The entrance porch projects from the centre bay. Five stone steps approach the opening, which is topped with a 3-centred stone arch and jambs set beneath a serpentine lintel with hoodmould. The facing gable has a stone parapet and coping, with the tympanum infilled by vertical stone framed brick panels and flanked by sloped pilasters with stone bands. Behind the porch is a 2-leaf door, each leaf containing three narrow vertical panels and a 6-pane upper panel set beneath a 3-centred arch. Left and right returns each carry a small 3-light stone window set under a flat arch, with a stone sillband. Stone parapet and coping complete this element.

The lower chancel has a 4-light mullioned and transomed window similar to those on the nave. The east face of the chancel, with clasped buttresses, features a recessed 2-leaf 8-panelled door at its centre, set beneath a recessed 3-centred stone arch with architrave. A serpentine stone arch with hoodmould frames this entrance, with a broken pediment and vertical stone framed brick panelled tympanum above. The facing gable has a stone parapet and coping; within the gable is a stone sculptured plaque depicting the signs of the Zodiac. The north face of the nave and chancel mirrors the south.

Projecting from the left (east) bay of the nave is a flat roofed vestry with clasped buttresses, plinth, and stone bands. Its left return has a 3-light stone mullioned window set beneath a flat arch; the right return has a 4-panelled door with an upper 8-pane glazed panel set beneath a stone serpentine arch with hoodmould. Five stone steps with attached iron railings approach this door.

Interior: the nave walls have polished grey faience dados with plaster above. The roof is a 3-bay queen post structure with panelled ceiling. The nave floor is raised above the chancel floor and separated by a 3-light wide glazed screen with slim metal columns supporting carved wood uprights to a long 8-light panel with segmental pointed heads set beneath a stone serpentine arch and moulded jambs. All windows contain stained glass featuring 'fruit and foliage' motifs in the Art Nouveau manner.