North Western Gate Piers to Southampton Cemetery

Gate piers to Southampton Cemetery, mid-19th century.

The gate piers at the north west end of Southampton Old Cemetery are square-on-plan ashlar, set on a moulded stone base with snecked panels of roughly dressed stone and chamfered at the shoulder. Each pier has an octagonal top with armorial decoration displaying a shield emblazoned with a cross on each cardinal face, surmounted by an octagonal moulded cap. The cap to the right pier is missing. The gates themselves are 20th-century replacements, consisting of wrought iron vertical bars with a cross hatch and iron bar decoration at their mid-point. The overall design follows a medieval Gothic theme.

Southampton Old Cemetery is one of the earliest municipal cemeteries in England. The land was acquired from Southampton Common in 1843 by Act of Parliament, giving the Corporation control of 15 acres. The Town Council initially approached the leading landscape gardener John Claudius Loudon, whose previous work included the cemetery at Histon in Cambridgeshire and Bath Abbey, but his design was rejected. Instead, the Town Council organised a competition which was won by William Rogers, a local nurseryman. The cemetery opened in May 1846 as a ten-acre site and was extended by a further five acres in 1863. A third phase was added in the early 1880s, bringing the cemetery to its present extent of 27 acres and featuring an avenue of yew trees.

The cemetery was originally provided with three chapels: a Church of England mortuary chapel, a Jewish mortuary chapel, and a Nonconformist mortuary chapel, all of which are separately listed Grade II. Other listed structures associated with the cemetery include the Lodge, the main gates and gate piers (dated about 1880), the walls to the east side fronting Hill Lane (mid-19th century), and the Pearce Memorial by the sculptor Richard Cockle Lucas (1861). The cemetery is included in the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. The north west gate piers are thought to be part of the original extent of the cemetery and are shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1869. There are approximately 116,800 burials in the cemetery.