Western Entrance Gates to Arnos Vale Cemetery

Western Entrance Gates to Arnos Vale Cemetery

A gateway dating from the mid-19th century, consisting of three gatepiers and two short lengths of flanking wall. The piers and walls are constructed of Pennant stone and brick, with iron gates.

The structure comprises two wide openings and a smaller pedestrian entrance to the south. The gates to the wide openings are 19th-century iron gates with spear tops and segmental-arched bracing towards the bottom. The gate to the pedestrian entrance is a 20th-century addition. The piers are of square section with coped tops and low plinths.

To the north runs a short length of stone rubble wall with brick capping, which ends at its junction with a 20th-century brick outbuilding to the adjacent house. To the south is a fragment of the original wall of similar construction to the northern wall.

The western entrance dates from the mid-19th century during the second phase of the cemetery's development and forms the secondary entrance to the site. Arnos Vale Cemetery was developed following an Act of Parliament in 1837, when the Bristol General Cemetery Company was formed and petitioned to establish a general cemetery near the City. The company purchased the Arnos Vale Estate and in 1838 demolished a villa that had stood on the site. Charles Underwood, the architect, was commissioned to design the laying out of the site and the construction of walls, lodges and chapels, with work completed by October 1840 when the Anglican section was consecrated. The cemetery was significantly expanded between 1855 and 1880 following the closure of the City churchyards. Further extensions were purchased in 1880 and 1891. A crematorium, cloister and columbarium were added in 1927–9, designed by H G Laing of Lincoln's Inn, London, and continued in use until 1998.

The gateway is substantially intact, retaining its original stone piers and wrought-iron gates.