Torquay Cemetery Lodge Including Flanking Walls, Gates And Gate Piers

TORQUAY

SX9065 BARTON ROAD 885-1/10/28 (West side) Torquay Cemetery Lodge including flanking walls, gates and gate piers

GV II

Cemetery Lodge including gates and curtain walls to carriage turn. c1852, the date the cemetery was established. Snecked local grey limestone rubble; Bathstone dressings; natural slate roof; stacks with octagonal stone shafts, one reduced in height. Cast-iron gates and railings. Tudor style. PLAN: Lodge approximately rectangular: rear left service wing, rear right outhouse. Lodge is the centrepiece of an entrance ensemble with gateways to either side and curving curtain walls which incorporate the entrances to 2 small buildings, perhaps storehouses. EXTERIOR: Single-storey lodge. Picturesque asymmetrical front elevation of 3 irregular bays projecting forward from the main block. Porch in centre with a coped gable, moulded 3-centred doorway and recessed plank door. To its right the lodge is gabled to the front with a coped gable and 2-light stone windows of paired lancets below a square-headed dripstone: windows glazed with small-pane sashes. To left of porch and slightly set back a 3-sided turret with moulded string below the parapet and a single lancet in a stone frame. The returns of the main block have 2-light windows, matching those on the front. The rear elevation appears to incorporate some fragments of an earlier building: a section of rubble wall between the rear wings may be pre-C19 and the main block incorporates a probably C19 Beerstone window. INTERIOR not inspected. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Flanking the front of the lodge cast-iron railings on a low chamfered plinth have fleur-de-lis finials above the dog rail and cross finials above the top rail; matching gates. Octagonal gate piers to left and right gates have pyramidal stone caps and moulded cornices. The flanking walls have gabled piers at either end and incorporate 3-centred arched doorways with plank doors and elaborate strap hinges. HISTORY: 17 acre site established by the Torquay Extra-Mural Cemetery Company. (Brooks). (Brooks C (ed.): Mortal Remains: Exeter: 1989-: P.176).

Listing NGR: SX9060365949