Cemetery Chapels

The Cemetery Chapels, located within Gloucester Cemetery, were built in 1857 by Medland and Maberly for the Corporation of the City of Gloucester. They are constructed of ashlar stone, with detailing in a darker stone, and feature gabled tiled roofs. Later repairs have been made to the roof, but the original diaper pattern of red and black tiles and the decorative ridge tiles have been retained. The design is in the Decorated Gothic style.

The chapels are arranged symmetrically, with two parallel structures – one for Anglicans and one for Nonconformists – flanking a tall, central tower. The tower contains a central carriageway for access. Each chapel has entrances from both the carriageway through a cross passage and from a central entrance porch on its outer side.

The tower comprises two square stages and an inset octagonal stage, originally intended to be topped with a spire. The lower stages of the tower include diagonal corner buttresses with gablet offsets and panelled pinnacles and pieced parapets. The octagonal stage has angle buttresses and a crenellated parapet, with each canted face supported by a pierced flying buttress. Arched entries to the carriageway are on the east and west sides of the tower, and two-light windows with cusped tracery are found on each cardinal face of the octagon.

The west gable-end walls of each chapel feature a central offset buttress between two two-light windows with cusped tracery and hoodmoulds. The east gable-end walls each have a three-light window with the same detailing, and arched roof-lights with varied tracery and hoodmoulds are in the apex of each gable. The side walls of each chapel contain two-light windows with cusped heads to each light, and the outer porches have coped gables, moulded arched doorways with hoodmoulds, and a quatrefoil light on each side.

The interior of the chapels was not inspected. The complex is a well-preserved example of linked chapels, a common feature of Victorian-era corporation cemeteries.