Anglican And Non-Conformist Chapels At Tewkesbury Cemetery

Anglican and Non-Conformist Chapels at Tewkesbury Cemetery

The linked chapels at Tewkesbury Cemetery were built in 1856 to designs by Gloucester architect James Medland. They are sited within the cemetery on Gloucester Road.

The building is constructed of ashlar and snecked stone from Westmancote Hill, with Murrell Down stone used for the window tracery. The roofs are covered with Staffordshire tiles laid alternately as plain red and blue fish-scale bands. Internally, the floor of the Anglican chapel has modern tiles, and the roofs of both chapels are constructed of English oak.

Each chapel is built on a single-cell rectangular plan, with attached porches. The porte-cochere between the chapels is also rectangular and narrower than the adjoining chapels.

The western elevation consists of three gables, one to each chapel and a central one to the porte-cochere between them. Each chapel gable contains a large three-light window with flowing rectilinear tracery and hood mould above. At the apex of each is a small trefoil opening, and the Nonconformist chapel gable is surmounted by a small cross finial. The Anglican chapel is missing its corresponding finial. At each end of the elevation are angle buttresses which die into the corners by an offset. At either side of the central porte-cochere are stepped buttresses topped by crocketed pinnacles with a gablet on each face. The pointed-arched opening to the porte-cochere is moulded, with an attached column with foliate capitals and a drip mould with head stops. At the apex of the porte-cochere gable is a bellcote supported by four piers, the westernmost of which sits atop a corbel with a carved angel. The bellcote is topped by an octagonal spirelet with crockets and a cross finial. The north and south elevations have matching gabled porches with small angle buttresses, flanked on each side by two-light pointed-arched windows. The east elevation consists of the rear gables of each chapel, each with angle buttresses, and the rear gable of the porte-cochere, which is slightly set back from the chapel elevations. The tracery of the east window in the Anglican chapel matches that of the west window of the Nonconformist chapel, and vice versa. A projecting plinth with chamfered top girds the chapels. Adjacent to the north wall of the Anglican chapel are two stone coffins which were removed from the neighbouring land known as the Vineyards at an unknown date.

The interior of the Anglican chapel is a single-cell space with a modern tiled floor. The original pews and lectern survive, as does the decorative metalwork on the doors. The roof retains some of its original timbers. The Nonconformist chapel has been adapted for use as a store but retains its original roof and a decorative cast iron fireplace. Each chapel has plain glass, and both chapels have scissor-braced roof trusses.

In response to the burial crises of the 1830s and 40s, the Burial Board Acts of the 1850s were passed, enabling parish councils to open municipal cemeteries. Many towns and cities in England began to open new cemeteries at an increasing rate, separate from traditional burial grounds and away from established places of worship. Tewkesbury Burial Board was set up in 1854, with the cemetery being laid out in 1856 and opened in 1857. James Medland of Gloucester designed both the two chapels at the centre of the cemetery and the landscape layout with his partner Alfred Maberley. As was common practice for new cemeteries, one chapel was consecrated for Anglican worship, while the other was unconsecrated for Nonconformist worship. Both chapels remained in use until the later twentieth century, when the Nonconformist chapel was taken out of use and converted to store use, while the Anglican chapel remained in use at the time of inspection in 2009.