Townsend Cemetery Mortuary Chapels And Bell Tower

Townsend Cemetery mortuary chapels and bell tower is a complex of buildings dating from approximately 1874. Constructed in a Decorated Gothic Revival style, the structure is primarily composed of Ham Hill stone for the bell tower, with limestone rubble for the chapels. The chapel roofs are crested slate, with decorative upper courses and hipped ends.

The bell tower is square and features tall pointed arches on its front and rear faces, leading to entrances to the chapels. The corners of the tower support octagonal turrets with spiracles, and the spire is octagonal, pierced with quatrefoils and topped with a gilded cockerel weather vane. The chapels are arranged symmetrically around the tower and linked by short, low corridors with three pointed-arch windows each. The chapels contain large, cinque foil windows in the apexes facing the tower, while the outer ends have canted bays with gabled facets and two-light, trefoil-headed windows. Smaller, single-light, trefoil-headed windows are also present. All windows are leaded, with some geometric, ornamental coloured glass in the gable windows.

Inside the chapels, the walls are painted plaster with stone dressings. The entrances to the gable wings are through tall, paired pointed arches with decorative jambs and moldings. The ceilings are arch-braced, with colonnettes supporting the braces and bosses. The floors are laid with polychromatic tiles, with a step up to the bays. There is a high stone dado rail around both interiors. The mortuary chapels and bell tower represent a fine collection of Victorian cemetery buildings.