Description

249/80/139 HARROW ROAD W10
30-OCT-64 KENSAL GREEN CEMETERY
The Anglican Chapel

(Formerly listed as:
HARROW ROAD W10
KENSAL GREEN CEMETERY
CHAPEL)

GV I

Anglican chapel, colonnades and catacombs. 1835-36. By John Griffith for the General Cemetery Company. Portland stone and stucco. Central chapel consists of a Greek Doric tetrastyle portico with pediment over baseless fluted columns, raised on a podium with steps in centre; inner, side and rear walls faced with channelled rustication; front elevation comprises a central door with surround, with a smaller door to the north; rear elevation with paired pilasters flanking rectangular window, with segmental window above. Chapel flanked by three-bay colonnades, with nine-bay returns to the north and south: each bay comprises a pair of fluted Doric columns set between pilasters, with anthemion terminals above the parapet over each column. Each of the north and south colonnades terminates in square pavilions, formerly roofed: the western ones contain marble memorial sculptures commemorating (in the north) the family of John Lough and (south) Robert Sievier, carved by Lough and Sievier respectively; other memorial plaques along the southern colonnade.

Interior: antechamber with coffered ceiling screened from chapel with a pair of Doric columns. Chapel square in plan, with short extensions to each side; centre covered with a Soanian domical vault, fluted, with a central rosette within a Greek key-enriched border; channelled pendentives with circular rosettes. Doric frieze carried on pilasters. West window with modern glass depicting Christ in Majesty; segmental window inside Greek key border above.

Catacombs: the chapel and colonnades stand on top of an extensive system of catacombs, consisting of a central spine corridor with six corridors on each side: vaulted brick walls and ceilings, York stone floors and shelves; each corridor is lined with compartments filled with shelving for coffins, some of which are concealed with marble covers and others screened with cast iron grilles. Each corridor terminates in a semi-circular ventilation shaft. In centre of the spine corridor stands a hydraulic catafalque (restored 1995-97), used for lowering coffins from the chapel to the catacombs.

History: the chapel was damaged by bombing in 1940 and restored in 1954 under E.R. Bingham Harriss.

Listing NGR: TQ2375182538

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17527910

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)