Description

787/0/10139 PARK ROAD
05-NOV-02 Isleworth
(West,off)
Pair of Chapels at Isleworth Cemetery

II

Isleworth Cemetery Chapels. Pair of cemetery chapels with central porte cochere. 1879, ascribed to Mr Farnell, architect.
MATERIALS: yellow stock brick with red brick decoration and yellow Gault brick to interiors; Bath stone dressings; fish-scale red tiled roof.
PLAN: pair of chapels: each of three bays with chancel, to north (Nonconformist) and south (Anglican) of a central porte cochere.
EXTERIOR: Free Githic Revival. Each chapel is of three bays, each bay with paired lancets, set between buttresses; yellow brick window arches with red brick surrounds. Banded red brick to walls. Chancels to each end with clasping buttresses to corners; large traceried three-light east windows (boarded over at time of inspection). West ends have rose windows over two lancets with further brick banding. Central section comprises a larged moulded archway within a gable, with angle-set buttresses: Cross motif in upper part of gable enclosing a shield with the IHS monogram. Above, an octagonal two-stage spire with a slatted belfry to the lower level, the lancet openings set between buttresses; parapet to lower section with an arcade of trefoil-headed blind openings. Tapering spire above. Within the archway is a lateral passage with arched openings leading to the chapels. The roof of the central crossing is in polychrome bands of stone and brick, with moulded ribs and a central boss. Some decorative brick facing to arches. Plank doors with decorative hinges.
INTERIOR: only that of the Anglican (southern) chapel inspected. Open trussed roof; decorative brick polychromy to walls; Serpentine colonnettes to the moulded chancel arch; reredos with decorative carving to centre, trefoil-headed arcade to either side; encaustic tiles to chancel floor. Stained glass in east window depicting the Ascension of Christ flanked by Apostles. Drip-mould with carved bosses above.
HISTORY: a vigorously designed example of a cemetery chapel, designed in the High Victorian Gothic manner (influenced by Ruskin and William Butterfield) retaining much of its decoration. Isleworth Cemetery was opened in 1879: the chapel dominates the compact two-and-a-half acre cemetery. A lodge and a mortuary were also designed in a matching style. The Anglican chapel was last used for a service in c.1970 and has been used as a council store ever since. Stabilising repairs were carried out to the formerly dangerous spire in c.2000.

SOURCE: Hugh Meller, 'London Cemeteries' (3rd ed.) 171.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26562271

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.

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