Description

983/0/10069 HILL LANE
08-APR-08 North western gate piers to Southampton
Cemetery

II
Gate piers, mid-C19.

DESCRIPTION: The gate piers at the north west end of Southampton Old Cemetery are square-on-plan ashlar, set on a moulded stone base with snecked panels of roughly dressed stone and chamfered at the shoulder. Each pier has an octagonal top with armorial decoration displaying a shield emblazoned with a cross on each cardinal face, surmounted by an octagonal moulded cap. The cap to the right pier is missing. The gates are C20 replacements, consisting of wrought iron vertical bars with a cross hatch, iron bar decoration at their mid-point. The overall theme is medieval Gothic.

HISTORY: Southampton Old Cemetery is one of the earliest municipal cemeteries in England. The land for the cemetery was acquired from Southampton Common in 1843 by an Act of Parliament which gave the Corporation control of 15 acres. The Town Council approached the leading landscape gardener, John Claudius Loudon whose work included the cemetery at Histon in Cambridgeshire and Bath Abbey; but his design was rejected. Instead the Town Council organised a competition which was won by William Rogers, a local nurseryman. The cemetery opened in May 1846 as a ten acre site and was extended by a further five acres in 1863. A third phase was added in the early 1880s to bring the Cemetery to its present extent of 27 acres, and featured an avenue of yew trees. The Cemetery was provided with three chapels; a Church of England mortuary chapel (listed Grade II, used as a design studio in 2007), a Jewish mortuary chapel (listed Grade II, in 2007 a privately owned house) and a Nonconformist mortuary chapel (listed Grade II, in 2007 used as a storage area).

Other listed structures in the cemetery include the following: the Lodge, possibly by J and J Francis, dated 1848-1882 (listed Grade II); the main gates and gate piers, about 1880 (listed Grade II); the walls to the east side of the cemetery fronting Hill Lane, mid-C19 (listed Grade II); and, within the cemetery, the Pearce Memorial by the sculptor Richard Cockle Lucas, 1861 (listed Grade II). Southampton Cemetery is included in the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest (GD 2396). There are estimated to be approximately 116,800 burials in the cemetery.

The north west gates are thought to be part of the original extent of the cemetery and are shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1869.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
The north west gate piers to Southampton Old Cemetery are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Dating to the mid-C19 (1846 or soon after), the gates and piers are relatively early in terms of muncipal cemeteries and are therefore of historic interest.
* The piers have architectural interest for their Gothic detailing and are a fitting announcement to this C19 municipal cemetery.
* The north west gate piers to Southampton Cemetery have group value with several other listed structures associated with the cemetery, and form part of a Registered landscape.
SU4127013949

Reasons for Listing

The north west gate piers to Southampton Cemetery has been listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Dating to 1846 or soon after, the gate piers are relatively early in terms of municipal cemeteries and are therefore of historic interest.
* The piers have architectural interest for their Gothic detailing and are a fitting announcement to this C19 municipal cemetery.
* The north west piers and gates to Southampton Cemetery have group value with several other listed structures associated with the cemetery, and form part of the Registered landscape.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671770

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

• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)