Cemetery Chapel, Gorleston Old Cemetery, Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk

Description

839-1/0/10031 MAGDALEN WAY
06-SEP-10 Gorleston-on-Sea
(West side)
Cemetery Chapel, Gorleston Old Cemetery

GV II
Cemetery Chapel of 1889 by J. W. Cockrill in the Gothic Revival style.

MATERIALS: Knapped flint with terracotta quoins, terracotta detailing and plain tiled roof.

PLAN: Rectangular with a porch on the south side and apse at the west end.

EXTERIOR: Plan and Façade: Groups of three tall lancet windows adorn both the apsidal west end and the east end of the chapel, framed in terracotta they stand in stark contrast to the grey knapped flint walls. Two groups of two similar, although smaller windows, are positioned in the north wall. The chapel is entered through a wrought iron gate into the south porch. The gate is flanked by terracotta columns with rosette decorated capitals linked by dogtooth decoration around the architrave. Such decorative detail extends around the eaves of the building and the lancet windows at the eastern end of the chapel. There are angle buttresses on each corner of the building and gable parapets with kneelers at each end of the roof. Most of the plain roof tiles have been replaced recently but the roof structure beneath remains in its original form.

INTERIOR: Internally the walls are faced in brown and cream glazed tiles, a characteristic of many of Cockrills' buildings. The impact of the tiling is enhanced by the continued use of terracotta for quoins, columns and lintels and the alternation of courses of brown and cream tiles on the upper courses of the east and west walls. The coupled rafter roof is simple in execution with corbels displaying the coat of arms for Great Yarmouth and Gorleston. The dog tooth terracotta decoration which is used liberally on the external face is also used internally to frame the large windows at the east end of the chapel. All the pews, the lectern and organ survive. A coffin bier also sits within the chapel.

HISTORY: The development of Gorleston has been closely linked to that of Great Yarmouth, but in the medieval period the two were separate. Located to the south of Great Yarmouth across the River Yare, the historic core of Gorleston is centred at the junction of the High Street and Baker Street with an Austin Friars house to the north. Although primarily a fishing village, farming and brewing grew in importance in the C19. As the village of Gorleston expanded northwards, Great Yarmouth extended its reach south of the river and the two settlements are now co-joined. In the late C19 the resort of Gorleston grew to the south where a number of select residential developments, public and semi-public buildings were constructed. Of these, the Pavilion (1901, J. W Cockrill, Grade II) and the Pier Hotel (1893) are notable. The Borough Council Surveyor, J. W Cockrill (1849-1924) who designed five listed buildings in Great Yarmouth and Gorleston, was born here.
From the 1850's onwards, local authorities began to open municipal cemeteries: often known as Burial Board cemeteries. They came to replace the urban graveyard as the normal place of burial. These were far more numerous than the private cemeteries but echoed their design approaches. Cemetery buildings such as a chapel and lodge have generally been designed to form an integral part of an overall scheme and the ground plan of the cemetery is often by the same hand as the architecture. This certainly applies to Gorleston cemetery which was laid out in 1879 using a design by J. W. Cockrill, whose wife and family are buried in the cemetery. The gate lodge was built by Cockrill in the same year and the chapel, also by Cockrill, was added in 1889.

SOURCES:
Brodie, A and Winter, G `England's Seaside Resorts', English Heritage (2007)
Ferry, K `Powerhouses of Provincial Architecture 1837-1914' The Victorian Society, (2009)45 -58
Martin, J `Cockrill-Doulton Patent Tiles' www.buildingconservation.com
Pearson, L `People's Palaces Britain's Seaside Pleasure Buildings' (1991)53-65.
Pevsner, N and Wilson, B `The Buildings of England: Norfolk 1 Norwich and the North-East' 2nd Ed (1997)488-529
www.pastscape.org.uk, accessed 21st August 2009.
www.gorleston-history.org.uk

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
The cemetery chapel, Gorleston 1889 is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural Interest: It is a carefully detailed chapel displaying an imaginative use of materials and decoration.
* Historic Association: J. W. Cockrill the designer was not only born in Gorleston but instigated the Victorian development of both Great Yarmouth and Gorleston in his 40 years service as Borough Council Surveyor. He has five listed buildings on the list in Great Yarmouth and Gorleston. In addition, his wife and family are buried at the cemetery.
* Materials: The use of knapped flint, terracotta and glazed tiles offers striking contrasts in colour and texture throughout.
* Intactness/Alteration: It survives, all but the roof covering, in its original form both inside and out. The survival of internal fixtures and fittings is particularly rare.
* Group Value: The chapel is integral to the overall design of the cemetery but its group value with the gate and lodge and the adjacent war memorial, listed Grade II, is particularly significant.

Reasons for Listing

The cemetery chapel, Gorleston 1889 is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural Interest: It is a carefully detailed chapel displaying an imaginative use of materials and decoration.
* Historic Association: J. W. Cockrill the designer was not only born in Gorleston but instigated the Victorian development of both Great Yarmouth and Gorleston in his 40 years service as Borough Council Surveyor. He has five listed buildings on the list in Great Yarmouth and Gorleston. In addition, his wife and family are buried at the cemetery.
* Materials: The use of knapped flint, terracotta and glazed tiles offers striking contrasts in colour and texture throughout.
* Intactness/Alteration: It survives, all but the roof covering, in its original form both inside and out. The survival of internal fixtures and fittings is particularly rare.
* Group Value: The chapel is integral to the overall design of the cemetery but its group value with the gate and lodge and the adjacent war memorial, listed Grade II, is particularly significant.

External Links

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.