Anglican, Nonconformist and Mortuary Chapels at Great Malvern Cemetery, Great Malvern, Worcestershire

Summary

A pair of chapels of 1861-1863 by WH Knight for the Great Malvern Burial Board, with central tower probably added by H Haddon in 1873-1874, and an adjacent Mortuary chapel by AC Baker of 1887.

Description

A pair of chapels of 1861-1863 by WH Knight for the Great Malvern Burial Board, with central tower probably added by H Haddon in 1873-1874, and an adjacent Mortuary chapel by AC Baker of 1887.

MATERIALS: the chapels are built of random stone with ashlar dressings under tile roofs. The central tower is of coursed stone with ashlar dressings and a stone spire.

PLAN: the chapels are laid out side by side, although the Anglican chapel is slightly further south than the Nonconformist. Both are orientated roughly north-south. The central tower connects the chapels and is open at the base on three sides. The Mortuary chapel stands approximately 5 metres north of the Anglican chapel, and is orientated east-west. The chapels were originally approached from the main entrance to the south; the modern entrance is from the north.

EXTERIOR: the original chapels are characterised by their Decorated Gothic style with steep gables and tall, sloping roofs, with the central tower standing high above them. The chapels have high plinths and continuous sill bands with buttresses and pointed arch windows under hoodmoulds. The hoodmoulds throughout have ornately-carved label stops.

The Anglican chapel has a tall, three-light window on its south elevation with curvilinear tracery; above this, a small oculus with three mouchettes and a stone cross surmounting the gable. Flanking to the west is a short corridor containing the main entrance under the tower. The south side of the corridor has three two-light windows with trefoil heads and small trefoil openings above. To the east, the exit door is contained in a small, projecting porch with two windows flanking to the north. Above these there are three dormers with traceried windows. The north elevation has a central two-light window and a quatrefoil opening above. To the east, in the space between the two chapels, there is a further dormer window above a two-light window, and the projecting polygonal vestry at the rear of the connecting corridor with trefoil-headed windows in each plane.

The tower which connects the two chapels is open on its north, south and east sides and is of three stages with a tall broach spire above and diagonal buttresses on each corner. There are square openings in the second stage above the ground floor arches, and the third stage has two-light belfry openings with reticulated tracery and pierced stone panels. The spire above has tall, slender lucarnes at its base.

The Nonconformist chapel's southern elevation has a large, three-light window with intersecting tracery flanked by buttresses, a Reuleaux triangle above and a carved stone cross at the apex of the gable. The entrance door is on the east elevation and sits under a deep porch, with a tall hood supported on thick stone buttresses and carved corbels. This is flanked by a single lancet window to the south and a pair of lancets to the north. The north elevation has a large, two-light window with an oculus above, and the west elevation has a further pair of lancets and a projecting gable for the vestry within.

The Mortuary chapel stands just to the north of the Anglican chapel. It is a single-cell building with a gabled roof, in a similar design to the main chapels with diagonal buttresses at each corner and two-light traceried windows in each gable. It is entered through a pointed arch door in moulded surround on its north side, and there are two louvered ventilation openings in each roof plane.

INTERIOR: the entrance to the Anglican chapel opens on to a short corridor, with a tall roof supported on carved corbels. To the right, an ornate ogee door surround gives access to the vestry, which retains an original fireplace and water closet with decorated ceramic bowl. The main chapel space has a high roof with thick timbers supported on moulded hammer beams and carved corbels. The floor is of parquet and there is free-standing seating, with what appears to be an original altar.

The Nonconformist chapel retains a flagstone floor and a roof supported on carved corbels, but is otherwise used for storage and has had a freestanding mezzanine structure inserted.

The Mortuary chapel has a quarry tile floor and a simple timber roof. It retains an original fireplace and what appear to be original gas lamps.

History

From around the mid-C18 onwards, England's towns were experiencing a growing burial crisis, where traditional churchyards and burial grounds were becoming overcrowded and increasingly unhygienic. This prompted the development of new ideas for burial, including the opening of new urban cemeteries. These were laid out as a new type of landscape, taking inspiration from the C18 country house pleasure grounds, with networks of paths and walks with ornamental planting, and the idea of cemeteries also as places of pleasure and social gathering. These cemeteries often had their own chapels and burial plots which were divided between religious denominations. They became places where people of all social classes could be buried, and where family and friends would meet to walk the grounds. These were known as garden cemeteries, and they were generally operated on a commercial basis by private companies. Their numbers were increasing particularly from around the 1820s.

Despite these new cemeteries, the problem of overcrowded burial grounds became acute in the first half of the C19. Cholera epidemics of the 1830s and 1840s prompted action from the governments of the day, with a series of Acts of Parliament in the 1850s becoming known as the Burial Acts, giving local authorities the power to open public cemeteries. These were generally set up by local Burial Boards, who often held competitions to find designers for these new public cemeteries.

At Great Malvern, the town saw considerable growth through the C18 and C19, particularly as a fashionable spa resort. This led to the inevitable problems with finding appropriate burial space and thus the Great Malvern Burial Board was established in the late 1850s with parishioners appointed to the board to investigate options for a new cemetery. They set about acquiring land for the new cemetery, and in the early 1860s held a competition for the design. This was won by the Cheltenham architect William Hill Knight, whose successful design proposed a pair of chapels standing in landscaped grounds, with a lodge at the entrance. Knight had already laid out Hereford Cemetery (1858), and was working on Bouncer's Lane Cemetery, Cheltenham at around the same time as Malvern, and would go on to design Shipston-on-Stour Cemetery (1863).

The chapels were laid out with the Anglican chapel to the east, and the Nonconformist chapel to the west. These were approached via a central drive from the entrance to the south. It appears that the central tower was added between 1873 and 1874 by Henry Haddon, it being of a different stone from the chapels, and with carving by William Forsyth of Worcester possibly carried out at the same time. It seems likely that a central tower would have been intended by Knight, but was perhaps not carried out at the time of the original construction. The relationship of the tower with the corridor which connects to the Anglican chapel bears similarities with Knight's chapels at Cheltenham Cemetery.

It has been suggested that Haddon was also responsible for building the gates and boundary wall at this time. A stylistic comparison with WH Knight's roughly contemporary gates at Cheltenham Cemetery would seem, however, to suggest that the Malvern gates are by his hand, of 1861, rather than by Haddon.

The small mortuary chapel which stands adjacent to the chapels was built by AC Baker in 1887.

Reasons for Listing

The Anglican and Nonconformist Chapels at Great Malvern Cemetery, by WH Knight of 1861-1863 and Henry Haddon of 1873-1874, and the Mortuary Chapel by AC Baker of 1887, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* The chapels form a good group of mid-late C19 cemetery buildings of quality, designed in an accomplished Decorated Gothic style with good detailing;
* The chapels are grouped carefully at the head of the main cemetery drive forming a pleasing layout and are the focal point of the cemetery and its landscape setting;
* The carved stonework of the decorative elements of the buildings is of a very good quality.

Historic interest:
* The chapels and wider cemetery are a good example of the buildings of the public cemetery movement in England from the mid-C19 onwards, fulfilling an important role in the life of Malvern;
* WH Knight is an accomplished architect noted for his cemetery design.

Group value:
* All the C19 buildings at Great Malvern Cemetery form a good group.

External Links

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