Cemetery Lodge, and associated boundary wall and railings, Newent, Gloucestershire

Summary

A cemetery lodge, in Tudor Gothic style, with associated boundary wall and railings, built in 1863-1864, to designs by Jacques and Son of Gloucester.

Description

A cemetery lodge, in Tudor Gothic style, with associated boundary wall and railings, built in 1863-1864, to designs by Jacques and Son of Gloucester.

MATERIALS: coursed limestone, with limestone dressings, and plain clay tile roofs; extension in red brick.

PLAN: T-plan, orientated NE-SW, with lower sections to either side of the rear wing, forming a rectangular footprint overall.

EXTERIOR: the building has high gables with coped verges and moulded kneelers, a moulded string course between ground and first floors, cast-iron rainwater goods and stone mullioned windows with metal casements. The main elevation, facing Watery Lane, has a projecting, gabled bay to the left, with a canted bay window to the ground floor, and a two-light window above. Towards the apex of the gable is a trefoil ventilator with moulded surround. The doorway is set centrally, with a three-light overdoor. The right-hand bay has a window to each of the ground and first floors, and a gable-end stack. The gable end has a three-light window to the ground floor and a two-light window above, and a trefoil ventilator towards the apex, with moulded surround. To the left, in the re-entrant angle between the rear wing and main range, is a flat-roofed, single-storey section built in stone, with a four-centred-arched doorway, giving access to the former sexton’s store. The rear elevation has a central gabled cross-wing with a large, tapering stack to the right, emerging just above the eaves. To the left is a two-storey, C20 brick addition set in the re-entrant angle between the wing and main range, replacing the former ground-floor store which mirrored that to the opposite side of the wing, which has a flat roof at the level of the eaves of the main range.

INTERIOR: the entrance door gives access into a small hallway, with the steep, enclosed stair rising to the rear, and principal rooms to either side. The fireplaces have been removed throughout the building, but skirtings, door surrounds and most internal panelled doors remain. The window openings are deeply splayed, and recessed below. The room in the C20 extension to the rear has mid-C20 metal windows and C20 finishes. At the top of the stairs, steps lead up at either side into the principal rooms, with a bathroom in the cross-wing, and a store in the upper floor of the extension.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the front of the lodge’s plot is bounded by a stone wall, partly retaining, with inset spear-head iron railings, which curves to the left to adjoin the gatepier of the adjacent pedestrian entrance to the cemetery (gatepiers and gates are listed separately at Grade II).

History

Following the passing of several Burial Acts in the 1850s, consolidated in a single act in 1857, a national system of public cemeteries was established in England, to alleviate the public health issues created by over-used urban churchyards for burial. Parish vestries appointed burial boards to take on responsibility for the burial of parishioners, usually resulting in the establishment of cemeteries with separate areas for Anglican and Nonconformist burials. The burial boards were responsible for the management of the cemeteries and the sale of plots.

A burial board for the parish of Newent was formed in 1863, and it laid out a cemetery on the west side of Watery Lane, including twin mortuary chapels – for Anglican and Nonconformist use respectively - and the lodge, together with a gateway and boundary wall. The architectural firm of Jacques and Son was commissioned to design the buildings, which were erected in 1863-1864. John Jacques (1800-1868) and his son William were based in nearby Gloucester, and worked extensively in the county, building and remodelling places of worship and other public buildings. The lodge was provided as housing for the sexton, and included two single-storey stores accessed externally. A narrow range was added to the rear of the building around the turn of the C20, extending north from the cross-wing, later removed. A small brick extension was added to the north-eastern corner of the building in the C20, on the footprint of one of the former stores. The cemetery chapels and the gates and gatepiers were listed at Grade II in 1985.

The sexton’s lodge was latterly used as offices by Newent Town Council, and was vacant at the time of inspection (2019).

Reasons for Listing

The former cemetery lodge at Watery Lane, Newent, built in 1863-4 to designs by Jacques and Sons of Gloucester, is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the building, in Tudor Gothic style, is well-designed and neatly made, with some good exterior detailing;
* it survives well despite a small extension to the rear;
* the plan form is little altered, and it retains its externally-accessed sexton’s store, which speaks clearly of its function in the cemetery.

Historic interest:

* the cemetery was constructed immediately following the passing of a series of Burial Acts in the 1850s, which allowed local authorities to lay out municipal cemeteries with areas for Anglican and Nonconformist burials, and thus bears witness to this widespread change in urban burial practices in the mid-C19.

Group value:

* the lodge possesses strong group value with the listed Anglican and Nonconformist cemetery chapels (Grade II), and the Grade II-listed gatepiers which mark the entrance alongside the lodge. The buildings together form an historically and functionally related contemporary group by the same architects, in matching style.

External Links

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