Summary
Cemetery Chapel, of 1906 by Reginald B Rowell, for Barnes Urban District Council.
Reasons for Designation
East Sheen Cemetery Chapel, of 1906 by Reginald B Rowell, for Barnes Urban District Council is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: consistently detailed chapel, in a loose C14 style, well-executed using good quality materials;
* Intactness: it has not been enlarged or reordered, preserving its original footprint, fixtures and fittings;
* Setting: on raised ground at the head of the main drive, flanked by mature specimen trees, within a cemetery laid out in 1905.
History
East Sheen Cemetery was opened in 1905 to serve the growing local population, the chapel erected in 1906 by the Urban District Council of Barnes, designed by Reginald B Rowell, ARIBA.
Reginald Bertie Rowell (1875-1966) was articled to Messrs Charles Smith and Son and worked as assistant to George Thomas Hine and Alfred Condorm, setting up in practice in Colchester in 1901. As well as addresses in Westminster and Clapham, in 1914 he was registered at Triangle Corner, East Sheen and Rocquaine, 1 Nassau Road, Barnes.
Details
Cemetery chapel, 1906 by the architect Reginald B Rowell, for the Urban District Council of Barnes, in a loose C14 manner.
MATERIALS: random limestone and sandstone blocks with ashlar dressings, tile roofs.
PLAN: aligned north-south and approached from the north, in a landscaped setting framed by mature trees at the head of the main drive into the cemetery.
Rectangular on plan in three bays, with the altar to the south, with short narrow transepts, a lower, entrance porch to the north and a tall slender fleche, centrally placed on the ridge.
EXTERIOR: buttressed nave and transepts have a moulded plinth and eaves; steeply-pitched roofs have moulded ashlar gable parapets and kneelers. Nave windows are of two-lights with cusped heads in rectangular openings beneath hoodmoulds; above the entrance porch is an encircled quatrefoil window. Transepts have two-light cusped pointed-arched windows, the east window is of three lights with cusped intersecting tracery, all windows rising from a deep chamfered cill band. Both transepts have south-facing doorways in moulded arches. The buttressed porch is similarly steeply pitched, the entrance has a moulded outer arch with wrought iron gates in a later C19 Gothic Revival manner, reflecting the window mouldings. The inner entrance has a moulded arch and a pair of vertical boarded doors. To each side is a small cusped light. Within the porch is the foundation stone, inscribed ‘Erected by the Urban District Council of Barnes 1906’ and with the name of the architect Reginald B Rowell, A.R.I.B.A. The floor is tiled, the roof timbers exposed.
Rising from the ridge is a tall slender four-sided fleche, set diagonally on the roof, and surmounted by an ornate iron finial.
INTERIOR: walls are faced in red brick, with plain chamfered brick or flush stone dressings, while windows have simple moulded rear arches. The arch-braced roof is supported on moulded stone corbels, open trusses have pierced trefoils at the apex. Purlins are separated from the principals by a short spur, the roof is diagonally-boarded. The floor is timber parquet. Fittings include pine pews, arranged collegiately, which have pierced quatrefoil front panels and bench ends; a panelled oak altar on a tiled marble base; a (later) pine transept screen with cusped heads, masking the vestry. On the walls, a bronze medallion to John Alexander Cole and a bronze wreath, the cartouche inscribed with a very worn inscription, commemorating members of the Black Watch Regiment.
Within the cemetery are two monuments of particular note. The memorial to George William Lancaster (d. 1920) and Elisa Mary Lancaster (d.1922) by Sidney March (listed Grade II*, NHLE 1239967) and the memorial to Markham Buxton (d.1927) by his son Alfred Buxton (listed Grade II, NHLE 1261261).
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 10/03/2015
