Mausoleum of James Morison, Kensal Green Cemetery

Mausoleum of James Morison, Kensal Green Cemetery, Harrow Road, London, W10 4RA

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Portland stone mausoleum, dated 1838. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1246098
Date first listed:: 03-Jul-1998
List Entry Name:: Mausoleum of James Morison, Kensal Green Cemetery
Statutory Address:: Mausoleum of James Morison, Kensal Green Cemetery, Harrow Road, London, W10 4RA

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1246098
Date first listed:: 03-Jul-1998
Date of most recent amendment:: 03-Apr-2012
List Entry Name:: Mausoleum of James Morison, Kensal Green Cemetery
Statutory Address 1:: Mausoleum of James Morison, Kensal Green Cemetery, Harrow Road, London, W10 4RA

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: Mausoleum of James Morison, Kensal Green Cemetery, Harrow Road, London, W10 4RA

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Greater London Authority
District:: Kensington and Chelsea (London Borough)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: TQ2349182614

Summary

Portland stone mausoleum, dated 1838.

Reasons for Designation

The Mausoleum of James Morison is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Artistic interest: one of the largest and most impressive of the early memorials at Kensal Green, its design strongly influenced by Parisian exemplars; * Group value: with other listed monuments within the Grade I registered Kensal Green Cemetery.

History

Morison (died 1840) was a proprietor of patent medicines known as 'the Hygienist', and was an early promoter of the cemetery. The original design for the monument is in the Victorian and Albert Museum.

The Cemetery of All Souls at Kensal Green was the earliest of the large privately-run cemeteries established on the fringes of London to relieve pressure on overcrowded urban churchyards. Its founder George Frederick Carden intended it as an English counterpart to the great Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, which he had visited in 1821. In 1830, with the financial backing of the banker Sir John Dean Paul, Carden established the General Cemetery Company, and two years later an Act of Parliament was obtained to develop a 55-acre site at Kensal Green, then among open fields to the west of the metropolis. An architectural competition was held, but the winning entry – a Gothic scheme by HE Kendall – fell foul of Sir John's classicising tastes, and the surveyor John Griffith of Finsbury was eventually employed both to lay out the grounds and to design the Greek Revival chapels, entrance arch and catacombs, built between 1834 and 1837. A sequence of royal burials, beginning in 1843 with that of Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, ensured the cemetery’s popularity. It is still administered by the General Cemetery Company, assisted since 1989 by the Friends of Kensal Green.

Details

Portland stone mausoleum with cast iron door commemorating James Morison, dated 1838. By R H Shout, mason. It has battered sides and the upper part of the walls are decorated with garlands whilst the frieze is decorated with wreaths and fillets. There are prominent acroteria at all angles. The northern pediment contains an armorial relief.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 28 March 2022 to update text and reformat to current standards

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 487687
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Curl, Stevens J, Kensal Green Cemetery: The Origins and Development of the General Cemetery of All Souls, Kensal Green, London, 1824-2001, (2001)
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: London 3 North West, (1991)
Other
The Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery, Paths of Glory or 'A Select Alphabetical and Biographical List, illustrated with Line Drawings of their Monuments, of Persons of Note Commemorated at The Cemetery of All Souls at Kensal Green', 1997,

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.