Chapel of Rest

Summary

Cemetery chapel built in 1889 and one of the earliest designs by the architect Temple Moore.

Reasons for Designation

The Chapel of Rest, Brompton-by-Sawdon is listed Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as an early, highly accomplished, late Gothic revival design with Arts and Crafts movement simplicity;
* for the clever use of massing, asymmetry, choice of materials and their treatment to produce a building of considerable visual interest.

Historic interest:

* as an early example of the work of Temple Moore who went on to become one of the country’s leading ecclesiastical architects.

History

Reverend Francis Oswald Chambers became vicar of All Saints Church, Brompton in 1880 and instigated a number of improvements including the closure of the churchyard and the opening of a new cemetery. The Chapel of Rest is thought to have been commissioned by Sir George Cayley and was built in 1889 for £175 by local craftsmen: Leaf (builder), Lightfoot (joiner) and Scales (blacksmith). The chapel is one of the earliest designs by Temple Lushington Moore (1856-1920) who went on to become the country's leading church architect of the Edwardian period, building 38 new churches in England, nearly all now being listed, and restoring many more. Moore was a highly significant architect of the later Gothic revival. His designs avoided the over-elaboration of decorative detailing favoured by his more florid contemporaries, his works being noted for their 'good proportion and sweetness of line' (The Builder, 1902 quoted by Brandwood, p 178). Despite its small size, the Chapel of Rest displays a number of features that are highly characteristic of Moore’s designs: the playful use of asymmetry whilst maintaining a careful balance in the overall massing of the building; the irregularity of the ends of quoins and other dressings, and the inclusion of subtle variations in stonework, all providing visual interest and the impression that the building has evolved over centuries. The form of the tower roof is very similar to that used by Moore in 1884-1887 for the Grade II*-listed St Aidan’s Church, Carlton, North Yorkshire.

Details

Cemetery chapel, 1889, designed by Temple Moore.

MATERIALS: grey and yellow sandstone rubble. Grey sandstone ashlar dressings, with the ends of blocks being unfinished and irregular. A slate roof laid to diminishing courses covering the main body, the tower with a red, plain tiled roof.

PLAN: a single body with the tower rising from the north-east corner; the entrance, in the east gable, being off-set to the south to accommodate the tower.

EXTERIOR: the principal elevation is the east gable which directly faces the entrance to the cemetery. This has a boarded door with bespoke ironmongery set in a two-centred arched doorway with moulded voussoirs, the mouldings fading to plain, straight-chamfered jambs. Over the voussoirs there is a bold drip mould which rises to a point which supports the base of a Latin cross formed from stone dressings. The cross has carved roundels to the ends of its three upper arms whilst its lower part is flanked by two small windows. The gable end of the chapel is raised and coped, the north-east side rising as a short tower with a pyramidal roof finished with a diagonally-set metal cross finial. The tower has a single belfry opening to each side in the form of a louvered, square-headed slit. The base of the tower is lit by two further similar openings that are glazed. Visually balancing the tower, projecting from the south wall, but flush with the east gable, there is a stepped buttress with a chamfered plinth.

The main body of the chapel is lit by small, high-set lancet windows: one to the south wall, two to the north wall (these being trefoil headed), and a single cinquefoil lancet to the west gable. The west gable is finished with a stone cross finial.

INTERIOR: this has a parquet floor and a blue-painted timber boarded ceiling. The walls are plastered, with the lower section to dado level painted in imitation of blue-veined marble, this being framed in timber to each wall.

Sources

Books and journals
Brandwood, GK, Temple Moore: An Architect of the Late Gothic Revival, (1997)

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