Cemetery Chapel, Ings Lane, Brompton-by-Sawdon, Scarborough, YO13 9DR
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). It is an important early design by English architect Temple Lushington Moore, who went on to become one of the countries leading church architects of the Edwardian period. He was responsible for building 38 new churches in England, nearly all of which are listed.
Despite its small size, the Chapel of Rest displays a number of features that are characteristic of Moore’s designs, including the use of asymmetry, the subtle variations in stonework and the impression that the building has evolved over centuries, even though it is less than 150 years old.
The chapel was picked as one of Historic England’s 21 fascinating listings of 2019. For more, please see:
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.
LEGAL: this building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
