Description

KINGSTON UPON HULL

680-1/0/10123 PRESTON ROAD
31-AUG-06 Eastern Cemetery

II
Cemetery chapel complex. 1931. David Harvey, Hull City Architect. Brick with limestone banding and detailing. Lombard or striped Neo-Romanesque style.

PLAN
Abstracted butterfly plan with symmetrical chapels diverging northwards either side of a trapezoidal cloister, with the centre line of symmetry aligned with the main approach drive through the cemetery. Lavatory and service block on the north side of the cloister, principal entrance porch on the south side. Chapels are mirror images of each other and have their own internal line of symmetry. Each has a central nave lit by clerestory windows and flanked by side aisles. At the south end is a mortuary separated from the nave by an arcade and three pairs of double doors. This mortuary is flanked by vestibules providing access to the chapel. At the north end is a dais with an arcade matching that of the side aisles. Flanking the dais is a vestry to one side and service rooms to the other.

EXTERIOR
Mainly red brick built in Flemish Stretcher Bond with tapered stretchers forming round headed openings. Three flush bands of limestone ashlars encircle the building: The lower also forming the window cills, the upper forming the springs for the brick arches. Similar spaced bands encircle the clerestorys of the two chapels extending from the double cut-back stone surrounds to the clerestory windows. Stone also used for capping the parapets concealing the low pitched roofs of the chapel naves, and the flat roof of the rest of the complex. Tuscan columns flank the three principal entrances on the south façade and stone is also used for the surrounds to the square headed entrances to the chapel vestibules and the lavatory entrances to the rear. Windows, and the fanlights over the mortuary doors, are metal framed with fine glazing bars. Rainwater down pipes form part of the architectural design and are of square section with decorated hopper-heads. The cloister is formed with simple brick built arcading supporting a lean-to tile roof.

INTERIOR
The naves are outlined by simple arcading with round headed arches on plain rectangular Tuscan piers. A cornice lies below the cills of the clerestory windows and the barrel vault of the roof springs from the lower quarter of these windows. Three shallow steps in marble rise to the dais at the north end, flanked by pulpits also in unadorned marble. To the rear, three decorative metal grills form a reredos. Doors throughout the complex are panelled hardwood, the double doors separating the mortuaries and naves are part glazed. The flooring of the mortuaries is terrazzo.

WAR MEMORIAL
A war memorial featuring a stylised lion is sited in the central porch to the left of the entrance to the cloister. It is inscribed with 'The British Gas Light Co Ltd 1914 1918. These names shall remain for ever and their glory shall not be blotted out' followed by 62 names in alphabetical order with no indication of rank.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE
The Eastern Cemetery chapel complex is a pair of chapels flanking a central trapezoidal cloister, forming an abstracted butterfly plan, designed in 1931 in stripped Neo-Romanesque style. Viewed in a national context, it merits listing at grade II for the quality and consistency of its architectural design and detailing, and also for the particular interest of its plan form. The war memorial adds additional historical interest.

This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 17 August 2017.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671103

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)