Apperly Family Mausoleum, Rodborough, Gloucestershire

Summary

A small mausoleum, built in about 1913 for Sir Alfred Apperly (1839-1913), designed by Percy Morley Horder (1870-1944) with carved tympanum by John Houghton Maurice Bonnor (1875-1917); further family inscriptions added later.

Description

MATERIALS
Local limestone.

PLAN
The portal to the mausoleum is set into the raised bank alongside an east-west path in the churchyard, and the tomb extends southwards underground.

DESCRIPTION
The mausoleum, in an Arts and Crafts inspired style, is partly subterranean, with its portal alongside the churchyard path, and the body of the tomb running to the rear, underground. Its extent is marked on the surface by kerbstones, with the body of the tomb covered by three large slabs.

The portal includes of a pair of square-section piers, slightly tapering. These carry carved inscriptions to Sir Alfred Apperly, for whom the mausoleum was constructed, and other members of the family later added, most of the inscriptions now weathered and with lichen growth which has reduced their legibility. Those commemorated are: Sir Alfred Apperly; Lady Maria Apperly; Charles Alfred Apperly, eldest son of Sir Alfred and Lady Maria (d 1939); Mary Apperly, wife of Charles Alfred (d 1967); Peter Murray Small, an infant grandson of Charles, son of Harold and Marjorie Small; and Arthur Lancelot Apperly, son of Sir Alfred and Lady Maria, who died during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

From the piers, flanking walls run away from the path at a height of about 1.5m, retaining the surrounding ground; they ramp upwards and converge slightly as they meet the front face of the portal. The area thus enclosed is paved, with a curved apron alongside the path; the paving includes a slab bearing the carved crest of the Apperly family, now weathered. The front face of the portal has a pair of taller monoliths either side of a low double doorway, the doors clad in copper, weathered to verdigris, with lattice detailing in each of the four panels to resemble a woven screen, and paired copper rivets. Above this is a lintel with chamfered lower edge, carved with the legend MORS JANUA VITAE. The remainder of the portal rises above ground level; a tapering stone structure which steps inwards in three stages rises from the rear of the piers flanking the doorway, and houses a recessed semi-circular tympanum by John Houghton Maurice Bonnor (1875-1917) with a pierced relief carving of angels with bowed heads flanking a chalice set against a stylised tree, with pierced, woven lattice below and behind them, echoing the copper work on the doors. Above the tympanum, in the apex, is a swastika in relief, symbolising peace. The rear of the superstructure is plain.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 10 November 2022 to correct a typo in the description

History

The Apperly mausoleum was constructed in about 1913, to house the remains of Sir Alfred Apperly (1839-1913). Sir Alfred was a member of a local family which became wealthy through the woollen trade, in which the Apperlys became prominent from the late C18. Alfred took over the family business which had been established at Dudbridge Mills in Stroud by his grandfather, John Apperly, on his father’s retirement in 1872. The business grew significantly under Alfred, who was knighted in 1907, and he became an important figure in the local community; he was a benefactor of a number of local causes, opened his house and garden for community events, became a councillor at both district and county levels, a Justice of the Peace, and was a supporter of the Congregational Tabernacle in Rodborough, which he attended for much of his life. Alfred created a small country estate either side of Walkley Hill in Rodborough, close to the Anglican Church of St Mary Magdalene, purchasing a house called The Hawthorns which had belonged to Alfred’s father, and a farm and space for kitchen gardens on the south side of Walkley Hill. In 1888, he built a new house to replace The Hawthorns, called Rodborough Court. The house was remodelled and enlarged in 1899 to designs by Percy Morley Horder, who was married to one of Sir Alfred’s nieces, Rosa Catherine Apperly.

Percy Richard Morley Horder (1870-1944) was an architect who began his career locally in Stroud, later moving to London, and subsequently working across the country. He frequently worked in an Arts and Crafts style, influenced by the building traditions of the Stroud valleys. He undertook a wide range of commissions, including public houses, places of worship, educational buildings and several country houses, including a later house for another member of the Apperly family elsewhere in Rodborough; a number of these are listed. Morley Horder is perhaps best known for his London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (1926-8, listed Grade II), and his work designing branches of Boots the Chemist for Jesse Boot, Lord Trent, through whom he also won the commission to design buildings at Nottingham Trent University, constructed in the 1920s (listed Grade II). During the period from about 1910 to 1915, Morley Horder worked in close association with John Houghton Maurice Bonnor (1875-1917), an architectural draughtsman turned craftsman, best known for his Arts and Crafts influenced jewellery, but who also undertook commissions from Morley Horder for church furnishings, windows and interior fittings. Bonnor made the carved angel tympanum which forms the major decorative element of the mausoleum, which was designed by Morley Horder for the burial of his wife’s uncle.
Late in his life, Sir Alfred Apperly began to attend the Anglican Church of St Mary in Rodborough, rather than the Nonconformist Tabernacle, and became an important benefactor to the church; his donations included adding a stained glass memorial window to members of his family in 1909. Sir Alfred fell gravely ill in July 1913, to such a degree that his sickness, described as ‘serious’, was reported in the Gloucester Journal in that month. Sir Alfred clearly feared the worst, and was already planning what should happen in the event of his death, as his obituary reports that he left instructions for his burial in a plain elm shell, within an outer case of unplaned English oak.

Sir Alfred died on 7 September 1913 at home at Rodborough Court, at the age of 74. He was laid to rest in what was described in his obituary in the London Evening Mail as a ‘newly constructed vault in Rodborough Churchyard’, indicating that the miniature mausoleum where his body lies had already been at least partly built. The architect of the structure, set into the bank alongside the main pathway through the churchyard at St Mary Magdalene, was Percy Morley Horder, who incorporated a moving carved angel tympanum by his collaborator, John Bonnor.

In later years, the mausoleum also housed the remains of Sir Alfred’s wife, Lady Maria, and she, along with other members of the family, are commemorated with inscriptions on the mausoleum; these include 2nd Lieutenant Arthur Lancelot Apperly, who was killed in action during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

Reasons for Listing

The mausoleum to Sir Alfred Apperly, built in about 1913 at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Rodborough, is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* for its accomplished Arts and Crafts design, by architect Percy Morley Horder, which reflects local building materials and traditions;
* for the sensitive and moving carved tympanum depicting mourning angels, made by Arts and Crafts designer and craftsman John Houghton Maurice Bonnor.

Historic interest:
* as an uncommon small mausoleum, in a village churchyard setting, constructed in about 1913.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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