community/cultural, religious
Sir Arthur Blomfield, 1875
Richmond Cemetery, Grove Gardens, Lower Grove Road, TW10 6HP
A small, charming Gothic Revival cemetery chapel made from Kentish ragstone, with plate tracery and a mosaic alterpiece. It was deconsecrated and then restored for community use. Thomas Hardy was apprenticed to the architect.
Richmond
North Sheen
337, 493, 33, 371
The walk from North Sheen Station and the bus stop for 493, 33 and 371 is uphill
Grove Gardens Chapel is a Church of England mortuary chapel built around 1877 in the Gothic Revival style. It was one of two chapels built for the Richmond Old Burial Ground, the Nonconformist chapel is now located outside the cemetery walls. These replaced temporary tin structures that were erected when the cemetery first opened in 1856. The Old Burial Ground closed during the First World War, with the cemetery expanding towards Sheen and Barnes. Grove Gardens Chapel has been disused since 1964 and was declared redundant in 1996.
Sir Arthur Blomfield was commissioned by Canon Charles Tickell Proctor to build the chapel in Kentish ragstone and Bath stone. The entrance arch bears a quote from John 19:41 ‘In The Garden There Was a New Sepulchre, There Laid They Jesus’. The east end has three-panelled mosaic reredos by Daniel Bell, portraying the annunciation, with Gabriel on the left presenting lilies to Mary on the right. One panel of Heaton & Butler’s stained glass altar window survives, showing the ascension of Jesus.
The design of Grove Gardens Chapel was by Sir Arthur Blomfield, a celebrated ecclesiastical architect and restorer of the time who specialised in the Gothic revival style. He worked across Britain and the British Empire, including as far afield as the Falkland Islands. Knighted in 1891, Blomfield was also awarded the gold medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects for his distinguished works.
Blomfield notably rebuilt the nave of Southwark Cathedral and restored Salisbury Cathedral spire. His other designs include: Queen’s School at Eton College, the Law Courts branch of the Bank of England in Fleet Street, and Christ Church in Kew Road in 1893.
Grove Gardens Chapel was restored in the early 2000s by the Environment Trust following a four-year National Lottery Fund project, bringing it back into use for the community and, more recently, served as a kindergarten. Unfortunately, since 2016 it has been showing signs of subsidence exacerbated by the effects of climate change. Habitats & Heritage are working on plans to secure the structure of the building and its future use in the community.
For more information, please visit our website:
habitatsandheritage.org.uk/get-involved/our-projects/grove-gardens-chapel/