Abney Park Chapel
Encyclopedia
Abney Park Chapel, is a Grade II Listed chapel
, designed by William Hosking
and built by John Jay
that is situated in Europe's first wholly nondenominational
cemetery
, Abney Park Cemetery
, London
.
Opened in May, 1840, it was the first nondenominational cemetery chapel in Europe (and probably the world - since the chapel at Mount Auburn was a later addition). It helped pioneer the early use of the Dissenting Gothic
building style, and encouraged renewed interest in the careful blending of earlier styles.
It was primarily the work of a small design team consisting of George Collison II
(acting as client for the cemetery founders, with a passion for Mount Auburn Cemetery near Boston, and it is said, Beverley Minster
which dominated the skyline in his ancestral town); William Hosking
(architect and civil engineer with an interest in Egyptology, antiquities, and architectural writing and scholarship); the builder John Jay
, and George Loddiges
(botanical scientist and horticulturalist primarily concerned with the setting of Abney Park Chapel, including its nearby rosarium and a collection of American plants on the Chapel Lawn).
developed a plan to site the novel chapel at the very heart of Abney Park
foregoing any positioning close to the main entrance. The aim was that, once the pine trees that were planted along the Chapel Ride matured, the chapel would gradually be revealed through a sylvan landscape approach drive. The sinuously designed Chapel Ride was therefore lined with Bhutan Pine trees on its south side, contributing an attractive odoriferous all-year effect. Not only could nature be appreciated, but the main entrance (with its Egyptian revival
building style) would not be eclipsed.
Nonetheless, the chapel was not to be 'hidden' away in the centre of the estate, even as the trees lining its approach matured. Collison and Hosking sought a prominent and unapologetic landmark that would be seen from a good distance beyond the cemetery well into the future. To achieve this, whilst only being slowly revealed on its approach from the main entrance, considerable height was required. William Hosking considered this to be best suited to a steeple - it would need to be much higher than any other in the vicinity, surpassing that of the local parish church, to produce maximum effect.
The design of the chapel was to evolve considerably from this initial starting point. It was a somewhat unusual starting point in some respects in that nonconformists, such as the cemetery directors, generally preferred classical designs over gothic revival. It was not until some years later this style was to become popular with nonconformists, whose interest lay purely in its aesthetics. At this date nonconformist clients did not commission the gothic revival style, due to pressure to closely associate it with 'high church' uses, as was advocated by some early revivalist architects led by Pugin. By the time a chapel was built at Mount Auburn
in Massachusetts, a few years after Abney Park's Chapel, the gothic (pointed) style was more commonly accepted by nonconformists.
However, in the early Gothic revivalist period of 1838-40, when the chapel for Abney Park was designed, the use of the gothic style would certainly have conveyed a 'high church' note in conventional architectural circles. This implies that Collison and Hosking may have used the style as a deliberate architectural counterpoise to what some critics saw as their 'non western' or 'non Christian' style of entranceway ('Egyptian Revival'). Those who interpreted the chapel's gothic affiliations in this contemporary way, might therefore have considered the chapel to contribute 'balance' to the cemetery's entrance ensemble, underpinning the cemetery company's overall philosophy of nondenominational harmony, and reflecting the ecumenical leanings of Isaac Watts
who had lived at the parkland estate a century before.
Gradually, in the later Victorian period, adoption of 'gothic' designs came to suggest an association with nature, rather than with western Christian architecture. Although such associations primarily emerged in the mid-late Victorian 'arts and crafts' period, it is possible that the association with 'nature' and the 'natural world' was an influence on Hosking's design since the overall cemetery project was conceived as a splendid botanical extravaganza, with the largest arboretum in the country, perfected by the famous George Loddiges
.
Whatever the explanation, Hosking's Abney Park Chapel was designed in a form of 'gothic revival' style, which for such an early date is believed to be the earliest example of 'gothic revival' architecture for a stand-alone or unconsecrated chapel
.
Being earlier than the mainstream use of 'gothic revival' designs for chapel architecture, and in all probability with the express intention of weakening the all too frequent association of gothic with 'high church' buildings, which was being advocated rather pompously by Augustus Pugin junior
, a distinctly 'low gothic revivalist' style was gradually developed by Hosking and his clients, from a conventional gothic 'mister-like' starting point. Hosking was successful in producing a unique and careful interpretation of the gothic style which was well-suited to the 'low church sentiments' of his clients. For example, stock brick rather than traditional stone was used for much of the exterior, introducing a visual quality similar to the Brick Gothic
style of Baltic countries, Sweden
, Estonia
etc. Moreover, neo-classical features (i.e. semi-circular arches) were carefully composited into the horse carriage entrance (porte cochere), and each viewing turret bore a simple romanesque oculus to let light onto its newel staircase, rather than a pointed or quatrefoil gothic window or an oculus whose aperture was in the gothic style.
The concept of introducing classical elements into a gothic design had previously used in England only on rare occasions, such as for the Little Castle at Bolsover in Derbyshire
, built after the Reformation, from 1612. It symbolised a connection with Romanesque-Gothic religious buildings of continental Europe, such as the monastic basilica of St. Procopius, Trebic
, Czech Republic, where Jewish and Christian cultures co-existed; now a UNESCO World Heritage Site
.
Hosking's search for a thoughtful and appropriate design for the three rose windows of the chapel, may also have been influenced partly by the St. Procopius basilica which incorporates a rare example of the use of a naturalistic ten-part rose window
. All wild roses have five petals and five sepals or multiples of this number, as do theor fruit. Similarly a lime, orange or lemon which belong to the Roseaceae family will also normally show ten fruit segments, as can be seen if cut in half. The adoption of a botanical rose window introduced an element of classical learning and reason rather than the tendency of gothic towards the more elaborate and supernatural. Its choice would also have suited the horticulturalist and scientist George Loddiges
who was on the design team for he saw the hand of the Creator in the beautiful natural designs of botanical species and varieties. His multi-part work, 'The Botanical Cabinet' took a distinctly more religious view of botany than competitor's illustrated works such as Curtis' 'Botanical Magazine' and was noted for its piety. Near to the chapel with its splendid botanical rose windows George Loddiges
laid out a special rosarium to bring attention to this rich and diverse plan family. The botanical rose windows would also have suited George Collison for his ancestral town was Beverley
in Yorkshire
, where he would have been familiar with the widespread use of the White Rose of York
as a symbol and have seen it reproduced, taking up the theme of the rose, in the rare ten-part botanical rose windows of Beverley Minster
.
Ultimately the botanical rose windows at the Abney Park Chapel provided a strong symbolic detail that dovetailed the chapel to the design of the grounds and its rosarium, besides offering the beauty of simplicity and a compliment to the Creator; a design of considerable thoughtfulness as came to typify William Hosking's learned and historical approach to architecture.
For the pointed gothic windows, grouped in threes, no tracery was used, also representing careful thinking about simplicity of design. For the steeple, William Hosking drew on the fourteenth century Bloxham church in Oxfordshire
for design inspiration. Its steeple, the tallest in the county, is octagonal in cross-section and gains additional elevation from a raised octaganal base with a decorated rim; and the spire itself is of graceful, elegant simplicity unlike more ornate gothic steeples with buttresses and decorative crockets. These low Gothic characteristics suited Hosking's purpose well, though he added a flourish of colour banding to the steeple - a Victorian fashion.
The final result was a chapel, complete with its unornamented yellow stock brick walls, a tall, eye-catching yet gracefully simple steeple, and simple botanically accurate rose windows, created a dramatic but tasteful and purposeful piece; one that epitomised its low gothic nondenominational function well, whilst establishing Abney Park as a local landmark visible from the thoroughfares of Church Street and the High Street, and from Woodberry Downs in the middle distance.
admirably, providing them with a chapel building that achieved the company's objective remarkably well, both in its choice of materials and style of design.
However, of equal significance was its layout in plan section; for the chapel comprised just a single internal chamber that would be available to all, regardless of denomination; marking the chapel out in a practical, functional sense, in addition to its external appearance, as the first nondenominational cemetery chapel in Europe. Moreover, its cruciform plan adopted equal arms as in a Greek cross, giving conceptual strength to this concept of equality before God, through its design approach. At a time when cemeteries had to have separate denominational chapels or at best, a double-cell arrangement, Hosking's chapel was entirely unique to European cemetery design.
Orienting the chapel this way proved problematic to engravers who took artistic licence to illustrate Abney Park Chapel as if it were aligned perfectly in between the main entrance pillars ! However, its purposeful 'turning away' from the commercial entrance to enable its most elegant facade to face a planned vista and walk in memory of Dr. Watts, was important to capture the spirit of the park. It symbolised the Abney Park Cemetery Company's deliberate land assembly of the Fleetwood House and Abney House grounds to conserve it for dedication to the life of Dr Watts, and in memory of his benefactor Lady Mary Abney. The cemetery company ensured that its official engraver, George Childs, issued a perspective of Abney Park Chapel ('Dr Watts' Chapel') along the axial vista of what was to be laid out as Dr Watts' Walk. This was distributed free to all shareholders.
Dr Watts was an important figure for the cemetery founders. During his life but more so after his death, he had become associated with the nondenominational concept now being espoused by the cemetery company. Although Dr Watts had been a lifelong religious Independent, he had been honoured in death by a memorial in the Anglican Westminster Abbey
, and his hymns and scholarly teachings had become widely favoured by moderates of many denominations. Where better, when Edward Hodges Baily
RA FRS was commissioned a few years later to design London's only public statue to the life of Dr. Isaac Watts, than to situate it in Dr Watts' Walk in front of the Abney Park Chapel ?
.)
Though the purpose of Hosking's masterly orientation and design received considerable praise, there remained some for whom the completed chapel, not being adherent to strict, or 'high' gothic principles, was deemed to be of 'poor design', whilst for others it was said to be 'pretentious' since it appeared to be the first use of the gothic revival style for an unconsecrated chapel in England at a time when the style was being associated with Anglican and Anglo-Catholic ideas. Hosking's critics emanated principally from groups such as the Cambridge 'Ecclesiologists' who were pursuing an Anglican revivalist agenda and favoured particular stylistic approaches and applications. The balanced design worked as planned however, the cemetery attracting Dissenters and Anglicans in roughly equal numbers initially, before it became especially popular with the former. In later years other architects, notably George Gilbert Scott
followed Hoskings approach beyond merely copying the past, and began to produce designs in their own personal manner, creating buildings that sometimes mixed elements of the English Gothic style with features other countries and periods; indeed Scott believed a new genre would develop from such an approach. Nor was it many years before the use of the gothic style in its various 'high' and 'low' forms became commonplace in the design of unconsecrated chapels.
Even at the time of its completion, counterbalancing the critics were other 'arbiters of taste' who concluded that Hosking's cemetery design worked exceptionally well; notably John Loudon. Loudon had been critical of the catacombs at Kensal Green as 'bad taste', and had also found the 'pleasure-ground style' at Norwood cemetery
objectionable; yet offered only praise for the new principles of cemetery layout, management and design at Abney Park
.
Moreover, upon completion of the Abney Park Chapel, William Hosking was offered the post of professor of Art and Construction at King's College, than an avowedly the Anglican establishment. And John Britton, who had co-authored one of Pugin's books promoting gothic revival architecture, was soon to work in partnership with William Hosking to devise a restoration
scheme in Bristol for an Anglican church. Thus Hosking could claim to have spanned the inter-denominational divide.
, but also the botanist and nurseryman George Loddiges
. Moreover, the ethos of Abney Park Cemetery was distinctly botanical. The plans for the chapel therefore featured a nearby rosarium and a collection of American plants on the Chapel Lawn. This, combined with the unusual A to Z arboretum around the cemetery's perimeter, the pre-existing 'stately timber' or 'well timbered grounds' that included some early introductions of trees from North America from around 1700, and the plans for special interest tree collections along some of the northern and central walks, led John Loudon
to describe Abney Park Cemetery as the most ornamented of the London cemeteries. This attention to an educational and botanical interest in landscape design was becoming fashionable through the work of John Loudon
and his ideas of the 'gardenesque'. However, no garden cemetery in Europe had ventured to adopt this style to the degree it was employed at Abney Park. As Brent Elliot wrote in his "Garden History" journal review of a reprint of Loudon's book on cemetery design (1843;1981 reprint), "It seems to me that much of what Loudon recommends is drawn from the example of Abney Park Cemetery
".
London garden cemeteries of the time, and indeed throughout Europe. It also has significance in relation to the general evolution of ideas and schemes for nondenominational burial grounds and cemeteries, establishing itself as the first to incorporate a nondenominational chapel and other characteristics that lead to it being considered today as the first wholly nondenominational garden cemetery in Europe. However, a fire gutted the interior and it has been closed for thirty years. The chapel remains a 'building at risk' despite re-roofing and other structural repairs. Plans are being progressed by The Abney Park Cemetery Trust to re-open it and give access to the public and community groups once again along with an improved nature and landscape setting.
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
, designed by William Hosking
William Hosking
William Hosking FSA was a writer, lecturer, and architect who had an important influence on the growth and development of London in Victorian times...
and built by John Jay
John Jay (builder)
John Jay was a building contractor and, earlier, a skilled stonemason, who owned a construction company located in the central City of London within Metropolitan London, England, during the 19th century and its period of rapid civic and railway expansion in the middle of the 19th century...
that is situated in Europe's first wholly nondenominational
Religious denomination
A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name, tradition, and identity.The term describes various Christian denominations...
cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
, Abney Park Cemetery
Abney Park Cemetery
Abney Park in Stoke Newington, in the London Borough of Hackney, is a historic parkland originally laid out in the early 18th century by Lady Mary Abney and Dr. Isaac Watts, and the neighbouring Hartopp family. In 1840 it became a non-denominational garden cemetery, semi-public park arboretum, and...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Opened in May, 1840, it was the first nondenominational cemetery chapel in Europe (and probably the world - since the chapel at Mount Auburn was a later addition). It helped pioneer the early use of the Dissenting Gothic
Dissenting Gothic
Dissenting Gothic is a distinctive style of neo-Gothic architecture in its own right that emerged primarily in Britain, its colonies and North America, during the nineteenth century "Gothic Revival"..-The style:...
building style, and encouraged renewed interest in the careful blending of earlier styles.
It was primarily the work of a small design team consisting of George Collison II
George Collison
George Collison was an English Congregationalist and educator associated with Hackney Academy or Hackney College, which became part of New College London - itself part of the University of London.-Early life:...
(acting as client for the cemetery founders, with a passion for Mount Auburn Cemetery near Boston, and it is said, Beverley Minster
Beverley Minster
Beverley Minster, in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire is a parish church in the Church of England. It is said to be the largest parish church in the UK....
which dominated the skyline in his ancestral town); William Hosking
William Hosking
William Hosking FSA was a writer, lecturer, and architect who had an important influence on the growth and development of London in Victorian times...
(architect and civil engineer with an interest in Egyptology, antiquities, and architectural writing and scholarship); the builder John Jay
John Jay (builder)
John Jay was a building contractor and, earlier, a skilled stonemason, who owned a construction company located in the central City of London within Metropolitan London, England, during the 19th century and its period of rapid civic and railway expansion in the middle of the 19th century...
, and George Loddiges
Loddiges
The Loddiges family managed one of the most notable of the eighteenth and nineteenth century plant nurseries that traded in and introduced exotic plants, trees, shrubs, ferns, palms and orchids into European gardens....
(botanical scientist and horticulturalist primarily concerned with the setting of Abney Park Chapel, including its nearby rosarium and a collection of American plants on the Chapel Lawn).
Location and Orientation
The first matters to establish were the design principles and layout. Since this was to be the first non-denominational chapel for a European garden cemetery, there were no existing guidelines. What should it look like ? Where would it be most appropriately located within the park ? How should it be aligned in the landscape ? And which direction should it face ? William Hosking, in discussion with George Collison IIGeorge Collison
George Collison was an English Congregationalist and educator associated with Hackney Academy or Hackney College, which became part of New College London - itself part of the University of London.-Early life:...
developed a plan to site the novel chapel at the very heart of Abney Park
Abney Park Cemetery
Abney Park in Stoke Newington, in the London Borough of Hackney, is a historic parkland originally laid out in the early 18th century by Lady Mary Abney and Dr. Isaac Watts, and the neighbouring Hartopp family. In 1840 it became a non-denominational garden cemetery, semi-public park arboretum, and...
foregoing any positioning close to the main entrance. The aim was that, once the pine trees that were planted along the Chapel Ride matured, the chapel would gradually be revealed through a sylvan landscape approach drive. The sinuously designed Chapel Ride was therefore lined with Bhutan Pine trees on its south side, contributing an attractive odoriferous all-year effect. Not only could nature be appreciated, but the main entrance (with its Egyptian revival
Egyptian Revival architecture
Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson's defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile during 1798....
building style) would not be eclipsed.
Nonetheless, the chapel was not to be 'hidden' away in the centre of the estate, even as the trees lining its approach matured. Collison and Hosking sought a prominent and unapologetic landmark that would be seen from a good distance beyond the cemetery well into the future. To achieve this, whilst only being slowly revealed on its approach from the main entrance, considerable height was required. William Hosking considered this to be best suited to a steeple - it would need to be much higher than any other in the vicinity, surpassing that of the local parish church, to produce maximum effect.
The Blending of Styles
To celebrate its unique message of religious harmony, the chapel was to be a blend of conventional and unique characteristics. William Hosking drafted and redrafted an increasingly elegant solution to this design problem, beginning from a fairly conventional, scaled-down version of an Anglican gothic minster as a convenient starting point.The design of the chapel was to evolve considerably from this initial starting point. It was a somewhat unusual starting point in some respects in that nonconformists, such as the cemetery directors, generally preferred classical designs over gothic revival. It was not until some years later this style was to become popular with nonconformists, whose interest lay purely in its aesthetics. At this date nonconformist clients did not commission the gothic revival style, due to pressure to closely associate it with 'high church' uses, as was advocated by some early revivalist architects led by Pugin. By the time a chapel was built at Mount Auburn
Mount Auburn Cemetery
Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1831 as "America's first garden cemetery", or the first "rural cemetery", with classical monuments set in a rolling landscaped terrain...
in Massachusetts, a few years after Abney Park's Chapel, the gothic (pointed) style was more commonly accepted by nonconformists.
However, in the early Gothic revivalist period of 1838-40, when the chapel for Abney Park was designed, the use of the gothic style would certainly have conveyed a 'high church' note in conventional architectural circles. This implies that Collison and Hosking may have used the style as a deliberate architectural counterpoise to what some critics saw as their 'non western' or 'non Christian' style of entranceway ('Egyptian Revival'). Those who interpreted the chapel's gothic affiliations in this contemporary way, might therefore have considered the chapel to contribute 'balance' to the cemetery's entrance ensemble, underpinning the cemetery company's overall philosophy of nondenominational harmony, and reflecting the ecumenical leanings of Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts was an English hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymnwriter, he was recognised as the "Father of English Hymnody", credited with some 750 hymns...
who had lived at the parkland estate a century before.
Gradually, in the later Victorian period, adoption of 'gothic' designs came to suggest an association with nature, rather than with western Christian architecture. Although such associations primarily emerged in the mid-late Victorian 'arts and crafts' period, it is possible that the association with 'nature' and the 'natural world' was an influence on Hosking's design since the overall cemetery project was conceived as a splendid botanical extravaganza, with the largest arboretum in the country, perfected by the famous George Loddiges
Loddiges
The Loddiges family managed one of the most notable of the eighteenth and nineteenth century plant nurseries that traded in and introduced exotic plants, trees, shrubs, ferns, palms and orchids into European gardens....
.
Whatever the explanation, Hosking's Abney Park Chapel was designed in a form of 'gothic revival' style, which for such an early date is believed to be the earliest example of 'gothic revival' architecture for a stand-alone or unconsecrated chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
.
Being earlier than the mainstream use of 'gothic revival' designs for chapel architecture, and in all probability with the express intention of weakening the all too frequent association of gothic with 'high church' buildings, which was being advocated rather pompously by Augustus Pugin junior
Augustus Pugin
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin was an English architect, designer, and theorist of design, now best remembered for his work in the Gothic Revival style, particularly churches and the Palace of Westminster. Pugin was the father of E. W...
, a distinctly 'low gothic revivalist' style was gradually developed by Hosking and his clients, from a conventional gothic 'mister-like' starting point. Hosking was successful in producing a unique and careful interpretation of the gothic style which was well-suited to the 'low church sentiments' of his clients. For example, stock brick rather than traditional stone was used for much of the exterior, introducing a visual quality similar to the Brick Gothic
Brick Gothic
Brick Gothic is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northern Europe, especially in Northern Germany and the regions around the Baltic Sea that do not have natural rock resources. The buildings are essentially built from bricks...
style of Baltic countries, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
etc. Moreover, neo-classical features (i.e. semi-circular arches) were carefully composited into the horse carriage entrance (porte cochere), and each viewing turret bore a simple romanesque oculus to let light onto its newel staircase, rather than a pointed or quatrefoil gothic window or an oculus whose aperture was in the gothic style.
The concept of introducing classical elements into a gothic design had previously used in England only on rare occasions, such as for the Little Castle at Bolsover in Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
, built after the Reformation, from 1612. It symbolised a connection with Romanesque-Gothic religious buildings of continental Europe, such as the monastic basilica of St. Procopius, Trebic
Trebíc
Třebíč is a city in the Moravian part of the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic.Třebíč is situated 35 km southeast of Jihlava and 65 km west of Brno on the Jihlava River. Třebíč is from 392 to 503 metres above sea-level....
, Czech Republic, where Jewish and Christian cultures co-existed; now a UNESCO World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
.
Hosking's search for a thoughtful and appropriate design for the three rose windows of the chapel, may also have been influenced partly by the St. Procopius basilica which incorporates a rare example of the use of a naturalistic ten-part rose window
Rose window
A Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in churches of the Gothic architectural style and being divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery...
. All wild roses have five petals and five sepals or multiples of this number, as do theor fruit. Similarly a lime, orange or lemon which belong to the Roseaceae family will also normally show ten fruit segments, as can be seen if cut in half. The adoption of a botanical rose window introduced an element of classical learning and reason rather than the tendency of gothic towards the more elaborate and supernatural. Its choice would also have suited the horticulturalist and scientist George Loddiges
Loddiges
The Loddiges family managed one of the most notable of the eighteenth and nineteenth century plant nurseries that traded in and introduced exotic plants, trees, shrubs, ferns, palms and orchids into European gardens....
who was on the design team for he saw the hand of the Creator in the beautiful natural designs of botanical species and varieties. His multi-part work, 'The Botanical Cabinet' took a distinctly more religious view of botany than competitor's illustrated works such as Curtis' 'Botanical Magazine' and was noted for its piety. Near to the chapel with its splendid botanical rose windows George Loddiges
Loddiges
The Loddiges family managed one of the most notable of the eighteenth and nineteenth century plant nurseries that traded in and introduced exotic plants, trees, shrubs, ferns, palms and orchids into European gardens....
laid out a special rosarium to bring attention to this rich and diverse plan family. The botanical rose windows would also have suited George Collison for his ancestral town was Beverley
Beverley
Beverley is a market town, civil parish and the county town of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, located between the River Hull and the Westwood. The town is noted for Beverley Minster and architecturally-significant religious buildings along New Walk and other areas, as well as the Beverley...
in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, where he would have been familiar with the widespread use of the White Rose of York
White Rose of York
The White Rose of York , a white heraldic rose, is the symbol of the House of York and has since been adopted as a symbol of Yorkshire as a whole.-History:...
as a symbol and have seen it reproduced, taking up the theme of the rose, in the rare ten-part botanical rose windows of Beverley Minster
Beverley Minster
Beverley Minster, in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire is a parish church in the Church of England. It is said to be the largest parish church in the UK....
.
Ultimately the botanical rose windows at the Abney Park Chapel provided a strong symbolic detail that dovetailed the chapel to the design of the grounds and its rosarium, besides offering the beauty of simplicity and a compliment to the Creator; a design of considerable thoughtfulness as came to typify William Hosking's learned and historical approach to architecture.
For the pointed gothic windows, grouped in threes, no tracery was used, also representing careful thinking about simplicity of design. For the steeple, William Hosking drew on the fourteenth century Bloxham church in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
for design inspiration. Its steeple, the tallest in the county, is octagonal in cross-section and gains additional elevation from a raised octaganal base with a decorated rim; and the spire itself is of graceful, elegant simplicity unlike more ornate gothic steeples with buttresses and decorative crockets. These low Gothic characteristics suited Hosking's purpose well, though he added a flourish of colour banding to the steeple - a Victorian fashion.
The final result was a chapel, complete with its unornamented yellow stock brick walls, a tall, eye-catching yet gracefully simple steeple, and simple botanically accurate rose windows, created a dramatic but tasteful and purposeful piece; one that epitomised its low gothic nondenominational function well, whilst establishing Abney Park as a local landmark visible from the thoroughfares of Church Street and the High Street, and from Woodberry Downs in the middle distance.
The Single Cell Layout
Perfecting the chapel had necessitated a long process of iteration and re-design to meet the wishes of the Cemetery Directors for a new nondenominational style. William Hosking mastered the briefBrief (architecture)
An architectural brief is, in its broadest sense, a requirement a client may have that an architect designs to meet, usually by creating a building to accommodate the requirement. A brief is a written document that might be anything from a single page to a multiple volume set of documents...
admirably, providing them with a chapel building that achieved the company's objective remarkably well, both in its choice of materials and style of design.
However, of equal significance was its layout in plan section; for the chapel comprised just a single internal chamber that would be available to all, regardless of denomination; marking the chapel out in a practical, functional sense, in addition to its external appearance, as the first nondenominational cemetery chapel in Europe. Moreover, its cruciform plan adopted equal arms as in a Greek cross, giving conceptual strength to this concept of equality before God, through its design approach. At a time when cemeteries had to have separate denominational chapels or at best, a double-cell arrangement, Hosking's chapel was entirely unique to European cemetery design.
The Axial Vista in memory of Isaac Watts
That the eventual design for the chapel avoided the temptation towards eclectic over-adornment sometimes associated with excesses of romantic mediaevalism, for which the derogatory term Gothick can be used. By satisfying the Abney Park Cemetery Company Directors' preference for a low gothic style, William Hosking helped focus visual attention on the chapel's one elaborately designed elevation - the crenelated and decorated south elevation. This facade was set between two octagonal stair turrets, with newell staircases inside, illuminated by simple oculus windows. These led to dramatic viewpoints over Dr Watts' Walk, as well as to an internal viewing platform above an ogee arch with trefoil panels and quatrafoil. the whole effect created an almost theatrical backdrop to the south chapel lawn. As such it almost 'spoke' to the vista to which it was conspicuously aligned - a new axial walk in Dr. Watts' memory being laid out due south. Thus the chapel would be aligned with Dr Watts' and Lady Mary Abney's former place of residence - Abney House, Church Street.Orienting the chapel this way proved problematic to engravers who took artistic licence to illustrate Abney Park Chapel as if it were aligned perfectly in between the main entrance pillars ! However, its purposeful 'turning away' from the commercial entrance to enable its most elegant facade to face a planned vista and walk in memory of Dr. Watts, was important to capture the spirit of the park. It symbolised the Abney Park Cemetery Company's deliberate land assembly of the Fleetwood House and Abney House grounds to conserve it for dedication to the life of Dr Watts, and in memory of his benefactor Lady Mary Abney. The cemetery company ensured that its official engraver, George Childs, issued a perspective of Abney Park Chapel ('Dr Watts' Chapel') along the axial vista of what was to be laid out as Dr Watts' Walk. This was distributed free to all shareholders.
Dr Watts was an important figure for the cemetery founders. During his life but more so after his death, he had become associated with the nondenominational concept now being espoused by the cemetery company. Although Dr Watts had been a lifelong religious Independent, he had been honoured in death by a memorial in the Anglican Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
, and his hymns and scholarly teachings had become widely favoured by moderates of many denominations. Where better, when Edward Hodges Baily
Edward Hodges Baily
Edward Hodges Baily RA FRS - was an English sculptor who was born in Downend in Bristol.-Life:...
RA FRS was commissioned a few years later to design London's only public statue to the life of Dr. Isaac Watts, than to situate it in Dr Watts' Walk in front of the Abney Park Chapel ?
Support and Controversy for the New Approach
Endorsement of Hosking's place in architectural history along with the all important guiding hand of his client George Collison, came once the final design was agreed. The foundation stone was laid by none other than Sir Chapman Marshall, Lord Mayor of the City of London in the presence of the Sheriffs of the City and County (although Marshall subsequently chose to be laid to rest in the Anglican catacombs at West Norwood CemeteryWest Norwood Cemetery
West Norwood Cemetery is a cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery.One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries of London, and is a site of major historical, architectural and...
.)
Though the purpose of Hosking's masterly orientation and design received considerable praise, there remained some for whom the completed chapel, not being adherent to strict, or 'high' gothic principles, was deemed to be of 'poor design', whilst for others it was said to be 'pretentious' since it appeared to be the first use of the gothic revival style for an unconsecrated chapel in England at a time when the style was being associated with Anglican and Anglo-Catholic ideas. Hosking's critics emanated principally from groups such as the Cambridge 'Ecclesiologists' who were pursuing an Anglican revivalist agenda and favoured particular stylistic approaches and applications. The balanced design worked as planned however, the cemetery attracting Dissenters and Anglicans in roughly equal numbers initially, before it became especially popular with the former. In later years other architects, notably George Gilbert Scott
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott was an English architect of the Victorian Age, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches, cathedrals and workhouses...
followed Hoskings approach beyond merely copying the past, and began to produce designs in their own personal manner, creating buildings that sometimes mixed elements of the English Gothic style with features other countries and periods; indeed Scott believed a new genre would develop from such an approach. Nor was it many years before the use of the gothic style in its various 'high' and 'low' forms became commonplace in the design of unconsecrated chapels.
Even at the time of its completion, counterbalancing the critics were other 'arbiters of taste' who concluded that Hosking's cemetery design worked exceptionally well; notably John Loudon. Loudon had been critical of the catacombs at Kensal Green as 'bad taste', and had also found the 'pleasure-ground style' at Norwood cemetery
West Norwood Cemetery
West Norwood Cemetery is a cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery.One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries of London, and is a site of major historical, architectural and...
objectionable; yet offered only praise for the new principles of cemetery layout, management and design at Abney Park
Abney Park Cemetery
Abney Park in Stoke Newington, in the London Borough of Hackney, is a historic parkland originally laid out in the early 18th century by Lady Mary Abney and Dr. Isaac Watts, and the neighbouring Hartopp family. In 1840 it became a non-denominational garden cemetery, semi-public park arboretum, and...
.
Moreover, upon completion of the Abney Park Chapel, William Hosking was offered the post of professor of Art and Construction at King's College, than an avowedly the Anglican establishment. And John Britton, who had co-authored one of Pugin's books promoting gothic revival architecture, was soon to work in partnership with William Hosking to devise a restoration
Victorian restoration
Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...
scheme in Bristol for an Anglican church. Thus Hosking could claim to have spanned the inter-denominational divide.
The Landscape Setting
The design team included not only the architect William HoskingWilliam Hosking
William Hosking FSA was a writer, lecturer, and architect who had an important influence on the growth and development of London in Victorian times...
, but also the botanist and nurseryman George Loddiges
Loddiges
The Loddiges family managed one of the most notable of the eighteenth and nineteenth century plant nurseries that traded in and introduced exotic plants, trees, shrubs, ferns, palms and orchids into European gardens....
. Moreover, the ethos of Abney Park Cemetery was distinctly botanical. The plans for the chapel therefore featured a nearby rosarium and a collection of American plants on the Chapel Lawn. This, combined with the unusual A to Z arboretum around the cemetery's perimeter, the pre-existing 'stately timber' or 'well timbered grounds' that included some early introductions of trees from North America from around 1700, and the plans for special interest tree collections along some of the northern and central walks, led John Loudon
John Loudon
John Loudon is the name of:*John Loudon , Dutch foreign minister *John Claudius Loudon , Scottish botanist*John William Loudon , Missouri state senator...
to describe Abney Park Cemetery as the most ornamented of the London cemeteries. This attention to an educational and botanical interest in landscape design was becoming fashionable through the work of John Loudon
John Loudon
John Loudon is the name of:*John Loudon , Dutch foreign minister *John Claudius Loudon , Scottish botanist*John William Loudon , Missouri state senator...
and his ideas of the 'gardenesque'. However, no garden cemetery in Europe had ventured to adopt this style to the degree it was employed at Abney Park. As Brent Elliot wrote in his "Garden History" journal review of a reprint of Loudon's book on cemetery design (1843;1981 reprint), "It seems to me that much of what Loudon recommends is drawn from the example of Abney Park Cemetery
Abney Park Cemetery
Abney Park in Stoke Newington, in the London Borough of Hackney, is a historic parkland originally laid out in the early 18th century by Lady Mary Abney and Dr. Isaac Watts, and the neighbouring Hartopp family. In 1840 it became a non-denominational garden cemetery, semi-public park arboretum, and...
".
The Chapel Today
Today Hosking's novel chapel continues to merit acclaim as an outstandingly attractive architectural set piece of special importance amongst the Magnificent SevenMagnificent Seven, London
The "Magnificent Seven" is an informal term applied to seven large cemeteries in London. They were established in the 19th century to alleviate overcrowding in existing parish burial grounds.-Background:...
London garden cemeteries of the time, and indeed throughout Europe. It also has significance in relation to the general evolution of ideas and schemes for nondenominational burial grounds and cemeteries, establishing itself as the first to incorporate a nondenominational chapel and other characteristics that lead to it being considered today as the first wholly nondenominational garden cemetery in Europe. However, a fire gutted the interior and it has been closed for thirty years. The chapel remains a 'building at risk' despite re-roofing and other structural repairs. Plans are being progressed by The Abney Park Cemetery Trust to re-open it and give access to the public and community groups once again along with an improved nature and landscape setting.