Grey Day for Cemetery Chapel

As you enter Hyde Cemetery from Stockport Road the view leads up the remaining Cemetery Chapel. Hyde cemetery was laid out in 1894. The Non-Conformist chapel is the last of three chapels which originally stood in the cemetery. It was designed by J.W. Beaumont; an architect with at least three listed buildings to his name, including Hyde Town Hall (1883-5, Grade II) and the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester (c.1895-1900, Grade II).

The local council now wants to demolish the chapel despite local objection. Nancy Morris of the Hyde Cheshire blog applied to English Heritage to have the chapel listed but has been turned down. The main reasons given were as follows

• The chapel at Hyde is a late example of its type as Municipal cemeteries were laid out from the 1850s, with the height of cemetery chapel construction spanning the period 1840-1880
• This Non-Conformist chapel has lost the context of its companion chapels to the north and south, although it still retains its place within the landscape and relationship with the lodge.
• Although designed by a respected architect, this is not the best example of his work; aside from the unusual tower, the design is largely standard for its date.

The second reason seems to me particularly ironic, the loss of its sisters being a good argument for its retention.

For more information and to support Nancy's campaign see Hyde Cheshire.

A wider coloured version of this photograph can be seen on Geograph.