Dissenters' Chapel, Kensal Green, is a working chapel with gallery attached in

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederick ...

North Kensington North Kensington is an area of west London. It is north of Notting Hill and south of Kensal Green and in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The names North Kensington and Ladbroke Grove describe the same area. North Kensington is wh ...

, London. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, and is under the care of the

Historic Chapels Trust The Historic Chapels Trust is a British Registered Charity set up to care for redundant non- Anglican churches, chapels, and places of worship in England. To date, its holdings encompass various nonconformist Christian denominations and Rom ...

History

The chapel was the first purpose-built Nonconformist chapel to be built in a public cemetery. The eastern spur of the cemetery was reserved for the use of

dissenter A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Usage in Christianity Dissent from the Anglican church In the social and religious history of England and Wales, and ...

s. A competition to build the chapel was won by Henry Edward Kendall, with a design in Gothic style. However the contract was awarded to John Griffith of Finsbury. Griffith was surveyor to the General Cemetery Company, and his design was in

Greek revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

style. The chapel was built between 1831 and 1834. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the Chapel suffered severe bomb damage during an air raid. For much of the late half of the 20th century the fabric of the chapel was slowly deteriorating. Its wings were demolished in the early 1970s. By the 1990s the building was "derelict and subject to vandalism". The building was leased to the

in this poor state to enable a major restoration, completed in 1997. This included rebuilding of the wings, repair of the chapel's main body, and restoration of the historic painting scheme of the interior. A visitor centre was constructed in the north wing. The restoration was supported by generous grants from

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

and was awarded an Environment Award from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in 1997, and in 1998, a

Europa Nostra Europa Nostra (Italian for "Our Europe") is a pan-European Federation for Cultural Heritage, representing citizens' organisations that work on safeguarding Europe's cultural and natural heritage. It is the voice of this movement to relevant inte ...

Award.

Architecture and setting

Kensal Green Cemetery is London's oldest public cemetery, dating from 1832. It is a listed at Grade I on the

National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register is managed by Historic England ...

, and is a conservation area. The cemetery contains a large number of listed buildings in addition to the Dissenters' Chapel. The chapel is constructed in Portland stone and rendered brick. At the front is an Ionic tetrastyle portico with a

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

. On each side of the portico are three- bay wings, with paired

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s along the front, and twin Ionic columns in the

antae The Antes, or Antae ( gr, Ἄνται), were an early East Slavic tribal polity of the 6th century CE. They lived on the lower Danube River, in the northwestern Black Sea region (present-day Moldova and central Ukraine), and in the regions aro ...

at the sides. Inside the chapel are modern pews, a pulpit and a reading desk. Along the east wall are pilasters. Under the chapel is a partly sealed catacomb.

Present-day uses

The chapel is now managed on behalf of the

by the Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery, who make it available for funerals and organise a programme of art exhibitions, open days, evening lectures, and private events. The chapel forms the conclusion of the tours of the cemetery organised by the Friends.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kensal Green, Dissenters' Chapel Grade II* listed churches in London Churches completed in 1834 19th-century Protestant churches Neoclassical architecture in London Churches completed in 1997 Churches preserved by the Historic Chapels Trust 19th-century churches in the United Kingdom Neoclassical church buildings in England

History

Architecture and setting

Present-day uses

See also

References