IT is one of Sheffield’s most
magnificent architectural gems, a stunning grade II* listed 19th Century chapel
which, when opened in 1836, was considered one of the grandest buildings in the
city.
“We can’t go inside,”
says Alex Quant today, peering through a small entrance in the bricked-up door.
“There’s so much bird poo in there the ammonia makes the air
poisonous.”
Ah.
You join us, reader, outside Sheffield
General Cemetery’s stunning Non-Conformist Chapel.
For some 60 years this incredible
building – opulently modelled on a mix of ancient Greek and Egyptian
architecture – has stood empty and unused; left to the birds and to the
vandals.
But things, it seems, are changing.
An ambitious £400,000 restoration plan
is set to once more transform this hidden jewel into a visitor attraction and
central feature of the Sharrow cemetery, itself a grade II listed landscape and
no longer a working graveyard.
The massive two-stage revamp – to
be funded through heritage grants – will see the chapel made safe,
cleaned up and eventually reopened as a combined education complex, community
centre and function suite for private parties such as wedding blessings.
“When you think the chapel has
been left untouched since the Fifties, it’s such a shame,” says
Catie Evans, of the South Yorkshire Building Preservation Trust, which has been
commissioned by the Sheffield General Cemetery Trust to work on the plans.
“The potential for it is huge.”
Indeed, it was that potential which
inspired the SGCT, the charity which manages the cemetery on behalf of
Sheffield City Council, to bring the chapel back into use. “This is key
to our plans,” says Alex, office manager of the trust. “We are not
doing this just to restore an old building, although that in itself is
worthwhile. Rather, we believe there is a genuine and much-needed end use.
“We are getting increasing numbers
of school groups coming to the cemetery for the day to study, and they have
nowhere to go. What this restoration would do is give them an on-site classroom
and meeting point and shelter if the weather turns.
“It would also be available to the
community to use for neighbourhood meetings; and it would allow the cemetery to
host income-generating events so we could hire it out for corporate parties or
wedding blessings. It’s an unusual building in a magnificent setting, and
we’re sure that would attract people.”
Those alterations, then, will take place
over two phases.
The first £200,000 stage will see the
building secured, reopened and access improved while it remains internally as
just a single large room.
A second phase, pencilled in to take
place 18 months later, would potentially see sympathetic alterations made
inside, including the installation of a kitchen and mezzanine floor with office
space.
“The plans are ready to go,”
says Catie. “We’ve applied for funding from two grant bodies and if
and when that comes through we can start working more or less straight
away.”
In an ideal world, she adds, that process
will have started by the end of 2012.
And if it sounds ambitious, don’t
worry, the SGCT have got form.
Eight years ago the group of two staff
and more than 50 volunteers oversaw the restoration of the site’s
Egyptian gate and office into a snug administration space, which itself has
helped improve the running of the cemetery.
“We’re confident we can
deliver this too,” says Alex. “And we’re confident it would
be another step in improving the cemetery.”
The General Cemetary -a few general
facts
Sheffield General Cemetery was opened in
1836 and at the time was one of the largest commercial cemeteries in the UK.
It was designed by Sheffield architect
Samuel Worth in the style of a botanical garden.
Some 87,000 bodies were interred there
before the last, Margaret Norah Wells, was buried on December 21, 1978.
Rumours of body snatching dominated its
early history. Some believed an underground tunnel ran from the heart of the
cemetery to a local surgeon’s house.
Confectioner George Bassett, steel
manufacturer Mark Firth and revolutionary Samuel Holberry are among those
buried there.
It is listed in the English Heritage
Register of Historical Parks and Gardens and is home to 10 historic monuments
including the Nonconformist Chapel.
