The cemetery chapels

Last weekend I spent an enjoyable afternoon at the local Sutton Bonington Show. Over the years I've been many times, initially because the Hathern Concert Brass band played a turn there, but I still try and go even though the youngest no longer plays with them.

This year, I'd recently been to the Leics. County Show at Market Harborough, and I couldn't help but compare the two events. These were so similar, that I even chatted to some of the same stallholders at both the events, but I somehow felt that the Sutton Bonington Show, considering its size and location (when compared to the Leicestershire Show Ground, and the Leics. show being a county-wide event) the Sutton Bonington show was equally as good, and in some cases better. Last year at SB we saw the Nottingham Knights perform in the ring: they weren't here this year, but they were at the County Show. There were not quite so many animals on show at SB, and the variety of cows were not quite as diverse, so they concentrated on Dexter cows. What I particularly like about the SB show is the handicraft / horticulture / baking tent, where competition entries are put on display alongside the judges comments: this is what makes SB a local event I suppose, unlike the County Show. See photos of the event at the end of this post.

Anyway, this is not the topic of this week's blogpost!! To the cemetery chapels ...

This weekend and next are the Heritage Open Day events, and I have been lucky enough to make a number of visits, and although there were literally hundreds of places to visit,  for some reason or other, my visits have centred around cemetery chapels! 

Perhaps this is because of our very own cemetery chapels, on Leicester Road, and maybe my visits were sparked by reading about these in "Loughborough in 50 Buildings" or in the recent "Loughborough Echo" piece about the buildings being up for rent again, the lift company having moved out. Here's a bit about our cemetery chapels from "Loughborough in 50 Buildings":

"Loughborough Cemetery was created following the passing of the Burial Acts, the chapel being designed by architects Bellamy and Hardy of Lincoln in the popular Gothic Revival style, and built by John Sudbury of Loughborough.

At a ceremony in July 1856, a procession, including members of the Burial Board, which comprised many well-known local men, including Edward Chatterton Middleton, Edward Warner, Beauvoir Brock, and Henry Toone, walked from the Town Hall to the cemetery, where Edward Middleton laid the foundation stone for the chapels." 

And some photos:

As authoritative sources suggest, our chapels are some of the most splendid in the country. So, on the trail of others with which to compare, I went off and had a look around those in Melbourne, South Derbyshire, Melbourne being one of my favourite places. The chapels are somewhat smaller, of slightly different design, ours were opened in 1856, Melbourne's in 1859, and both are Grade II Listed. They do, however, differ in current usage, the Melbourne one being "in need" and the subject of a joint project between the Parish Council and Melbourne Historical Research Group to re-vitalise the buildings, and Loughborough's renovated and leased to a company (recently Cibes Lifts, but currently vacant). Some photos below of the Melbourne cemetery chapels:
   

The cemetery chapel at Rothley is quite different from the ones at Loughborough and Melbourne, being constructed in 1904, hence why it's of red brick construction. Also, being rather close to Swithland, it has a Swithland slate roof. With Rothley being a somewhat smaller town than either Loughborough or Melbourne, the chapel is correspondingly smaller. It does not appear on the register of Listed Buildings, but is of sufficient importance to be locally listed. On the day I visited, the building was hosting an exhibition about the Barrow upon Soar workhouse, which covered about 30 local parishes. This was an excellent exhibition and, as you know, I'm quite interested in workhouses, so I'll come back to this when I have more time. In the meantime, please enjoy photos from the Rothley cemetery chapels, followed by the Sutton Bonington Show.

The Sutton Bonington Show:

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Dyer, Lynne (2018). Leicestershire County Show. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-cemetery-chapels.html [Accessed 9 September 2018]

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