Restoration funds awarded to Brandwood End Cemetery chapels
by Jessica WinchApr 8 2012
Important listed buildings in an old Birmingham cemetery are to be given a new lease of life after 30 years of neglect and vandalism.
Brandwood End Cemetery, in Kings Norton, has won funding from Birmingham City Council to help restore both its Grade II listed chapels while improvements will also be made to its Superintendent’s Lodge.
The current work on the chapels will improve security and is the first stage in a possible full restoration project.
The twin chapels, designed by Birmingham architect J Brewin Holmes in a Gothic style from red brick and terracotta, stand at the highest point in the cemetery ground and are joined by an archway.
The western chapel was originally designated for Anglicans while the eastern chapel was for Nonconformists but both were closed in the 1980s.
Since then they have suffered from vandalism and in 1995 one was attacked by arsonists, severely damaging it.
The grounds were once described as a “fine example of a Victorian landscaped cemetery” with avenues of Scots Pine, Cypress and Wellingtonia. The chapels were listed as Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest in 1997 and Grade II listed in 2001.
Anne Courbet, chairman of Friends of Brandwood End Cemetery, welcomed the move after such a long battle for funding.
Mrs Courbet said: “We’re absolutely delighted. We set up Friends of Brandwood End Cemetery in 2005 and the main aim has always been to restore the chapels to their former glory.
“This work is to make them safe, but then hopefully there will be further restoration.”
She added: “The Victorians created this wonderful building, these twin terracotta chapels, and they are quite unique in this country.
“I feel that we owe it to the Victorians to restore them and to make more people aware of what a beautiful area it is.”
Birmingham City Council has granted more than £76,000 to refurbish the Superindendent’s Lodge, also a Grade II-listed building, which was made uninhabitable by flooding in 2010.
Mrs Courbet said the work included renovating the lodge garden, providing a seating area and refurbishing the toilet block. It is hoped to turn the lodge into a visitors’ centre for the cemetery and for community group use.
Coun Timothy Huxtable, cabinet member for transport, environment and regeneration, said: “We have been working closely with Friends of Brandwood Cemetery over the past few years and I’m pleased that this much-needed work is going ahead.
“One of the main benefits of the project is to renovate the cemetery lodge which will then be available for community use.
“We have consulted with the Friends fully on this project and I look forward to continuing to work with them.”
The Friends have been working with Birmingham City Council since 2005 and have already made improvements to the cemetery in Kings Heath.
Mrs Courbet said initial improvements had already made the chapels look “much more presentable”.
“They look like someone’s caring for them,” she added.
The cemetery opened in 1899 and contains 86,000 graves which attract thousands of visitors every year.
Anyone interested in supporting the Friends can find information on their website,
www.fbec.org.uk or email
friendsofbec@gmail.com.