Chesterfield Architects and Victorian Grand Designs

Chesterfield Architects and Victorian Grand Designs

Join us as we take a stroll around Spital Cemetery, the second oldest public cemetery in Derbyshire after Derby. Opened in 1857, it was laid out in the fashion of the time as a Garden Cemetery - not just a place to bury the dead but also as a place of leisure.Discover something of the lives of two of Chesterfield past architect and builder families buried in the cemetery (including one woman), between them responsible for some notable building work in Chesterfield (including the newly restored town pump).

Learn something about cemetery symbolism and the meaning of the carvings on gravestone monuments. Take a look at the chapels and see the work he has carried out and an idea of plans for the buildings. These were designed by Wolverhampton architects, Bidlake & Lovatt, the choice causing a certain amount of controversy with local residents at the time. They are in a style characteristic of many Victorian cemetery chapels. They and the Cemetery Lodge and arch pier are Grade II listed.