Who designed Fulham Cemetery?

1 Jan 2025 • Rebecca Thomas

Any modern history of Fulham will tell you that the cemetery was designed by ‘J G Hall’. However, recent research by the Friends has uncovered evidence that the cemetery is an early example of the work of the eminent Victorian architect, Sir Arthur William Blomfield (1829-1899).

In 1952 the renowned and influential art historian, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, wrote the following fleeting reference to Fulham Cemetery in the London volume of his ‘Buildings of England’:

“Fulham Cemetery, Fulham Palace Road, 1865. Chapel and Lodges, thickset Victorian Gothic, with bellcote. By J. G. Hall” ¹

Since that entry was made, any history of Fulham will tell you that the cemetery was designed by ‘J G Hall’. However, recent research by the Friends has uncovered evidence that the cemetery, with its gothic revival chapels and lodge, is an early example of the work of the eminent Victorian architect, Sir Arthur William Blomfield (1829-1899).

Thanks to the archivists at Hammersmith Library, we were given access to the original minutes of the Fulham Burial Board. The Board was set up in 1863 with the specific purpose of providing a new burial ground for Fulham parish. By December 1863 they had entered an agreement to purchase land from the Bishop of London and two months later, on 9 February 1864, the minutes record:

“That A. W. Blomfield Esq be appointed the surveyor and architect to the Board and that he confer with H. A. Hunt as to the measurement of the land.”

Minutes of the Fulham Burial Board, 9 February 1864, photographed by Rebecca Thomas

In May 1864 the Board reported that plans had been submitted and that they had asked Blomfield to put adverts in the trade newspaper, The Builder, and the West London Observer. For some reason the adverts for tenders didn’t appear until December but when they did they confirmed that plans for the work to be done could be seen “at the Offices of A W Blomfield, Esq, the Architect, No 8 Adelphi Terrace, The Strand”. ² Contract No. 1 was “for erecting Episcopal chapel, Nonconformist chapel, entrance lodge, boundary wall and piers”. ³

The Builder vol.23, p.36 – Jan 14, 1865

Blomfield continued to feature in the minutes over the next couple of years, providing the Board with various reports and attending meetings to address points of concern. The final entry in the minutes in which his name appears is in February 1866 which tells us that his services had cost the Parish £2906-10-3 (approximately £300,000 in today’s money). Further evidence that the cemetery is the work of Arthur Blomfield is that contemporary critics nicknamed it “Bloomfield’s folly” [sic]. ⁴

Why the attribution to J G Hall?

Why then has the cemetery been attributed to ‘J G Hall’? In 1874 the cemetery was extended towards the Munster Road. The Board minutes of 24 April 1873 record that a Mr Hall was commissioned for “a new roadway to the Cemetery with a lodge attached”. Two years later, a John George Hall of 33 Masbro Road, Brook Green, Hammersmith, was admitted as an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and their records indicate that one of the photographs he deposited with the Institute was a photo of the “new entrance” at Fulham Cemetery. ⁵

Hugh Meller, in his book, ‘London Cemeteries: An illustrated guide and gazeteer', states that J G Hall had designed the Cemetery “while a pupil with Blomfield”. ⁶ This is possible; Blomfield kept a large practice employing many, not least the young architect and future author, Thomas Hardy. However it would seem that, whilst others in his practice may have produced the architectural drawings, the designs were Blomfield’s. ⁷ Also, RIBA’s Dictionary of British Architects tells us that John George Hall (1826-1894), was articled to John Tarring ⁸ and, on both the 1861 and 1871 censuses, he is listed as a draughtsman at the War Office living in Kentish Town, which is presumably where he was when Fulham Cemetery was being built in 1865.

So it seems most likely that memories were short and that later architectural historians assumed that the person who was employed to extend the Cemetery in the 1870s was the same person who had been given the original contract in the 1860s. Blomfield deserves the recognition for Fulham Cemetery and its buildings. They were designed at an early stage of his illustrious career and would form an important entry in the catalogue of his work, which includes the Royal College of Music, a plethora of Cathedral restorations and the refurbishment of All Saints Church, Fulham. The Friends will now seek to set the record straight and a fuller biography of Blomfield will appear on this website soon.

Sir Arthur William Blomfield by Ralph Winwood Robinson, published by C. Whittingham & Co platinum print, published 1892 National Portrait Gallery CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

Sources

Nikolaus Pesvner, The Buildings of England: London, except the Cities of Westminster of London and Westminster, (1952, London), p132
West London Observer, 17 December 1864, p1
The Builder, 14 Jan 1865, p36
West London Observer, 4 November 1865, The Monument of Jobbery
RIBA Journal: Transactions 1875-1876, p.26
Hugh Meller, London Cemeteries: An Illustrated Guide and Gazeter (2011, London)
Margaret Richardson, Architects of the Arts and Crafts Movement, pp.94-96, (1983, London)
p.96: As Thomas Hardy in the 1860s found that architectural drawing in which the actual designing had no great part — as that was done by Blomfield — was monotonous and mechanical, and turned to writing poetry, often giving short talks on poets and poetry to the pupils,
Directory of British architects, 1834-1900 , p.399

Works by Arthur Blomfield

All Saints Church, Fulham, 1880-1

Although the tower dates from 1440, the present church building was rebuilt in 1880–1881 by Blomfield using squared rubblestone, ashlar dressings and windows in the Perpendicular style.

Buried in its churchyard is Blomfield's father and Bishop of London from 1828-56, Charles James Blomfield.

Royal College of Music, 1892

In 1882 Blomfield designed the Royal College of Music in London. The building was designed in Flemish Mannerist style in red brick dressed with buff-coloured Welden stone. Construction began in 1892 and the building opened in May 1894. The building was largely paid for by two large donations from Samson Fox, a Yorkshire industrialist, whose statue, along with that of the Prince of Wales, stands in the entrance hall.

Nave of Southwark Cathedral, 1890-7

In 1890–7 Blomfield rebuilt the nave of St Saviour's parish church, Southwark (now Southwark Cathedral). It is a notable example of his use of a Gothic Revival style. Blomfield intended to recreate its 13th-century predecessor as accurately as possible, and to preserve the few surviving mediaeval fragments. This earned him a reputation as a faithful restorer.

Photo by Adrian Pingstone (public domain)