Chapels of Rest, Bisley Rd Cemetery
Stroud GL5 1HJ
Architect (Lodge /Chapels): Baker & Sons, Stroud
Builders: Harrison & English
Landscape architect: Robert Marnock
Gardener: William Foster
Listed Grade 2 No. 130-6184
Owned: Stroud District Council
Used as Parks Maintenance Depot since 1994
Project starting: 8th October 2020
Chapels of Rest Open Day
25th October 2020
Stroud Preservation Trust signed a seven year lease for the Chapels of Rest February 2025
After several years of investigation, survey and negotiation, Stroud Preservation Trust signed a seven year lease on the Chapels of Rest on Tuesday 4 February 2025. At the same time we signed an agreement which saw Stroud District Council give the Trust a £75,000 grant towards the cost of essential repairs.
Before the lease was finalised the Trust produced a comprehensive Schedule of Condition, as a baseline against which repairs and improvements can be assessed.
The first urgent task will be to produce a work programme for the first year. A key part of that programme will be roof repairs.
Hiring the chapels
In the meantime we are piloting a project to turn the chapels into a Community Hub by hiring it out in it's current un-renovated state to artists, performers, individuals and groups to use as an exhibition and performance space.
You can find out more about this via these links:
You can also keep up-to-date with what's happening at the chapels by following us on Instagram - www.instagram.com/chapelsofrest/and/or on Facebook - www.facebook.com/chapelsofrest
Volunteers Needed
The big repairs will, of course, be undertaken by competent professionals. But the project also needs help from local people. If you have a few hours to spare, and would like to volunteer, on anything from weeding to fundraising to decorating, please contact Stroud Preservation Trust on friends@
History of The Chapels of Rest
In 1854, the several burial grounds in Stroud had become insufficient in size and dangerous to health and, with the threat of closure from the Secretary of State, a new cemetery had to be created. An extensive site of approximately six acres was purchased from Mr Joseph Watts for the sum of £756.00.
Stroud’s cemetery was a piece of land of 6 acres laid out with shrubs and walks by Mr W Foster, Nurseryman.
It was the fashion in those days to make the new cemeteries beautiful places for visiting and with its exceptional site, views and walks and Stroud Cemetery fits the fashion perfectly.
The twin chapels, surmounted by a spire and the original entrance lodge were designed, in decorated Gothic, by the local architects, Messrs Baker and Son, 3 Albert Buildings, Stroud, and built to a high standard of stone masonry. The overall cost (excluding the land) was £2,800.00.
The North Chapel (nearest the Bisley Road) was for non-conformists and the South Chapel for Church of England congregations.
On the 6th September 1856 the Church portion of the new cemetery was consecrated by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese. About forty of the clergy were present and there was a very large concourse of people. The morning was exceedingly fine and favourable. The following day, two paupers from the workhouse were interred there.
The cemetery grounds were divided into three areas, Church of England Non-Conformists, and paupers. The pauper’s area was directly opposite the Union Workhouse in Bisley Road. On the 4th September 1856, William Lewis, a pauper from the workhouse, was the first person to be interred.
Another resident of the workhouse was Sara Dancey Face, who died aged 100 years and 47 days and was buried in the pauper area in December 1863. She was a poor, but respected member of the Society of Wesleyans in Acre Street and one of her earliest memories was that she had once cleaned the shoes of John Wesley, when he was on one of his visits to his Society in Stroud.
The cemetery had to be expanding quickly and in 1885 more land was bought by the Stroud Joint Burial Commottee to extend the land down to Horns Road.
In 1913 Bisley Parish bought 91/3500 of the cemetery and Thrupp Parish 464/3500.
In 1974 Stroud District Council took over the running of the cemetery and the Chapels of Rest were not used (except as a parks maintenance base by Stroud Town Council) since 1994.
There were two lodges, Upper and Lower which have both been sold privately and the cemetery as a whole have been run by Stroud Town Council as a nature reserve for nearly 30 years.
The cemetery now belongs to the Town Council.
The Chapels of Rest and surrounding tarmac belong to Stroud District Council but are being leased to the Stroud Preservation Trust.
With thanks to Stroud Local History Society https://www.stroudlocalhistorysociety.org.uk/research/cemetery