PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A DIFFERENT DATE FROM WHAT WAS ADVERTISED IN THE EVENTS SHEET.
A unique opportunity to visit the UK’s first crematorium designed by Edward Francis Channing Clarke in 1885 for the Cremation Society of Great Britain. There will be a presentation and guided tour of the chapel, crematory, columbarium, Gardens of Remembrance and associated buildings.
Woking Crematorium holds a special place in the history of cremation, being the first building of its kind in the UK. Built by the Cremation Society of Great Britain on land adjacent to Brookwood Cemetery, it posed a unique challenge, being a building type for which there was no precedent.
The first rudimentary building was erected in 1878 with a 70’ chimney and a cremator installed by Professor Gorini from Italy. It attracted a great deal of opposition from the local community and Sir Henry Thompson, President of The Cremation Society (founded in 1874) recognised that it was important for the crematorium ‘to be agreeable in appearance … harmonising with the surrounding woods’ and to have reassuring ecclesiological associations that would pre-empt any suggestion that cremation was a ‘heathen process.’ To that end, the Chapel built in 1885 by E.F.C. Clarke, a London church architect, was designed in thirteenth century Gothic.
Over the following years a series of celebrated figures were cremated here, including James Nasmyth, Thomas Hardy, Frederick Engels, Sir Edward Burne-Jones and Kate Greenaway. The crematorium houses arguably the finest catafalque in the country. This handsome structure in marble alabaster and carved stone was donated by a founder member of the Cremation Society, Mrs Rosemary Crawshay.
The visit will start outside the crematorium (there are transport links from Woking Station) and will include a guided tour of the Chapel, columbarium, Gardens of Remembrance, small cemetery and Memorial Cloisters and the opportunity to talk with staff about the process of cremation and a unique opportunity to visit ‘behind the scenes.’
There are no accessibility issues.
Professor Hilary J Grainger, Chair of the Victorian Society, is Professor Emerita of Architectural History, University of the Arts London and Honorary Professor in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University. She is the leading authority on Sir Ernest George and the architecture of UK crematoria. Hilary is Chair and Director of the Cremation Society of Great Britain, Vice-Chair of the International Cremation Federation, a Non-Executive Director of the London Cremation Company and Chair of the Fabric Advisory Committee at Lichfield Cathedral.
Image: Woking Crematorium