Decision made on repairs to save Sunderland's collapsing Bishopwearmouth Cemetery chapel

Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways Committee, at a meeting this week, approved a council application for the Bishopwearmouth Cemetery chapel.

The Anglican 1856 South Chapel has been dangerously dilapidated for years, with scaffolding previously erected to protect the tower and spirelet and the building being fenced off as part of an inspection.

Sunderland City Council, in a public statement in February, 2023, said it intended to carry out “essential external repair and restoration work” and was looking to procure a “specialist consultant” to help deliver the project.

Almost two years later, the council submitted an application to its own planning department for listed building consent seeking permission to carry out repairs at the listed chapel.

A design and access statement submitted with the application said the building was in a “poor condition” and listed various issues, including the “spirelet leaning and at risk of collapse”, with “temporary scaffold” in place to “reduce the risk of collapse into the building”.

Other issues included parts of the building “breaking apart”, the chapel roof being “in the process of slowly collapsing into the nave”, missing slates in many places and “choked gutters”, as well as “decaying timber” and water damage.

Proposed works at the site included repairs to the “spirelet and belfry masonry”, all roofs being “recovered in new Westmoreland slate replicating the present slate patterning” and a “new roof superstructure” benefiting the majority of the building.

All wallplates, gutters and downpipes and flashings were also earmarked for replacement, along with repair and rebuilding works and a “new underground surface water drainage system”.

Inside the building, all walls were proposed to have remaining plaster removed with windows also left open to “ventilate and dry out the building” and ceilings being kept in place to “assist drying out”.

The design and access statement added the building would “then be safe, watertight and in the process of drying out” and would be “ready for further repairs and development.”

After being put to the vote at a meeting on January 6, 2025, the plans won unanimous support from the Planning and Highways Committee.

While welcoming the plans, several councillors raised concerns about how the building had fallen into disrepair, along with questions about the building’s long-term future.

Council planning officers said the proposed repair works aimed to make the building secure and watertight and were the first step towards bringing the chapel back into use again, with a search already under way for an “end user”.

It was also noted that highway safety would be maintained at all times during the works, in terms of vehicles accessing the chapel site.

Councillor Martin Haswell, a committee member and ward councillor for the area where the chapel sits, welcomed the restoration works but said the council must ensure the building is brought back into use.

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“As one of the [Pallion] ward councillors, this has been a constant bone of contention for residents and me in raising with the council the state that this building has been allowed to fall into,” he said.

“There are three of these chapels, one is already gone, this one is on the verge of collapsing and now this is good news that it’s going to get in the right direction and we have a third which doesn’t look in good condition.

“It’s deplorable that this [south] chapel has been allowed to fall into this state and residents have complained for a long long time, so this is a positive step in the right direction.

“The next phase is that the council then must go ahead with completing that listed building work and then going for a heritage lottery grant to bring it back fully up to a standard where it can be let out to be a florist or a café or something, just to get it back into use and preserve it for the future.”

Councillor Michael Dixon, also criticising the condition of the building, said: “I spend a lot of time through recreation walking around Sunderland (Grangetown) Cemetery and there are two chapels there […] and they’re in reasonable condition.

“But this is absolutely appalling and I think it’s terrible that a Grade II-listed building with religious background and undertones, in a cemetery, has been allowed to deteriorate to this level.

“Clearly I’m very happy with the [listed building consent] application but that’s something I feel very strongly about.”

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Councillor Martyn Herron added: “I’m really hopeful that the application will be passed and that the work will be done and hopefully there’s a new lease of life for the building.”

Council planning officers, in a report published ahead of the decision-making meeting, had recommended the plans for approval.

The council report said the chapel is an “impressive example of its type, originally built in 1856 to the designs of notable Sunderland Architect Thomas Moore as part of the wider municipal cemetery complex”.

Council planners, in the committee report, added the proposed repair works represented a “well-informed approach based on a thorough condition survey and an understanding of the significance of the building” and were “consistent with good practice for listed buildings”.

It was noted that the proposals would also “rescue and consolidate, through well-informed repair and conservation works, a listed building at risk in a manner that will sustain the heritage significance of the building.”

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According to a design and access statement submitted last year, the chapel historically “formed one of a pair that acted as mortuaries for non-conformist and Anglican denominations within the municipal cemetery”.

However, the chapel’s northern twin, known as the Central Chapel, was demolished after a fire in the late-1990s.

A heritage statement submitted to council officials noted that proposed works to the South Chapel included “maintenance, repair and reinstatement”, with the “principal affected item” being the building’s roof covering.

The heritage statement added: “The building is part of the estate of Sunderland City Council who recognise its dilapidation and wish to carry out holding repairs whilst the future use of the building is developed.”

For more information on the planning application or council decision, visit Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 24/02306/LB3