Tomb of Charles Spencer Ricketts
Funerary monument in Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London
Tomb of Charles Spencer Ricketts | |
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"A gorgeously rich
Gothic
shrine"
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General information | |
Type | Funerary monument |
Architectural style | Gothic Revival |
Location | Kensal Green Cemetery , Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea , London |
Coordinates | 51°31′42″N 0°13′17″W / 51.5282°N 0.2215°W / 51.5282; -0.2215 |
Construction started | 1867 |
Governing body | General Cemetery Company |
Listed Building
– Grade II*
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Official name | Tomb of Commander Charles Spencer Ricketts, Royal Navy |
Designated | 7 November 1984 |
Reference no. | 1080630 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | William Burges |
The Tomb of Charles Spencer Ricketts is located in Kensal Green Cemetery in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea , London, England. It commemorates Commander Charles Spencer Ricketts, an officer in the Royal Navy . Designed in 1868 by William Burges , the tomb is a Grade II* listed structure .
History
Charles Spencer Ricketts (1788–1867) had entered the Royal Navy at the age of seven. [1] Serving under Thomas Cochrane , "Le Loup de Mer", during the Napoleonic Wars , he retired aged 26 on marrying an heiress, [lower-alpha 1] and established himself as a country squire at Dorton House, Buckinghamshire , rising to the post of High Sheriff in 1832. [lower-alpha 2] [4] The marriage was not happy, and he spent his last years at the London home of his daughter, Julia, who had married a solicitor, George Bonnor. On Ricketts's death in 1867, Julia Bonnor commissioned William Burges to design her father's tomb. Burges's diaries for 1867–68 include two references to "Bonnor's tomb" [1] and the structure was complete by the end of 1868. [5] The condition of the tomb deteriorated in the 20th century, but in the 21st it has been the subject of renovation and preservation. [6]
Architecture and description
The tomb takes the form of a bier , resting on fifteen pedestals, twelve on the edges, and three running down the centre of the sarcophagus . This is surmounted by a stone canopy, itself supported on eight colonettes . [7] The canopy roof has eight gables, each topped by crockets , and with eight gargoyle waterspouts . The outer colonettes are carved from Peterhead granite , the inner columns from Cornish serpentine marble. [8] The latter has not worn well. [9] The rest of the structure is carved Portland stone . [10]
Architectural critics have generally viewed the tomb with dismay. Nikolaus Pevsner , in his early volume, London II , in the Buildings of England series, described it as being "atrociously rich", while remaining unaware of its designer. [11] The revised Pevsner, London 3: North West , updated by Bridget Cherry , tempers the earlier criticism, calling the structure a "gorgeously rich Gothic shrine". [10] Burges's biographer, J. Mordaunt Crook , in his study, William Burges and the High Victorian Dream , writes, "hunched like a porcupine, fattened to the point of obesity, its reptilian form is almost a parody of Early French ". [1] The tomb's reputation has subsequently risen with that of its designer; Richard Barnes, in his study The Art of Memory: Sculpture in the Cemeteries of London , assesses it as “one of the greatest High Victorian memorials in the country”. [12] The tomb is a Grade II* listed structure . [7]
Footnotes
- ↑ Ricketts's wife was Elizabeth Sophia Aubrey, niece and heiress to Sir John Aubrey, 6th Baronet , of Dorton House, Buckinghamshire. [2]
- ↑ In addition to engaging in county politics, Ricketts's other interests were the maintenance of Royal Naval traditions, and the attempted establishment of a commercial spa on his Buckinghamshire property. He wrote several books on naval discipline, arguing particularly for the continuance of flogging . [1] He also undertook the development of Dorton Spa but this did not prove successful. [3]
References
- 1 2 3 4 Crook 2013 , pp. 200–201.
- ↑ "Roentgen Writing Table" . Victoria & Albert Museum . Retrieved 1 February 2021 .
- ↑ "Dorton Spa" (PDF) . Bucks Gardens Trust. October 2019.
- ↑ "No. 18900" . The London Gazette . 6 February 1832. pp. 254–255.
- ↑ Crook 2013 , p. 410.
- ↑ "Kensal Green Cemetery Conservation Area Proposals" . Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea . Retrieved 1 February 2021 .
- 1 2 Historic England . "Tomb of Commander Charles Spencer Ricketts, Royal Navy (Grade II*) (1080630)" . National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 1 February 2021 .
- ↑ "The Grave of Charles Spencer Ricketts (1788–1867), Kensal Green Cemetery, London" . The Victorian Web . Retrieved 1 February 2021 .
- ↑ "Monument of Commander Charles Ricketts" (PDF) . Odgers Conservation Consultants. February 2013.
- 1 2 Cherry & Pevsner 2002 , p. 469.
- ↑ Pevsner 1952 , p. 303.
- ↑ Barnes 2016 , pp. 82–83.
Sources
- Barnes, Richard (2016). The Art of Memory: Sculpture in the Cemeteries of London . London: Kirstead Frontier. OCLC 959686527 .
- Cherry, Bridget ; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2002). London 3: North West . The Buildings of England. Newhaven, US and London: Yale University Press . ISBN 978-0-300-09652-1 . OCLC 844442257 .
- Crook, J. Mordaunt (2013). William Burges and the High Victorian Dream . London: Frances Lincoln. ISBN 978-0-711-23349-2 . OCLC 1019987074 .
- Pevsner, Nikolaus (1952). London II: except the Cities of London and Westminster . The Buildings of England. London: Penguin Books . OCLC 490048007 .
External links
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