03/09/2026
How would you feel about holding your funeral service in this Arts & Crafts cemetery chapel? 😍
Approached by a pathway lined with yew trees and perched on a small hill, this incredible terracotta building was co-created by artist Mary Watts, architect George Redmayne, and over 70 people from the community of Compton, Surrey between 1895 and 1904. The interior is done in painted gesso, and the painting in the chapel is called “The All-Pervading” and was painted by her husband. The chapel opened for services in 1898.
Even with a video, it’s difficult to convey the wonder and awe you feel the first time you step through the door of this symbolic masterpiece, overlooked by the faces of angels who alternate between looking downwards in sympathy and upwards in hope.
Watts chose the symbolism she used with incredible care. Angels, peacocks, labyrinths, hearts, light and darkness, life and death, intricate knot work, crosses from many different traditions, and so much more, all underpinned by the Tree of Life. She wrote: “These signs, simple enough in themselves, come to us through the ages, bearing with them not only their deep spiritual meaning and suggestions, but being also witnesses of the eternity of religious aspiration”.
I particularly love the thirty flowers that were created by children around the lower inner walls of the chapel, which Watts said symbolised “the fair gifts of nature”. 🌸
Mary Watts has created an entirely unique place for ceremony that, despite significant cultural and religious change, is still evoking awe over 125 years later, and I find this so inspiring. What lessons can we take from her in approaching the design of ceremony itself?
Learning about her work has taught me:
- approach every new project with creativity;
- be true to your own unique style;
- trust your talents and skills and be generous about sharing them with others;
- don’t feel bound by what has been done before;
- draw on universal symbols and rituals, but make them deeply personal to the context;
- ensure it is co-created with the people and space it is being made for;
- and follow the flow of inspiration. ✨
