Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/51/001 C

Address :
Chapel of the Resurrection Innisfayle Park Antrim Road Belfast Co. Antrim

Townland:
Low Wood

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
19/11/1974 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Church

Former Use
Church

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
Yes

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OS Map No:
130-1

IG Ref:
J3314 7859

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

Free-standing asymmetrical single-cell Gothic revival sandstone former chapel, built 1865-69 to designs by Lanyon, Lynn & Lanyon. Rectangular on plan with an apsidal east chancel, octagonal bell-tower to the southwest and gabled projection to the north. It is located on a slightly elevated site to the north of Innisfayle Park behind suburban housing. Currently empty. Steeply pitched natural slate roof, hipped to the east with fish-scale banding, clay ridge tiles and lead hip ridges surmounted by a wrought-iron finial. Roof set behind ashlar sandstone parapet with tapered coursing surmounted by a roll-top ridge. This parapet is punctuated by trefoil headed gablets that surmount stepped buttresses. Rainwater goods not visible. Random coursed rock-faced sandstone walling with dressed sandstone quoins, cement pointing and double chamfered stepped plinth course. Pointed-headed window openings with hood mouldings, label blocks, splayed sills and bipartite cusped stone window frames with cusped occuli. Traces of latticed leaded windows evident. Principal asymmetrical south elevation has an octagonal bell-tower to the left adjacent to the gabled entrance porch and two nave windows. Bays are divided by stepped buttresses and continuous beak mouldings at sill level and at the base of the parapet with the latter having projecting blocks at regular intervals. These mouldings continue around the three-stage bell-octagonal tower which has stepped buttressing in ashlar stone to the exposed faces at the base and diminutive cusped lancets. The upper stage is arcaded with trefoil-headed openings flanked by pink stone colonettes and a tapered ashlar stone spire with wrought-iron finial. The gabled entrance occupies the left bay with vertically-sheeted timber door set behind a cusped pointed-arched opening and compound moulded surround rising from squat colonettes. The doorway is surmounted by a crocketted raised gable and trefoil finial. Over the entrance is a cusped trefoil opening with hood moulding and square labels. West gable has a single stepped buttress to the left and a large rose window with elaborate cusped stone tracery. A smaller circular window is centred at the top of the gable cusped with dressed stone. North elevation detailed as per south elevation with a single-storey gabled projection in turn abutted by a large shouldered chimneystack with later octagonal top and conical chimney, surmounted by a trefoil stone finial. East apsidal chancel elevation not accessible. Roof : Natural slate RWG : Not visible Walling : Sandstone ashlar Windows : Stone tracery Setting Located on an elevated site to the north of Innisfayle Park and set behind the rear elevations of suburban housing accessed via a short gravel driveway. Currently secured with steel palisade fencing.

Architects

Lanyon & Lynn

Historical Information

The Chapel of the Resurrection, a Gothic Revival chapel located in Innisfayle Park in the townland of Low Wood, was constructed in 1865-69 as a mortuary chapel for the Marquis of Donegall who resided at Belfast Castle (HB26/51/001). The chapel predates Belfast Castle which was constructed in 1868-70. Brett states that the 3rd Marquis of Donegall, George Chichester, found his previous dwelling of Ormeau House an ‘ill-constructed residence’ and the Marquis himself wrote that ‘his estate was under a disadvantage for want of a more suitable family residence.’ Despite being in constant debt, the 3rd Marquis of Donegall decided to construct a new mansion at lands he still owned in the deer park to the north of Belfast. Scott states that proposal to build was announced in 1865 but construction was delayed due to a legal dispute between the Marquis and his neighbour (Donegall wished to build his new mansion too close to his neighbour’s property). In 1870, following the completion of Belfast Castle, Ormeau House was demolished and its grounds were granted by the Marquis to Belfast Corporation for the purpose of creating Ormeau Park, Belfast’s first public park. Belfast Castle was designed by John Lanyon, the son of Sir. Charles Lanyon and a partner in the firm Lanyon, Lynn & Lanyon. John Lanyon was also responsible for the design of the mansion’s gate lodge on the Antrim Road. Both the mansion and its gate lodge were designed in the emerging Scots-Baronial style which had become popular in the United Kingdom following the reconstruction of Balmoral Castle in the style in 1852-56 (Brett, p. 46; Maguire; Scott; DIA). Larmour states that the Chapel of the Resurrection was also designed by Lanyon, Lynn & Lanyon but that it was ‘almost certainly the work of Lynn rather than the Lanyon’s.’ Barton suggests that Sir. Charles Lanyon was the partner most responsible. The chapel was built as a mortuary chapel that acted as a memorial to the third Marquis’ son, the Earl of Belfast, who had died in 1853. Barton states that the chapel was not only a memorial to their son but was also to be used as a burial place for members of the Chichester family (who had previously been buried at Carrickfergus). The Chapel of the Resurrection was consecrated on 20th December 1869 and was valued at £10 under the Annual Revisions. The Natural Stone Database records that the chapel was constructed with locally-quarried Scrabo sandstone with Portland limestone employed as a secondary material (NSD). The interior of the chapel originally possessed a white marble monument to the Earl of Belfast which depicted the earl on his deathbed and was sculpted by Patrick McDowell (1799-1879). Following the completion of the site, the remains of the earl were moved to the Chapel of the Resurrection and interred in its vault (Barton; Larmour; Scott). Barton states that the chapel was converted into a private chapel for the use of the owners and occupants of the Castle in 1891. The conversion of the building included the decoration of the interior and the addition of an altar, reading desk, organ and stained glass windows. The refurbishment of the interior was carried out by Cox & Sons of London and Buckley & Co. of Youghal, Co. Cork. The church organ was built by Wordsworth & Co. of Leeds. Following the death of the 3rd Marquis of Donegall in 1883, Belfast Castle and its estate passed to his son-in-law, Antony Ashley-Cooper (Lord Ashley) the 8th Earl of Shaftesbury, who had married the Lady Harriet Chichester in 1857. The Shaftesbury family continued to hold Belfast Castle until 1934 when the 9th Earl of Shaftesbury granted the building and the 200 acre estate to Belfast Corporation. Barton states that the Shaftesbury family ‘continued to use [the chapel] for private and semi-private services even though they had no need of it, as they could worship in an Oratory located inside the Castle itself’ but during the First World War ‘services in the chapel were discontinued, except very occasionally. ‘Having been utilised as a private dwelling for only 65 years, Belfast Castle was granted to Belfast Corporation on 1st February 1935 (Barton; Scott). Shaftesbury retained the chapel until 1938 when it was transferred to the Church of Ireland. Barton states that the chapel effectively became the responsibility of St. Peter’s Church of Ireland (HB26/46/015) from that year. The first public service was held at the Chapel of the Resurrection on 18th September 1938. The building suffered minor damage during the Belfast Blitz and repairs were subsequently carried out to the damaged roof and windows. The chapel continued to be regularly used for services between 1938 and the 1960s but, due to the decline in church attendance, the change in the makeup of the local population and the vandalism of the building (following the development of post-war housing around it in the 1950 and 1960s), regular services were terminated in 1965. By the end of the Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72) the chapel had been increased in rateable value to £192. The congregation of St. Peter’s endeavoured to maintain the chapel but by 1974 recurrent acts of vandalism had forced the Select Vestry to remove all furnishings from the building and to sell the organ to a rural church. By the 1980s the church had fallen into an advanced state of disrepair and was curtailed behind a barbed wire fence. In 1982 the vaults beneath the chapel were vandalised and the remaining tombs (the remains of the Chichester family) desecrated (Barton; Scott). The Chapel of the Resurrection was listed category B+ in 1974. The chapel has continued to lay vacant since the 1970s. The NIEA HB Records note that in 2007-08 holding repairs were carried out to the chapel which included repairs to its roof, the restoration of its roof trusses and the cleaning of its stonework. The restoration aimed at making the chapel safe and restricting further acts of vandalism and so all openings and doors have been blocked up (NIEA HB Records). Some of the original furnishings of the church survive at St. Peter’s Church of Ireland. In a side chapel opened in 2000 (named the Chapel of the Resurrection) are a number of artefacts from the derelict chapel including its reredos, the altar, a number of statues, the credence table and the original lectern (Barton). References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/1/57/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1857) 2. PRONI OS/6/1/57/4 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1901-02) 3. PRONI OS/6/1/57/5 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1931) 4. PRONI OS/6/1/57/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1936-38) 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/5/8B-8F – Annual Revisions (1867-1897) 6. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/F/1-7 – Annual Revisions (1897-1930) 7. PRONI VAL/3/C/3- First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) 8. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/5 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72) 9. Ulster Town Directories (1870-1943) 10. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911) 11. First Survey Record – HB26/51/002 (1970) 12. NIEA HB Records – HB26/51/002 Secondary Sources 1. Barton, B., ‘A history of St. Peter’s Parish Antrim Road Belfast’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2009. 2. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of Belfast: 1700-1914’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1985. 3. Dixon, H; Walker, B., ‘No Mean City: 1880-1914’ Belfast: The Friar’s Bush Press, 1984. 4. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987. 5. Maguire, W. A., ‘Belfast: Town and city histories’ Keele: Keele University Press, 1993. 6. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993. 7. Scott, R., ‘A breath of fresh air: The story of Belfast’s parks’ Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2000. Online Resources 1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie 2. Natural Stone Database - http://www.stonedatabase.com//buildings.cfm?bk=2616

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation H-. Alterations detracting from building K. Group value

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest V. Authorship Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance R. Age S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance U. Historic Associations

Evaluation

Free-standing asymmetrical single-cell Gothic Revival former chapel, built in sandstone to designs by Lanyon, Lynn & Lanyon, in 1865-69 as a mortuary chapel to George Chichester, the third Marquis’ son and Earl of Belfast, who had died in 1853 and was interred in its vault. Rectilinear on plan with an apsidal east chancel and octagonal bell-tower to the southwest. Built as part of the Belfast Castle estate, this chapel appears to have lost its interior, although many of the original artefacts have been relocated. However, the roof has been reslated and window grilles fitted to deter further deterioration. The robust detailing and the vertical emphasis of this chapel make for a picturesque composition, enhanced by the elevated site while forming an important part of the former Belfast Castle demesne. It has group value with Belfast Castle (HB26.51.001A) and the Gate Lodge to Belfast Castle (HB26.51.001B).

General Comments

Record re-numbered, previously HB26/51/002.

Date of Survey

05 June 2014