Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB20/04/042 V

Address :
Vault in burial ground Shane's Castle Park Antrim Co Antrim

Townland:
Shane's Castle Park

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
20/09/1974 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Mausoleum

Former Use
Mausoleum

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
Yes

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
95/12

IG Ref:
J1160 8810

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A rectangular burial vault built of mortared random rubble basalt, with low walls, and a high pitched stone roof of similar random rubble. Entrance faces east. Entrance front contains a central segmental arched doorway flanked by a square headed rectangular recess to each side. Doorway recessed and contains a replacement timber door, vertically sheeted and studded set in a plain timber frame; stone doorstep. Above the doorway in the apex of the gable is a slightly recessed square stone plaque inscribed with raised letters "This vault was built by Shane McBrien McPhelim McShane McBrien McPhelim O'Neill Esq in the year 1722 for a burial place to himself and family of Clanneboy". There is a narrow vertical slit opening in the rear gable near ground level. Masonry throughout has been repointed with slightly recessed jointing in cement mortar leaving arrises to stones exposed, with some portions of old mortar still visible. SETTING: The building stands in the south-west corner of an overgrown private graveyard of irregular curvilinear shape. Graveyard enclosed by a low rubble stone wall, entered by a pedestrian gateway on the south side: modern square red brick piers with concrete caps; modern chamfered timber gate now in poor condition; concrete step. Boundary walling along south frontage has been later repaired along the top. Walling elsewhere retains old lime mortar pointing; some stones missing. Immediately outside the enclosing wall on the west side, from west to south-west, runs a sunken path bounded by high basalt rubble retaining walls; the path leads to an underground passage connecting the graveyard area with the basement area of Shane's Castle ruins (HB20/04/051). Within the graveyard the ground is rough, slightly mounded in places, with mature conifers, yew and ash trees growing. A row of 14 headstones has been set up just within the gateway running from near the vault to the south-east corner of the graveyard; the earliest noted dates from 1684. Elsewhere other stones stand in their original position or lie on the ground, one of which dates from 1802, just prior to the closing of the graveyard. At the western end of the line of headstones, immediately adjacent to the vault stands a carved statue of a female harpist (HB20/04/044A). The graveyard itself stands in a wooded area of agricultural grassland within the grounds of a large estate, and in close proximity to the ruins of Shane's Castle and the shore of Lough Neagh.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Built in 1722 by Shane O'Neill, commonly called 'French John' O'Neill, as a burial vault for himself and his family. The first person known to have been interred there was French John O'Neill's wife 'Charity' O'Neill who died in 1726, followed by French John himself who died in 1739. The last of the family who was interred in the vault was John, first Viscount O'Neill, who was killed by rebels at Antrim in 1798, but his remains and the bones of the others already interred there, were later removed by his son to a new vault built c 1838 in the graveyard of Randalstown Church of Ireland church. The origins of the burial ground are unknown; reputedly a chapel once stood there but the Ordnance Survey Memoirs reported in 1830s that there had been no trace of it to be seen within memory. The oldest slab then noted, and which still stands, dates from 1684 (John Ffrow); the most recent noted dates from 1802 (Bridgat Madorey). These burials were not of the O'Neill family but of villagers at Shane's Castle. Closed by Lord O'Neill as a burial ground c 1803-4, and to prevent its further use he opened a new graveyard outside the park, at Kilbegs (HB20/04/035). Subsequent to that, Lord O'Neill started to root out the old burial ground, at the close of 1815, but the outcry raised by the relatives of those buried there caused him to abandon the project. In 1988 headstones which had been lying flat on the ground were lifted and set vertically in a line just inside the entrance gateway, and a new timber gate provided; around the same time a 1920s statute of a harpist (HB20/04/044A) was set up in the burial ground adjacent to the vault. The vault stands within the area of an ancient monument, no.ANT49:54. References – Primary Sources 1. Inscribed plaque above doorway. 2. OS Map 1829 & 32, Co Antrim 49. Secondary Sources 1. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Vol 19: Parishes of County Antrim VI, 1830, 1833, 1835-8 (Belfast, 1993), pp 35, 62-3. 2. Dublin Penny Journal, Vol II, No 65, 28 Sept, 1833, p 98. 3. Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland 1844-45, Vol III (Dublin, 1846), p 215. 4. J.B. Doyle, Tours in Ulster: a hand book to the antiquities and scenery of the north of Ireland (Dublin, 1854), pp 114 and 115. 5. Rev W.S. Smith, Shane's Castle – a sketch (Belfast, 1881), pp 5-6. 6. Rev J. O'Laverty, An Historical Account of the Diocese of Down and Connor, Ancient and Modern, Vol III (Dublin, 1884), pp 300-1. 7. H.C. Lawlor, Ulster: Its Archaeology and Antiquities (Belfast, 1928), pp 154-5. 8. D. Barzilay, Shane's Castle Railway and Nature Reserve: Official Guide (Antrim, 1975), p 21.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

This is an unusually proportioned stone vaulted 18th century burial vault in a plain un-ornamented style, which enjoys an unspoiled setting in a small burial ground near the ruins of a castle within a demesne. It is of considerable local interest as part of the development of the Shane's Castle estate, and together with the adjacent figure sculpture it forms an interesting group.

General Comments

In the first Survey, this vault was numbered HB20/04/044. In the second Survey, this vault was originally numbered HB20/04/044B.

Date of Survey

28 October 2000