Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB09/02/010

Address :
Alexander Vault Cavanacaw Pomeroy Co Tyrone

Townland:
Cavanacaw

---

Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
26/01/1976 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Mausoleum

Former Use
Mausoleum

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
Partially

---

OS Map No:
140-07

IG Ref:
H7080 7184

---

Owner Category

Local Govt

Exterior Description And Setting

A partly rendered stone burial vault with a classical doorcase and cornice to the entrance front, surrounded by ornamented cast iron railings. It stands in a field in a rural area, set well back from the public road but easily visible from it. The entrance front faces north. It is symmetrical, with three openings, the central entrance located between two arched panels which appear as blind window openings. Walling on the entrance front is smooth cement rendered, lined and blocked, with a moulded sandstone stringcourse near the top, surmounted by a rendered frieze with a simpler moulded sandstone cornice. The render has numerous cracks and enough missing portions to reveal the masonry carcase behind. At the right hand extremity is a pilaster-like element which has a deep projecting moulded cornice block and a projecting plinth block, although in its original state these top and bottom elements may not have been as visually isolated as they are now. The central entrance consists of a four-panelled rectangular plate-iron door recessed between a pair of multi-fluted sandstone columns of an ornamented Doric type set on moulded circular bases and surmounted by a plain Doric entablature. The blind panel to the right of the entrance is recessed in a steep Tudor arched opening. The panel which appears to be of slate is inscribed in memory of Robert William Lowry, JP and DL, 1786-1869. The blind panel to the left of the entrance is recessed in a crudely formed curvilinear arched opening, so shaped due to careless cement repairs. This panel bears no inscription. The east wall is of rubble stonework with block quoins to the right hand extremity, and with the stringcourse of the entrance front returning onto this side. There is some remnant of render remaining near the top of the wall which is raked at an angle inclined up toward the front elevation and capped by an overhanging concrete slab roof. There is evidence of a large roughly shaped opening in the middle of the wall having been later built up again. The rear elevation is of rubble stonework slightly overhung by the concrete slab roof. The west elevation is faced with ashlar sandstone blocks in regular courses with a projecting plain sandstone plinth, a heavily moulded sandstone cornice which breaks forward in the centre above a moulded sandstone bracket, and also breaks forward at the left hand extremity over a projecting sandstone pilaster. The corresponding pilaster at the right hand extremity is missing, revealing its outline in the exposed rubble masonry behind. The cornice is also incomplete at the right hand end. Set in the centre of the wall immediately below the corbel is a large square sandstone panel bearing what are presumably the arms of the Lowry family, carved in high relief, and now damaged. Surrounding the vault is a low plinth wall of squared sandstone blocks to the outside and rubble stonework to the inside, with a weathered sandstone coping, mounted with cast iron railings which have cusped Gothic arcading and fleur-de-lys finials, terminated at the corners by slightly taller octagonal posts with Gothic panelled bases, and supported at intervals by ogee Gothic arched brackets. These railings are largely intact along the front and the west side but most of the rest have been dismantled, some broken, and stacked along the rear wall of the vault. In the middle of the front set of railings, on axis with the entrance to the vault is a gate of similar design to the railings, mounted on posts similar in design to those at the corners. SETTING: The ground between the vault and the boundary railings is laid with gravel. Outside the railings is a grassy field all round, with only two monkey puzzle trees still standing of what was reportedly an avenue of them extending from the boundary of the field with the public road to the west and across the face of the vault enclosure to a path to the east of it as indicated on an OS map.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The precise date of building is not recorded but it appears on the OS map of 1906 and stylistically may be supposed to date from the mid-Victorian era, probably around 1870, which would accord with the date of death of the only person commemorated by an inscription, Robert Lowry who died in 1869. Robert Lowry was a member of the family who lived in Pomeroy House and who had been responsible for the formalised layout of the village of Pomeroy begun in 1770. The grounds around this vault appear to have originally lain within their estate. In 1971 the setting, which is now completely open, was described as “a carefully planted avenue of monkey-puzzles and yews leading to a path planted with deciduous trees”. There was no mention of the vault in this reference which suggests that at that time it was not visible or as easily visible from the public road as it is now. References – Primary Sources 1. OS Map of 1906. Secondary Sources 1. UAHS, Dungannon and Cookstown (Belfast, 1971), p 54. 2. B. Jupp, Heritage Gardens Inventory (Northern Ireland Heritage Gardens Committee, Belfast, 1992), catalogue no. T031.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

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

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest V. Authorship

Evaluation

This is a mausoleum of mid-Victorian date in an essentially classical style as manifest in its columnated entrance and moulded cornicing but merged with Tudor in its one intact inscription panel arch, with boundary railings detailed in Gothic style. Although missing some elements of stonework facing and repaired in places, the original overall appearance of the vault is still discernible while the major part, if not all, of the boundary railings are available for re-erection, the entire structure thus apparently capable of reinstatement. As a burial place and memorial to a very prominent local family of the past, responsible for the original layout and development of the village of Pomeroy, as well as the patrons and builders of other local buildings such as Altadesert Parish Church and the former Pomeroy House, this is a structure of some local interest with a special association with the locality, and remains an intriguing element in the landscape despite the partial of its original setting.

General Comments

Date of Survey

09 February 2008