Mortuary Chapel

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Double-height gable-fronted Gothic Revival former Mortuary Chapel in local Schist stone with Giffnock sandstone dressings and carved detailing; built 1868 to the designs by Robert Collins. Projecting gabled porch to the North-west entrance, projecting canted hipped roof chancel to South-west and a square tower with an octagonal stone spire to the North-east side. Decorative quatrefoil window on North-West gable above porch and three-stage buttresses throughout. Rectangular plan form with principal elevation facing North-West and associated single-storey stone gate lodge with attic (HB01.16.001B) to the North-East end of the main church, all set behind a low stone wall with decorative painted iron railings above. The church has fallen out of use as a house of worship.

Pitched natural slate roof has roll-top lead ridge and lead valleys set behind slightly raised gables with sandstone coping to skews and corbelled kneelers. Moulded cast-iron guttering supported by small stone corbels discharges to circular cast-iron painted downpipes throughout. Rough-coursed rubble local Schist stone walling with Glasgow Giffnock ashlar sandstone dressings including quoins, window and door surrounds, stepped buttresses to the chancel and angle buttresses to the front and rear gable and tower. Windows are generally single lancets with latticed plain glazing; to chancel they are paired and set in sandstone Y-tracery with quatrefoils over.

North-West front elevation comprises a full-height gable with a single-storey projecting gabled entrance porch containing a pointed arch doorway having vertically sheeted timber doors with cast metal ironmongery; small quatrefoil window above porch; the gable is flanked by tapered buttresses with a large metal finial at apex.

North-East side elevation is abutted by a three-stage square tower with an octagonal spire; tower has a single lancet pointed arch lattice window to the NE and SE sides at lower stage, upper stage has a single pointed arch opening containing a timber louvers to each side. Projecting dressed stone string course aligned with eaves to main church, repeated at start of broached middle stage where coursed rubble schist stone walling changes to ashlar sandstone and again at base to stone spire. Dressed sandstone toothed quoins to outer corners or tower and buttresses and also to window surrounds.

South-East end to the rear faces out onto the Lone Moor Road, gable-end of main body of church is abutted by a three-sided chancel, each side contains a pointed arch double lancet lattice window with a small quatrefoil above flanked by three-stage buttresses, moulded iron guttering is supported by corbel brackets to eaves level, three-sided slate roof has roll-top lead flashing to ridges and is surmounted by a small metal finial; main SE gable-end is flanked by three-stage angled buttresses with stone coping to skews rising to a large metal finial at the apex.

South-West side elevation faces out on a 'Peace' garden having a 3-bay nave with three-stage angled buttresses to either end of elevation; pointed arch single lancet lattice windows with small stone corbel brackets to eaves level supporting a moulded iron gutter terminating to a circular painted cast-iron downpipe to the right side of elevation.

Materials:
Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Rough-coursed rubble local Schist / Glasgow Giffnock ashlar sandstone
Windows Lattice lancets

Setting:
Located on the North-West side of the Lone Moor Road on an elevated site to the South-East of the vast city cemetery with the River Foyle below to the South side; entrance to the cemetery is approached from the Lone Moor Road via a short tarmac avenue with the Chapel to one side and a small gate lodge (HB01.16.001B) to the opposite side.

Simple wrought iron double gates hung on square steel replacement gate posts centred between the church and gate lodge. These are flanked by cast iron railings to each side set back from the pavement in a S-plan curve form over a low Schist wall with sandstone copings, terminating in a pair of sandstone pillars of obelisk form to each side.

Historical information

The Mortuary Chapel, a Gothic-Revival chapel possessing a tower with octagonal spire located at the Lone Moor Road entrance to Londonderry’s cemetery, was constructed in 1868. The cemetery was first laid out in 1853. Canning states that prior to this date the majority of burials in the city were carried out at the graveyards attached to St. Columb’s Cathedral, St. Augustine’s Church and Long Tower Chapel. Due to the increasing population of the city in the mid-Victorian period, Londonderry Corporation sought to create a city cemetery to relieve the overcrowded church cemeteries. The city cemetery was established in 1853 on slightly over 13 acres of land owned by David Watt & Co., a local Distillery based on Abbey Street. The cemetery was laid out by George Milne, a landscape gardener who was also responsible for the construction of the city’s reservoir. The second edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853) records that the Lone Moor Road entrance to the cemetery was originally located to the south-west of the current entrance. The map notes that the cemetery was laid out with paths and had been planted with trees and vegetation and that the original entrance was located across from the Brandywell Road. The first burial took place on 10th December 1853 with burials at the church cemeteries ceasing from 1st Jan 1867 (Hume, p. 64; Canning).

The Mortuary Chapel was erected at the Lone Moor Road entrance to the cemetery in 1868 to designs by Robert Collins, a local architect who was appointed consulting engineer for Londonderry in 1866. Collins was also the engineer to Londonderry’s Port and Harbour Commissioners and the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railways Company, therefore responsible for the development of the city’s infrastructure during the Victorian period. Collins was responsible for the design of Ferryquay Gate (1866) and for the standard design of nos 3-18 Crawford Square (HB01/22/003C-R) in the 1870s. Londonderry Corporation not only commissioned Collins to design the Mortuary Chapel, but also the accompanying one-and-a-half-storey superintendent’s house (HB01.16.001B) which was constructed at the same time. The Natural Stone Database records that Collins utilised locally-quarried Londonderry schist in the masonry of both buildings with Scottish-imported Giffnock sandstone utilised as a secondary material for dressings (DIA; NSD). The chapel and house were constructed by the local building firm of Hutchinson & Colhoun at a cost of £2,000 (Calley).

The Mortuary Chapel and the superintendent’s house were jointly valued at £40 in the Annual Revisions. The accompanying town plan (c. 1873-1910) depicted both buildings along their current layouts suggesting that few structural changes have been made to them since the mid-19th century. In 1901 the Ulster Town Directory recorded that ‘there is a fine cemetery in the neighbourhood of the city, which has been beautifully planted with shrubs, trees and flowers’ and noted that a Mr. William Lindsay, the Superintendent and Registrar of Burials, resided at the dwelling on the Lone Moor Road. In that year the census building return described the superintendent’s house as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 10 rooms and possessed a cow house, fowl house and coal house as its sole out offices. The city cemetery was increased in size to over 40 acres in 1930. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of the Mortuary Chapel was increased to £50. This was further raised to £96 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72).

In 1970 the UAHS guide for Londonderry described the Mortuary Chapel as ‘a simple neo-Gothic chapel constructed in whinstone with sandstone trimmings and Bangor blue slate roof and sandstone spire. A handsome little building.’ In 1997 Dean described the superintendent’s lodge in the following terms: ‘one-and-a-half-storey semi-detached on an irregular plan. In grey slate, dressed with sandstone quoins and hood mouldings to a combination of single, bi-and-tripartite window openings. Plain bargeboards, the chimney stacks in red and yellow polychromatic brickwork’ (UAHS Guide, p. 30; Dean, p. 113). The Mortuary Chapel and its associated gates and lodge were listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that the chapel underwent a renovation in 1987 that included the restoration of its stonework, the overhaul of its rainwater goods and the replacement of the finial atop its spire (NIEA HB Records).

References
Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
2. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1/18 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873-1910)
3. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16E – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/10C-10G – Annual Revisions (1866-97)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/3B-3C – Annual Revisions (1898-1929)
6. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/12 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
7. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/17 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
8. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1943)
9. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
10. First Survey Record – HB01/16/001 (1970)
11. NIEA HB Records – HB01/16/001

Secondary Sources
1. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013 (includes 1899 Valuation Map).
2. Canning, B., ‘Derry City Cemetery: 1853-2003 – 150 years’ Londonderry, 2003.
3. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
4. Ferguson, W. S; Rowan, A. J; Tracey, J. J., ‘List of historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in and near the city of Derry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1970.
5. Hume, J., ‘Derry beyond the walls: Social and economic aspects of the growth of Derry 1825-1850’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002.
6. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.
Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie/
2. Natural Stone Database - http://www.stonedatabase.com//buildings.cfm?bk=1953

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Gabled single bay Gothic Revival former Mortuary Chapel in local Schist Stone with Giffnock sandstone dressings; built c. 1868 on the Lonemoor Road to designs by Robert Collins, architect responsible for developing most of the city’s Victorian infrastructure. This church and the adjacent Superintendant’s House (HB01.16.001B) form a unique and prominent architectural group within the North side of the city because of their juxtaposition to the city cemetery, elevated behind. The crown post trusses and boarded ceiling add significant character inside and although no longer used as a place of worship, the original plan form survives. Externally it is a well proportioned building with distinctive broached spire and leaded pointed arched latticed lights, further augmented by cast iron railings and obelisk pillars that demark the entrance to the cemetery.

General comments

Record re-numbered from HB01/16/001.