Mausoleum

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Free-standing Neo-classical three-stage sandstone ashlar mausoleum, erected c.1783, located to the east of Downhill Palace (HB03/12/015A) on an elevated site to the north of Mussenden Road. Commissioned by Frederick Hervey to the designs of Michael Shanahan, commemorating the second Earl of Bristol, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland George Hervey. Based on the Roman mausoleum of the Jules family at Saint Remy in Provence, the upper stage including marble statue and cupola were blown down in a storm in 1839.

Square on plan, built on a rough-hewn basalt base, the pedestal is built in coursed sandtone ashlar with roll moulding to the base with Greek-key framed panels to each elevation and cornice above. The arcaded middle stage comprises a round-headed arch to each elevation with fluted archivolt rising from fluted and dentiled impost moulding supported on paired Ionic pilasters with roundels to the spandrels. Engaged Ionic columns frame each elevation and support an architrave and frieze with lead lettering spanning all elevations. The inscription reads; ‘Ille meas Errare Boves ut cernis, et ipsum Ludere quae Vellem Calamo permisit agresti’ (‘He gave me his word that my oxen should roam, as you see, while I myself play what I please upon my rustic reed-pipe’). The frieze is surmounted by a modillioned cornice with the upper stage comprising a drum base with continuous swag mouldings formerly supporting a Corinthian colonnade housing a marble statue of George Hervey and surmounted by a cupola. Only the attic bases of the columns and pedestal of the statue remain at the upper stage with several column shafts laid on the ground to the west elevation.

Setting
Set on an elevated site to the east of Downhill Palace (HB03/12/015A) and to the north of Mussenden Road, now forming part of the Downhill Demesne.

Roof None
RWG None
Walling Sandstone ashlar
Windows None

Historical information

The ‘Mausoleum’ dates from 1780/4 (Freeman’s Journal; Eccles) and was built by the Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry, Frederick Hervey, in memory of his elder brother George, the 2nd Earl of Bristol. Although the ‘Mausoleum’ is so captioned on the first edition OS map of 1831 and on subsequent editions, it might more properly be referred to as a memorial or cenotaph, as it contains no remains.

George Hervey died in March 1775 and was deeply mourned by his brother, the Earl Bishop. George had been appointed Lord Lieutenant in 1766 and although he held the position for only a year and never set foot in Ireland, availed of it to have his younger brother preferred for the richest living on the island, the Bishopric of Derry. In his will he also left Frederick a large fortune of £10,000 and his death without issue meant that his title passed to a younger brother, Augustus, who also died without issue in 1779. Frederick, therefore, became the Earl of Bristol in addition to his ecclesiastical title rendering him an Earl Bishop, a most unusual combination of titles that had not been known since the time of William the Conqueror. (Fothergill; Eccles)

George had therefore been a much loved older brother and was, in addition, the source of much of Frederick’s wealth and position in life. The Earl Bishop commissioned a celebrated Dublin sculptor, van Nost, to produce a life-size statue of George in 1778, using a print in his possession. (Eccles) The work was supervised by Frederick’s daughter Elizabeth Foster, who was later to become the Duchess of Devonshire after entering into a notorious ménage a trois with the Devonshires in the 1780s (Eccles; Fothergill).

The mausoleum itself was designed by Michael Shanahan along similar lines to the Roman tomb at St Remy in Provence, a much-admired ancient monument which the Bishop is likely to have been familiar with. It is suggested he may have seen the young Soane’s designs for a similar monument while visiting Rome. Shanahan submitted an estimate of the cost of the mausoleum in 1779 and suggested it should incorporate an ice-house, although this idea was never apparently executed.

Eccles carries a picture of the Downhill Mauseoleum as originally constructed. Above the pavilion and drum which remain today would have been eight Corinthian columns supporting a dome, with the Lord Lieutenant’s statue within the columns. Quarrying and hewing for the mausoleum was carried out by James McBlain in 1778/9 as documented by estate correspondence and work appears to have been underway in 1783 when Michael Shanahan attempted to persuade the Earl Bishop to mount the statue in the lower part of the mausoleum. However, plans were still being produced at this stage and it would appear that the mausoleum was not completed earlier than 1784. (www.dia.ie; Rankin)

An inscription running round the entablature is from Virgil and reads: ‘Ille meas Errare Boves ut cernis, et ipsum Ludere quae Bellum Calamo permisit agresti’. This has been translated as ‘He permitted my oxen to wander, as you see, and allowed me to play on the rustic pipe whatever I wished’(Eccles), an apparent reference to the life of leisure that George Hervey’s generosity made possible.

In 1839 the ‘Big Wind’, a hurricane that swept across Ireland causing extensive damage and several hundred deaths, caused the cupola and its supporting columns to fall from the top of the monument, together with the statue of George Hervey. Fragments of the columns remain scattered around the base of the monument and the sculpted body of the Lord Lieutenant was at one time placed behind the Bishop’s Gate. The statue’s head has not been identified but may be among the ‘Downhill Marbles’ on display at Hezlett House. (Eccles) The mausoleum was listed in 1977. (HB file)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/2/1 First Edition OS Map 1831
2. PRONI OS/6/5/2/2 Second Edition OS map 1848
3. PRONI OS/6/5/2/3 Third Edition OS Map 1904
4. PRONI OS/6/5/2/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1923
1. PRONI D1514 - Hervey/ Bruce papers
5. 1901 census online
6. 1911 census online
7. HB file – 03/12/015
8. Freeman’s Journal 23rd January 1839

Secondary Sources

1. Eccles, J “Downhill, A Scrapbook of People and Place” London: Bath Press, 1996
2. Fothergill, B “The Mitred Earl: An Eighteenth Century Eccentric” London: Faber and Faber, 1974
3. Rankin, P “Irish Building Ventures of the Earl Bishop of Derry” Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972
4. www.dia.ie

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
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest
Z. Rarity
V. Authorship

Evaluation

Free-standing Neo-classical three-stage sandstone ashlar mausoleum, erected c.1783, located to the east of Downhill Palace (HB03/12/015A) on an elevated site to the north of Mussenden Road. Commissioned by Frederick Hervey to the designs of Michael Shanahan, commemorating the second Earl of Bristol, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland George Hervey. Despite the loss of the upper stage of the mausoleum in 1839, the monument is of exceptional quality and based on the Roman mausoleum of the Jules family in Saint Remy, Provence. The scale and decoration are testament to the lofty ambitions of the Earl Bishop and now form an eye-catching feature on the coastal landscape of the Downhill Demesne. It has group value with the other listed structures on the Downhill site.

General comments

Renumbered as part of a group. Formerly HB03/12/014.

Listing Criteria R - Age; S - Authenticity and T - Historic Importance also apply.