Lowry Mausoleum

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A single-storey slated and gabled windowless building in a simple Georgian classical style, of ashlar and rubble masonry construction with a central doorway to the front.

It stands in the south-east corner of Desertcreat Parish Church churchyard, in a very rural locality. The building stands in a grassed area of the churchyard, with a plinth-like strip of cement render along the base to each side wall, and the remnants of a low plinth wall abutting the south-east corner. A short distance to the north-west stands another mausoleum, and a short distance to the north of that stands Desertcreat Parish Church.

The main entrance faces north. The north elevation is symmetrical, with a central doorway and a gable of broken pediment type.
The walling is of ashlar standstone in regular courses with rusticated quoins to the extremities and projecting sandstone coping stones to the raking gables. The doorway contains a rectangular timber sheeted door set in a rusticated surround with an unusual lintel which is cut from one stone but gives the appearance of a flat arch with stepped rusticated voussoirs. Above the doorway is a rectangular white marble panel set in a moulded sandstone surround and inscribed to the memory of Rev. James Lowry who died in 1787, while flanking each side of the doorway are a pair of smaller rectangular white marble panels recording the names of later members of the Lowry family.

The side elevations are built of rubble masonry, roughly plastered with a projecting sandstone eaves course, and rusticated sandstone quoins to the north end of each side. There is a small narrow ventilation slit in the centre of the east side. The roof is covered with Bangor blue slates in regular courses, without any rainwater goods.

The rear or south gable is of rubble, roughly plastered, with gable copings to the front.

Historical information

The precise date of building is not recorded but it was built to house the remains of Rev James Lowry who died in 1787, and his descendants.

References – Primary Sources
1. OS Map 1833-4, Co Tyrone.
2. Inscription on front façade.

Secondary Sources
1. UAHS, Dungannon and Cookstown (Belfast, 1971), p 44.
2. A.J. Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North-West Ulster (Harmondsworth, 1979), p 229.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
V. Authorship

Evaluation

This is a good and intact example of a late 18th century mausoleum of modest scale and a simple Georgian classical style, in which a predominantly rubble masonry structure has been carefully embellished with cut stone dressings, broken pediments to each end, and an ashlar front which includes an unusual rusticated lintel to the doorway.
As the mausoleum of the Lowry family of Pomeroy and Rockdale, it is of considerable local interest. It enjoys a pleasant rural churchyard setting, and with another mausoleum and the parish church nearby it forms part of an interesting group.