MONUMENT IN DUNMULLAN OLD CHURCH

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The original record refers to a memorial plaque of which no trace could be found. The site consists of the remains of a stone church, built c.1650, aligned W-E with south transept, and set in a raised graveyard surrounded by a stone retaining wall and located to the east side of Dunmullan Road. There is a rectangular recess to the interior which may have been the position of the plaque.

The Fisrt Survey record states:

The church is of random rubble stone set in lime mortar and is now roofless, with substantial ivy growth. There are the remains of cut stone bi-partite round-headed chamfered window reveals to east gable and transept gable; west gable has a triangular-headed door opening with internal brick head, surmounted by a window opening. The interior has several gravemarkers and gables are set with sockets. The transept arch is intact and consists of rubble stone voussoirs. The surrounding graveyard contains a variety of slab tombs, chest tombs and headstones, set amidst yew trees.

Setting

The site is enclosed by a retaining rubble stone boundary wall with later cement rendered coping. The site is accessed at west via a pair of wrought-iron gates supported on squared rubble stone piers with soldier coping. It is set in open farmland.

Roof: N/A
Walling: N/A
Windows: N/A
RWG: N/A

Historical information

The monument was located in the late-sixteenth or early-seventeenth-century south transept of Dunmullan Old Church and probably dates to the late seventeenth century. (Rowan, p.429).

It was dedicated, unusually, to a sow. “During the 1641 Rebellion, a local family had to leave the district in haste, a baby was left behind. In due course the family returned to find the baby still alive having been suckled by a sow along with her own piglets” (Mitchell, (1999) p.91).

The first edition of the OS Map (1833) shows the T-plan church containing the south transept, captioned “Old Church.” The second edition (1855) captions “Cappagh Church (in ruins) and “Grave Yd”. The OS Memoirs of the 1830s records: “The same antiquities are found in Cappagh as in most of the parishes around Omagh: an old church, of which no person can give the least of information… In the old churchyard are some tombs of 200 years old, whose inscriptions are in a raised character” (p.18). The Diocesan History (Derry Clergy and Parishes) adds that “The church was much defaced by King James’s Army” (p.141). On the second edition of the OS Map in the 1850s, it is captioned “Cappagh Church (in ruins),” “Grave Yard.”

Mitchell speculates that this church “may have replaced an older church dating back to the late Middle Ages. Catholics are said to have worshipped here up to 1609. From 1609 to 1770 – the date of the completion of the new Cappagh Parish Church – it was used by parishioners of the Church of Ireland. The cemetery was used by Catholics and Protestants for a considerable period” (Mitchell, (1999) p.91).

A bell associated with this parish, known as the Cappagh Bell, is in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.

References:

Primary Sources:

1. PRONI OS/6/6/26/1 (1833) OS Map, First Edition
2. PRONI OS/6/6/26/2 (1855) OS Map, Second Edition
3. PRONI OS/6/6/26/3 (1905) OS Map, Third Edition
4. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/26A – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
5. Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Tyrone I, 1821, 1823, 1833-36, Vol. 5.” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1990.
6. DoENI (NIEA) - First Survey card HB11/06/007

Secondary Sources:
1.“A History of Cappagh Parish.” “Cappagh Parish” http://www.cappaghparish.com/theparish.htm Accessed 20 February 2009.
2. Leslie, James B. “Derry Clergy and Parishes.” Fermanagh Times, 1937.
3. Mitchell, Haldane, Ed. Images of Omagh and District. Vol. 7. Omagh: Rotary Club of Omagh, 1999.
4. .Mitchell, C. J. Haldane. “Omagh: Paintings and Stories from the Seat of the Chiefs.” Donaghadee, Co. Down, Cottage Publications,
2000.
5. Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Historic Monument File on Tyrone Ecclesiastical, Dunmullan. TY26:2 Dunmullan
6.“The Sperrins: A Hidden Beauty.” Omagh: Tyrone Constitution, undated.
7. Rowan, Alistair. “North West Ulster: Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Tyrone.” Buildings of Ireland Series. Dublin: Penguin Books, 1979.
8. http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/87968

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Memorial in carved stone set into the south transept wall inside the remains of a rural seventeenth century stone church with vestiges of late medieval dressings, set on a raised plot enclosed by a stone boundary wall to the east side of Dunmullan Road. The church and it grounds are protected by scheduling.