Chesney Memorial cross and grave

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Large Celtic cross situated in wall niche along the southern edge of the graveyard boundary.

Three-stage shaft and cross, c.4m high, in white coloured cast reconstituted stone. Stands on a battered concrete base which has panels to three faces, two of which are inscribed. The front panel has a dedicatory text to General F.R. Chesney: “In pious memory of/ General Francis Rawdon Chesney/ of Packolet County Down/ who died January 30 1872/ This is erected by his surviving widow and children”. The panel on the right hand cheek reads: “In memory of/ Jane/ widow of Nicholas Michael O’Donnell/ of Coolmore Millstreet Co. Cork/ elder daughter of Gen F.R. Chesney R.A/ of Packolet Co Down/ born Dec 16th 1824. Died at Coolmore July 3rd 1909/ Buried at Millstreet Co Cork.” The shaft has three decorated panels on each face, all with abstract Celtic designs, knots, zoomorphic repeats and Pictish-key patterns. Every edge of the cross is similarly decorated and its centre is emblazoned ‘IHS’ on both faces. The cross has a pitched coping to resemble the steeply pitched roof of a Celtic oratory.

In front of cross, within the graveyard proper, is the Chesney family plot, enclosed by a low, chamfered granite wall, formerly with wrought-iron railings, now gone. Within this enclosure is Chesney’s tomb, flanked to each side by a crosses. His grave slab is of white marble and has a raised cross on top. It rests on a chamfered granite plinth, the right side of which is inscribed ‘General Francis Rawdon Chesney’.

The left cross, c.1.2m high, is of plain white marble on a stepped plinth. The front upper section of this plinth is inscribed ‘Rawdon Charles Chesney/ died Jul 12th 1865/ aged 12 years’. The lower section contains a biblical text.

The right hand cross is c. 1.3m high and of Celtic design in finely dressed granite. Its tapered plinth rests on a cushion-moulded base and is inscribed at front: ‘Giving thanks to God/ and in loving memory of / Louisa/ wife of General F.R. Chesney/ born Feb 24th 1816/ died Dec 11th 1902/ at Beaumont […]/ Interred at Harlton Lancaster’. The shaft tapers up to the cross. It is inscribed ‘The things which are/seen are temporal/ The things which are/ not seen are eternal’. The cross is plainly detailed with a circular guilloche border and a central knotwork boss.

Historical information

Francis Rawdon Chesney was born in Ballyveagh townland, near Annalong on 16 March 1789, the son of Capt. Alexander Chesney, head of the district coastguard. He was named after his godfather, Lord Rawdon (Earl of Moira), who had been the captain’s commanding officer in South Carolina during the American War of Independence.

He graduated from Woolwich Academy and the Royal Military College at Marlow and saw service in Guernsey. In 1822, he moved to Packolet, near Kilkeel; this was named after a river in South Carolina where his father had spent much of his childhood. He was responsible for surveying the line of the Suez Canal. This was eventually built by the Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps and opened in 1869; de Lesseps acknowledged Chesney’s work by dubbing him the ‘father of the Suez Canal’. Chesney also explored an overland route to India via the Euphrates. He commanded the 14th Brigade of the Royal Artillery and achieved the rank of general in 1859. He retired from the army in 1864, aged 75 and died at Packolet on 30 January 1872. There is a brass memorial to him in the south transept of Christ Church. It is said that he was perhaps the most talented soldier who never fought a battle.

It is rumoured locally that the memorial cross was regarded as being too ‘Irish’ and could not therefore be accommodated in the graveyard proper. A compromise was apparently reached whereby it was sited just beyond the consecrated ground, and the wall was realigned to enclose it.

Primary sources:
1. T. Porter, 'General F.R. Chesney', in 12 Miles of Mourne, vol.4, (1991) pp. 27-33.
2. A. Byrne and S. McMahon ' Great Northerners' , (Swords 1991) pp 42-3.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Ornate Celtic cross dedicated to internationally renowned soldier General F.R. Chesney.