Historic Buildings Record · Northern Ireland
Vault at St. Clare’s Convent
Ballinacraig, Newry, Mourne and Down, Northern Ireland
The record
- Designation
- Record only (not listed)
- Grade
- Record Only
- Type
- Mausoleum
- Date of construction
- 1820 - 1839
- Address
- Vault at St. Clare’s Convent, High Street, Newry, Co Down, BT34 1HB
- Townland
- Ballinacraig
- Council
- Newry, Mourne and Down
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Coordinates
- 54.17399, -6.33294
- Date of survey
- 18 April 2000
- HB reference
- HB16/28/054 B
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1811 "Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
The Department's description
Exterior description and setting
Part of an extensive complex which also comprises a convent and chapel (HB16/28/054A), oratory (HB16/28/054C), school (HB16/28/054D), laundry (HB16/28/054E) and wells (HB16/28/054F).
This vault is set towards the bottom of a west-facing slope in the grounds overlooking the convent. A tarmac path leads up to a brick-headed opening to the interior; door removed. This opening, which has a small infilled and rendered opening over, is set in a random rubble wall surmounted by a concrete cross. The remaining walls have been covered with earth and grassed over, save for a circular roof vent.
This vault was superseded by conventional inhumations on the adjoining hillside. Each burial plot has a cast-iron or cast-aluminium plaque set into concrete and noting the person’s name and date of death. They range from 1896 to the present day.
Historical information
This burial vault dates to the convent’s establishment in the 1830s.
Primary sources:
1. Dates of burials inside vault.
Criteria for listing: architectural interest
Not listed
Criteria for listing: historic interest
Not listed
Evaluation
This vault is intact both inside and out and is significant, within the convent.
Nearby in the register
- Marian ChapelChurchunder 1 mi
- Laundry atFactoryunder 1 mi
- First Presbyterian Meeting House and Burial GroundChurchunder 1 mi
- Chapel at St Clare's ConventReligious Houseunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.