Carey Memorial,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A freestanding four-stage granite memorial designed and erected 1860 by John Carey in the churchyard of Duneane Presbyterian Church (HB20/01/019).

Four-stage granite memorial on chamfered square foundational plinth, ornamented to first two stages with white marble plaques with inset black lettering. First stage consisting of three layers of recessed rectangular panelling, several of these infilled with white marble plaques. Second stage with torus-moulded octagonal base, brought up to round plan toward turreted third stage with pointed-arched projections to cardinal points inset with marble plaques. Third stage is circular on plan with a stretched conical form over the onion dome. The fourth stage has a reeded urn on a Scotia-moulded foot. The neck of the urn is surmounted by a white marble fist with extended index finger. The back of the hand is facing south with infilled black lettering: “The Bar Above.” Three marble slabs flank monument, two vertical to sides, one leaned to foot.

Set in rectangular gravel plot enclosed by painted cable-moulded cast-iron handrail set to chamfered granite plinth (corners of the cable-moulded handrail terminate with a hand grasping the abutting perpendicular handrail). This handrail is supported on barley-twisted rails variously interspersed between full arms (with bulging elbows) and hands grasping the handrail (Hands of the rail and handrail all have the back of the hand facing outward).

Historical information

The Carey Memorial, erected 1860 (Brett p.263), was designed by John Carey as a memorial to his parents and was built for and to the design of John Carey (15 Jun 1800 – 23 Aug 1891) of “Cloughog [sic], Duneane, Co. Antrim” in memory of his father James Carey (c.1763 – May 1833) and mother Margaret (c.1769 – Jul 1843) and brothers James and William. The memorial was completed 31 years before Carey died and required only the date of his death to be inscribed.

The name of John Carey is strongly associated with the local area, particularly with regard to its architectural heritage. Carey was responsible for the design of number of eclectic monuments and buildings in the Toomebridge environs, including the 1860 Free Water Pump (HB20/01/06), which similarly used the hand-and-arm motif, and the exotic “Hindoo” style Temple of Liberty (built 1866, burned 1911, now demolished), containing a 1,500-seat hall and 5,000 book library. The gates of his own house on 44 Gloverstown Road (HB20/01/010) are flamboyantly executed in cast-iron, twisted in a manner similar to the cable-moudled memorial railings. Sir Charles Brett includes a chapter on Carey in his "Follies, Monuments and Memorials" section in “Buildings of County Antrim.” In “Mementos of John Carey, Toome and Duneane,” Brett notes Carey was licensed as a Presbyterian minister in 1832 but suspended in 1842 for “prevarication” and forgery. He was charged with attempted murder of another Presbyterian minister after allegedly firing a musket through a church window toward the occupied pulpit. Following a suspect alibi, he was released, disappeared, and returned wealthy in 1850 to Rarity Cottage, where he continued as a high-interest moneylender.

References:

Secondary Sources

1. Brett, C. E. B. Buildings of County Antrim (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society and the Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996), 293-295.
2. Girvan, W. D. & Rowan, R. J. “Ulster Architectural Heritage Society Second List of Historic Buildings, Groups of Buildings, Areas of Architectural Importance in West Antrim, Within the Designated Area of the Antrim and Ballymena Development Commission.” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1970.
3. Howley, J. The Follies and Garden Buildings of Ireland. Yale University Press, 1993.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

This well proportioned eclectic-styled mid-nineteenth-century memorial incorporates forms and ornamentation from Indian to Baroque. The memorial is stylistically linked with several other constructions in the locality by the same designer and patron, John Carey. The plaques testify to the life of Carey, a man of significant local interest, who founded an institution (Temple of Liberty) in the locality and another one ("Free Christian Church at Balac") as far away as India.

General comments

This record has been renumbered and was previously HB20/01/011