Umgall Church Cemetery

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Rural early nineteenth century cemetery, located to the north of the Umgall Road, entered through concave gatescreen from public road to south. The cemetery is laid out on a grid pattern with ground falling from the elevated older north cemetery to the southern side at Umgall Road. The southern side of the site is currently still in use and comprises bitmac paths and twentieth century grave markers. The northern side of cemetery has a wide variety of grave markers, some with decorative stone carving and cast iron railings, set within grassed areas and yew trees.

The earliest grave markers are located to the north of the site and are memorials of Daniel Rea of Ballynalough who died 27 January 1817 and his wife "Jean Rea alias Williamfon who departed this life 23 December 1816." Elsewhere are the grave markers of Catherine Richey who also died in 1816 and her husband Samuel Richey who was also buried there in 1848.

Entrance gatescreen with central replacement metal gates, concave random rubble, stone walls and pillars. The central entrance pillars are random rubble with random rubble plinth, pyramidal cap and ball finial, the eastern pillar has masons mark to the south side and smaller replacement rendered ball finial. The eastern central pillar has stepped stone style to its east and north sides. The pyramidal capping stone to the flanking pillar on the west side has eroded significantly; the east flanking pillar is largely intact.

Historical information

The graveyard is recorded on the Northern Ireland Sites and Monuments Record on the site of a medieval church (Ant 056:034). No date is given for the graveyard on the NISMR. The location of the medieval church is not known. Reeves describes foundations in 1847 (p. 4-5) and O’Laverty, writing in 1880 (p. 459-60), claims the foundations had been removed in recent years. The 1832 OS map shows the outline of the graveyard with no detail. The church building outline appears on the second edition map (1857) showing the rectangular plan church aligned east-west to the centre of the cemetery, now also enclosed by trees. A similar layout also appears on the third edition map of 1902. A new burial ground and caretakers residence was built by W.D.R. & R.T. Taggart in 1938 (Dictionary of Irish Architects). No date is given for the date of the graveyard, the earliest gravestones discovered during the survey dated to c. 1815.

References:

Primary Source
s
1. PRONI OS/6/1/56/1, 1st edition OS Map, Co. Antrim, 56, (1832)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/56/2, 2nd edition OS Map, Co. Antrim, 56, (1857)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/56/3, 3rd edition OS Map, Co. Antrim, 56, (1902)

Secondary Sources

1. O'Laverty J., 1880, An Historical Account of the Diocese of Down and Connor, vol.2, Dublin.
2. Reeves W., 1847, Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore, (Dublin).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A rural early nineteenth century cemetery located to the north of the Umgall Road, entered through concave gatescreen from public road to south. The cemetery is laid out on a grid like pattern with ground falling from the elevated older north cemetery to the southern side at Umgall Road. This cemetery contains a cornucopia of funerary artefacts varying greatly in design and execution attesting to high quality craftsmanship.