The Shaw Mausoleum

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A gabled rectangular mausoleum of basalt rubble with slightly battered walls. Entrance faces west, in a segmental arched gable.

Entrance gable has a moulded sandstone coping; contains a low plain rectangular opening recessed between projecting battered nib walls at the base, with two granite steps over, surmounted by an inscription panel set in a sandstone plaque in classical style comprising a lugged frame and an open segmental pediment. Entrance contains a small iron barred gate.
Side elevations have blank walls of basalt rubble; roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses with dark ridge tiles, resting on plain projecting sandstone eaves courses.
Rear gable is of basalt rubble with sandstone coping to the triangular gable; contains a recessed circular sandstone panel with a circular opening.

SETTING: The building stands within a walled graveyard (HB20/13/020D) which is located in a very rural area. It is sited approximately on an east to west axis with two other mausolea (HB20/13/020A and B) both of which lie to its west. The rear of the building projects beyond the east boundary of the graveyard with the boundary wall abutting it on each side; the rear is located within the rear garden of the adjoining graveyard caretaker's house, with much of its rear gable, including the circular opening, hidden by an adjacent shed. Grass around front and sides.

Historical information

Built to the memory of William Shaw in 1775, the plaque over the entrance being inscribed to the memory of "William Shaw Esq, departed this life the 17th day of July 1775, aged 52 years," and also to James Potter of Mount Potter, Co Down, who died on 26 October 1779.
Noticed in the Ordnance Survey memoirs in the 1830s as follows: "The respectable family of Shaw, formerly of Ballytweedy House, in the parish of Killead, and still the proprietors of the grange, and the family of Thomas Ludford Stewart of Belfast, Esquire, have handsome vaults here."
The Shaw family lived in Ballytweedy House which still stands but is in ruins and has been for a long time as recorded in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs in the 1830s as follows: "Ballytweedy House, for many years the residence of the respectable family of Shaw, is now uninhabited and in ruins. It is situated in the townland of Ballytweedy, at the east side of the parish and near the old road from Antrim to Belfast. It had been a plain, commodious family mansion."
The mausoleum is plot no. 291 in the graveyard register.
The graveyard itself is an historic monument, no. ANT55:47.

References – Primary Sources
1. Inscribed plaque over entrance.
2. OS Map 1832-3, Co Antrim 55.
3. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Vol 35: Parishes of County Antrim XIII, 1833, 1835, 1838 (Belfast, 1996), pp 4 and 14.
4. Information from secretary of the graveyard committee in 2000.
Secondary Sources
1. UAHS, West Antrim (Belfast, 1970), p 12.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

This is a late 18th century stone vaulted mausoleum in a classical style with a nicely proportioned entrance front, which retains its original features. It enjoys a pleasant setting in an attractive and historic graveyard.