Rowan Memorial

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Freestanding two-stage memorial, built 1858 in the Egyptian style, located to west of the T-junction of the B59 Belfast-Ballymena Road and the Doagh-Ballyclare Road.

The memorial faces east and rests on a square-in-plan double-stepped sandstone plinth. First stage has scotia-moulded base rising to a square die with recessed panels flanked by diagonally set giant inverted consoles (having paterae and lotus blossom motifs), all surmounted by moulded cornice. Second stage has central tapered two-metre obelisk over further double-stepped plinth.

East elevation has marble plaque inscribed to the memory of “John Rowan, Esquire”.

Other elevations are blank, those to north and south having rendered fascia panel.

Setting

Set in square gravel plot adjacent to the T-junction at east. East elevation is enclosed a chamfered sandstone plinth (formerly with decorative cast-iron railing) set between square rubble piers with sandstone pyramidal caps; remaining elevations are enclosed by random rubble basalt boundary wall (built to courses) with saddleback sandstone coping.

Historical information

John Rowan (1787-1858) established a foundry at Doagh in the early eighteenth century, on the site latterly occupied by Doagh Spinning Mill. The inscription is testament to the high esteem in which Mr Rowan was held by local people, having been erected by public subscription. It reads: “THIS MONUMENT / IS ERECTED / TO PERPETUATE THE MEMORY OF / JOHN ROWAN, ESQUIRE, / BY THE OPERATIVES EMPLOYED IN HIS ESTABLISHMENT / AND OTHER FRIENDS / AS A LASTING TESTIMONIAL TO THE WORTH, TALENTS / AND ENERGY BY WHICH THROUGHOUT LIFE / HE WAS DISTINGUISHED. / THE SOLE ARTIST OF HIS OWN FORTUNE, THE FOUNDER OF / ONE OF THE BEST ENGINEERING ESTABLISHMENTS IN IRELAND, THE / DISPENSER OF EMPLOYMENT ON AN EXTENSIVE SCALE AND THE / UNTIRING ADVOCATE OF IMPROVEMENT IN ART AND SCIENCE / HE WAS NO LESS ESTEEMED AS A GENERAL BENEFACTOR THAN / AS A SINCERE FRIEND AND AN INDEPENDENT / AND UPRIGHT MAN / BORN AT DOAGH 21ST FEBRUARY 1787 / DIED AT BELFAST, 19th JANUARY 1858. The monument is not recorded on the OS maps.

Cox states:
“Any reference to Doagh would be incomplete without some mention of its one time famous foundry, which was established by Mr. John Rowan. This foundry was noted for the durability of its products as can be seen from the large number of field gates in the district. Probably the most notable local gates made in Mr. Rowan's foundry are those at the entrance to Fisherwick House (HB21/02/001), to Mr. Ivan McMeekin's house and to Ballyhamage House. Some of them are hand wrought and are certainly monuments in themselves. The heavy iron doors on the Stephenson Vault in Kilbride cemetery bear the words ‘Rowan Doagh, 1837.’ The first threshing mill was made in Doagh Foundry and more important still, the first local mechanically propelled road vehicle was designed by Rowan himself and made in the foundry".

Among his other achievements, Rowan was particularly noted for constructing a steam-driven car in 1836. In an article on the inauguration of the steam car and what was surely Mr. Rowan’s greatest day, the ‘Northern Whig’ reported:

“We have on several occasions directed public attention to the indefatigable labours of the Messrs. Rowan of Doagh, who were engaged in manufacturing a steam coach on principles perfectly new and without their ever having seen a vehicle of the same description. For nearly five years have these ingenious and industrious mechanics laboured incessantly to complete their undertaking. It is most gratifying to add that they have at length completely succeeded.
On Friday, 1st January 1836, the machine was brought to Belfast and attracted a great deal of attention. It remained in the foundry of Messrs. Holden & Pearce until Tuesday, (5th January), hundreds of people daily crowding into the yard to view the interesting object. On that day at 1 o’clock it was brought out for the purpose of running through the town and thereby gratifying the curiosity of the whole inhabitants.
Intense anxiety was manifested everywhere; the streets were completely thronged; and to add to the gaiety and interest of the scene Mr. Kesting, in the most polite manner, placed the splendid band of the 46th at the head of the procession and played a variety of sheering airs along the entire line of streets through which the steam carriage moved. From the immense crowds that hemmed in the carriage, it was quite impossible to put it to its speed without endangering many lives. However, it was quite evident from one instance we saw of its rapidity, where Mr. Rowan (who personally guided it) had a clear space for a short distance, that its speed will be very great. It passed slowly down Donegall Street, High Street, Castle Place and along Wallington Place to the front of the Collage, where it was made to move in a rapid manner. It then returned by the same route, again performing its evolutions in Castle Place and at the Exchange.
Mr. Rowan sat in front guiding it by a short of helm with the greatest ease and exactness, having the most perfect control over all its movements. The boiler and machinery are behind, and the passengers were placed, eight inside and twenty outside, much after the manner of a common coach. There are two engines, each of ten horse power, the boilers consist of a number of tubes, so that no danger can result from bursting the carriage travels on level ground at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, and will ascend a hill with an elevation of one foot in nine at from six to seven miles an hour. The wheels are shod smooth and will do no injury to any road.” (Northern Whig)

Rev. R. R. Cox sums up Rowan’s achievements: “Motorists passing through Doagh may very well raise their hats and honk-honk a salutation to the Rowan monument.

The foundry was also notable for producing a communal porridge pot. Cox describes these as “unusually large ‘vessels’…used during the great Irish Famine in years gone by. There was one such pot every 7 miles of countryside and the people came for their supply night and morning”.

Rowan left Doagh for Belfast in 1846 and died there in 1858.

References:

Secondary Sources

1. Cox, Robert Roland. History of the Parish of Kilbride (Doagh, Co. Antrim: Self-published, 1959)
2. UAHS West Antrim 1970. P. 18
3. W. W. McLeod, Motoring in Ulster

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A prominently sited stone and marble obelisk, executed in a funereal Egyptian Revival style to commemorate the life of one of Doagh’s most prominent historical figures, John Rowan. Rowan’s name is associated with the early industry of the area, having established a successful foundry here in the early nineteenth century. The legacy of the foundry can still be seen in iron work contained at some of the local historic estates, for example Fisherwick House (HB21/02/001) and the Stephenson Mausoleum(HB21/02/06). Rowan is also noted for the invention of an early steam-driven car, which is well documented and of wider significance within the history of transport.