Bowen Vault

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Gabled gothic-style carved limestone vault dating from c.1870 possibly by architect Timothy Hevey. Located in the Milltown Cemetery fronting onto Falls road, together with other listed structures designed by Timothy Hevey; the arched entrance gateway, wall and railings (HB26.22.002A) and the Clark Canavan cross (HB26.22.002B).

Carved in plain ashlar Portland limestone, the vault has an octagonal hipped roof with capstone and metal finial. Balustraded parapet and octagonal crocketted pinnacles. Shallow projecting pilasters to corners and two-stage plinth. Celtic cross carved to tympanum on all four elevations.

Shouldered doorway with elaborate wrought iron gates to east elevation with the intials MB carved above. Lancet tracery opening to north, west and south elevations.

The interior is embellished with a carving of the deposition of Christ in sandstone and inscribed marble plaques with the epitaphs of Mathew and Catherine Bowen on the south and north sides respectively.

Historical information

In the nineteenth century Belfast was a rapidly expanding industrial city. Its Catholic population, which had been hitherto relatively small, began to grow substantially as thousands of workers poured into the city from Ulster counties and further afield. The principal Catholic burial place in Belfast was Friar’s Bush graveyard in Stranmillis which, partly as a result of cholera epidemics and the Famine, was becoming increasingly overcrowded. In 1866, Belfast Corporation purchased a site on the Falls Road as a municipal cemetery. Fifteen acres of this would be set aside for Catholic burials – 10 acres for public graves, and 5 acres for proprietary graves and a mortuary chapel.

The development of this cemetery was well advanced when a dispute arose between the Catholic bishop, Dr Dorrian, and the Corporation. With no local resolution, the matter was brought before the Irish Privy Council in Dublin with the famous lawyer, Isaac Butt, representing Belfast’s Catholics. However, no satisfactory settlement could be reached with regard to the Catholic portion of the Corporation’s new cemetery.

Even while the dispute was ongoing, Dorrian had, on 4 April 1869, won the support of his parishioners for purchasing land for a Catholic cemetery in the city. Dorrian then approached James Ross who agreed to sell 15 acres on Falls Road, almost opposite to the municipal cemetery, as a place of interment. The land was bought by Dorrian and two others and the purchase price was £4,100. Burials began in November 1869 and the cemetery was consecrated on 18 September 1880.

Milltown Cemetery has a fine collection of funerary monuments, among the most impressive of which is the large mausoleum of white limestone and stained-glass windows that was erected in memory of Matthew Bowen of Belfast. The inscriptions read:

Sacred to the memory of Matthew Bowen Esq of Belfast who died 7th May 1876 aged 67 years. Esteemed for many ripe virtues and generous in beneficence for the good of others. May he rest in peace Amen; Sacred to the memory of Catherine Bowen of Belfast who died 18th September 1881 aged 68 years. May she rest in peace Amen.

Around 1860 Matthew Bowen acquired the Royal Hotel at 27 Donegall Place in Belfast in succession to Robert Leesan. The Royal Hotel, ‘in its hey-day, was one of the most fashionable hotels in Belfast.’ Bowen was a wealthy man, leaving an estate worth just under £3,000. He was one of the best connected Catholic businessmen in Belfast. The executors of his will included Patrick Dorrian, Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor.

Larmour (p. 39) suggests that Timothy Hevey designed this mausoleum. Hevey was only 23 when he designed the entrance to Milltown Cemetery and had relatively recently returned from Dublin to his native Belfast. He became widely regarded as one of the leading Catholic architects in Ireland, designing a number of important Catholic churches, including St Eunan’s Cathedral in Letterkenny, County Donegal. He was a mere 32 years old when he died in 1878.

References

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
Wills and administrations calendars

Published sources
Belfast Morning News, 19 November 1869, 19 September 1870
Belfast Newsletter, 19 September 1869
James O’Laverty, An Historical account of the diocese of Down and Connor, vol. 2 (Dublin, 1880)
Gravestone Inscriptions: Belfast, vol. 2 (Belfast, 1984)
Paul Larmour, Belfast: an illustrated architectural guide (Belfast, 1987)
The Rushlight: The Belfast Magazine, vol. 23, no. 7 (no date)

Online sources
Natural Stone Database: www.stonedatabase.com
Dictionary of Irish Architects: www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
U. Historic Associations
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A fine example of a Gothic revival style limestone vault dating from c.1870s attributed to leading architect Timothy Hevey. Located on a prominent site in the Milltown cemetery. Delicately carved with elaborate wrought iron gates. The interior is embellished with a carving of the deposition of Christ in sandstone and inscribed marble plaques with the epitaphs of Mathew and Catherine Bowen on the south and north sides respectively. The vault has group value with the listed gate screen (HB26.22.002A) and Clark Canavan cross (HB26.22.002B) also designed by Timothy Hevey and positioned nearby in the cemetery.