Watch House at Donegore Parish Church, Donegore Hill, Donegore, Antrim, Co Antrim

Watch House at Donegore Parish Church

This is an early 19th-century vault built to protect corpses from body-snatchers. It was constructed in 1832 by public subscription on ground given by John Beck of Belfast. The building represents an unusual instance of stone-vaulted construction in the 19th century and is a rare example of its building type, with architectural and historical interest extending well beyond the local. It stands as important testimony to a notorious period in medical and social history immediately prior to the passing of the Anatomy Act in 1832, which rendered the body-snatchers' trade obsolete.

The building is a single-storey gabled rectangular structure built of basalt rubble with a stone roof of coved form. The entrance faces east and comprises a central doorway recessed between nib walls of basalt rubble with a large basalt slab as a lintel; the copings to the nibs are loose. The entrance contains an original iron-barred gate in very rusted condition. The roof consists of basalt field stones and basalt rubble bonded with recent rough cement work, with some grass clumps remaining from a previous overall grass covering. The walls have roughly squared quoins. A rectangular plaque set in the wall to the right-hand side of the entrance is inscribed "1832. This Vault was erected by Public Subscription, the Ground a gift from John Beck of Belfast."

The gables and rear wall each contain a single central small narrow unglazed window opening. Plain iron railings abut the south gable at each extremity, returning at the main south boundary of the churchyard to form a small burial enclosure for the Beck family. The north gable abuts the western boundary wall of the churchyard.

The watch house stands in the south-west corner of the graveyard of Donegore Parish Church. Its front overlooks the graveyard, while its north gable and rear wall form part of the boundary of the rear garden of an adjacent house. The area is very rural with grassy immediate surroundings.

Prior to this vault's construction, new corpses had to be watched over constantly until they were no longer useful for dissection. A 19th-century historian recorded that in 1829 an old man reported being engaged two nights a week for a month watching a corpse, with others performing the duty in his absence. In response to the inconvenience caused by the threat of body-snatchers, a decision was taken in 1829 to erect two vaults in the area: one at Donegore and one at Kilbride, at an overall cost of £20. According to the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1838, the Kilbride vault was built "as a protection vault, to prevent exhumation. The dead bodies are deposited in this vault for 6 weeks before interment."

Ironically, the year the vaults were built—1832—saw the passing of the Anatomy Act, which allowed the bodies of paupers in workhouses and hospitals to be confiscated and used for dissection, thus bringing an end to the body-snatchers' trade. The building lies within the area of historic monument ANT50:47.