Carey Memorial, Duneane Presbyterian Churchyard, Gloverstown Road and Church Road, Toomebridge, Co. Antrim, BT41 3RB

Carey Memorial

This well-proportioned eclectic-styled mid-nineteenth-century memorial stands in the churchyard of Duneane Presbyterian Church at Gloverstown Road and Church Road, Toomebridge, County Antrim. Erected in 1860, it incorporates architectural forms and ornamentation ranging from Indian to Baroque styles, and is strongly associated with the architectural heritage of the local area through its designer and patron, John Carey.

The memorial is a freestanding four-stage granite structure. It stands on a chamfered square foundational plinth and is ornamented to the first two stages with white marble plaques bearing inset black lettering. The first stage consists of three layers of recessed rectangular panelling, several infilled with white marble plaques. The second stage features a torus-moulded octagonal base that transitions to a round plan as it rises toward the turreted third stage, which is circular on plan with pointed-arched projections to the cardinal points, each inset with marble plaques. Over this sits a stretched conical form crowned by an onion dome. The fourth stage carries a reeded urn on a Scotia-moulded foot. The neck of the urn is surmounted by a white marble fist with extended index finger, its back facing south, inscribed with the words "The Bar Above" in black lettering.

Three marble slabs flank the monument: two standing vertically to the sides and one leaning against its foot. The memorial is set within a rectangular gravel plot enclosed by a painted cable-moulded cast-iron handrail mounted on a chamfered granite plinth. The corners of the handrail terminate with hands grasping the abutting perpendicular elements. The handrail is supported on barley-twisted rails interspersed between full arms with bulging elbows and hands grasping the rail itself. All hands have their backs facing outward.

The memorial was designed and erected by John Carey (15 June 1800 – 23 August 1891) of Cloughog, Duneane, as a memorial to his parents and brothers. It commemorates his father James Carey (c.1763 – May 1833), his mother Margaret (c.1769 – July 1843), and his brothers James and William. The memorial was completed 31 years before Carey's death, requiring only the date of his death to be inscribed.

John Carey is strongly associated with the architectural heritage of the Toomebridge area. He was responsible for the design of several eclectic monuments and buildings in the locality, including the 1860 Free Water Pump, which similarly employs the hand-and-arm motif, and the exotic Hindu-style Temple of Liberty, built in 1866 (destroyed by fire in 1911). The Temple of Liberty contained a 1,500-seat hall and a 5,000-book library. The gates of his own house at 44 Gloverstown Road are executed in flamboyant cast iron, twisted in a manner similar to the cable-moulded memorial railings. Carey was licensed as a Presbyterian minister in 1832 but was suspended in 1842 for prevarication and forgery. He was later charged with attempted murder of another Presbyterian minister following an alleged shooting incident at a church window directed toward the occupied pulpit. After a suspect alibi saw him released, he disappeared and returned wealthy in 1850 to Rarity Cottage, where he established himself as a high-interest moneylender. The plaques on the memorial testify to Carey's life and his founding of local institutions, notably the Temple of Liberty in the locality and the Free Christian Church at Balac in India.