Vault in burial ground, Shane's Castle Park, Antrim, Co Antrim

A rectangular burial vault built of mortared random rubble basalt, with low walls, and a high pitched stone roof of similar random rubble. Entrance faces east. Entrance front contains a central segmental arched doorway flanked by a square headed rectangular recess to each side. Doorway recessed and contains a replacement timber door, vertically sheeted and studded set in a plain timber frame; stone doorstep. Above the doorway in the apex of the gable is a slightly recessed square stone plaque inscribed with raised letters "This vault was built by Shane McBrien McPhelim McShane McBrien McPhelim O'Neill Esq in the year 1722 for a burial place to himself and family of Clanneboy". There is a narrow vertical slit opening in the rear gable near ground level. Masonry throughout has been repointed with slightly recessed jointing in cement mortar leaving arrises to stones exposed, with some portions of old mortar still visible. SETTING: The building stands in the south-west corner of an overgrown private graveyard of irregular curvilinear shape. Graveyard enclosed by a low rubble stone wall, entered by a pedestrian gateway on the south side: modern square red brick piers with concrete caps; modern chamfered timber gate now in poor condition; concrete step. Boundary walling along south frontage has been later repaired along the top. Walling elsewhere retains old lime mortar pointing; some stones missing. Immediately outside the enclosing wall on the west side, from west to south-west, runs a sunken path bounded by high basalt rubble retaining walls; the path leads to an underground passage connecting the graveyard area with the basement area of Shane's Castle ruins (HB20/04/051). Within the graveyard the ground is rough, slightly mounded in places, with mature conifers, yew and ash trees growing. A row of 14 headstones has been set up just within the gateway running from near the vault to the south-east corner of the graveyard; the earliest noted dates from 1684. Elsewhere other stones stand in their original position or lie on the ground, one of which dates from 1802, just prior to the closing of the graveyard. At the western end of the line of headstones, immediately adjacent to the vault stands a carved statue of a female harpist (HB20/04/044A). The graveyard itself stands in a wooded area of agricultural grassland within the grounds of a large estate, and in close proximity to the ruins of Shane's Castle and the shore of Lough Neagh.