Gilbert Eccles Monument, Donacavey Old Churchyard, Church Street, Fintona, Co Tyrone, BT78 2BR

Gilbert Eccles Monument

A wall-mounted memorial stone dated 1694, located in the south wall of the church ruin in the centre of Donacavey Old Churchyard, to the east of Church Street in Fintona, County Tyrone.

The memorial is constructed of sandstone with carved relief. It takes the form of a rectangular stone featuring an aedicule (a framed architectural niche) with fluted Corinthian colonettes on simple bases, each surmounted by a winged motif. An open scrolled pediment tops the composition, with a fleur-de-lys at the apex. Within the aedicule is a skull and crossbones emblem at the base, surmounted by an inscription and coat of arms. The inscription, now largely illegible, originally read "Memento mori" and contains a longer Latin text recording that Charles Eccles of Fintona commissioned this cenotaph in memory of his father Gilbert Eccles of Shanock, County Fermanagh, who died on 6 August 1694 in his 92nd year. The coat of arms is accompanied by the motto "Nec animus deficit" (Do not lose heart). The stone is set within rubble walling at the south-east corner of the church ruin and is partially overgrown.

Gilbert Eccles was a significant local figure. Born in 1602, he settled in Ireland during the reign of Charles I and acquired large estates in Counties Tyrone and Fermanagh, gaining the title of Manor of Fentonagh. He purchased the estate at Shanock in County Fermanagh from Henry Gilbert in 1656 and acquired the plantation estate based at Fintona around 1659. He served as High Sheriff of Fermanagh in 1665 and later became High Sheriff of Tyrone in 1673. His son Charles subsequently built Ecclesville manor house in 1703.

The monument represents a well-preserved example of seventeenth-century stonework with fine decorative relief carvings. Its placement near the communion table in the east end of the church, itself built without a chancel, indicates the special status Charles Eccles secured for his father's memorial.

The surrounding churchyard contains a selection of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and twentieth-century grave markers. The churchyard is bounded to the road at the west by a rubble retaining wall surmounted by cast-iron railings, with access provided by a pair of square sandstone pillars supporting cast-iron gates. The church is a scheduled monument, which provides protection for the memorial.