Chapels, gates, walls and railings, Larne Cemetery, Upper Cairncastle Road, Larne, Co Antrim

Larne Cemetery on Upper Cairncastle Road is an extensive walled burial ground containing 19th and 20th century memorials, with twin Gothic Revival chapels flanking its main entrance gateway. The chapels were designed in 1903 by W. J. Gilliland, architect of Belfast, and are considered late examples of the Gothic Revival style with little architectural merit; their original interiors have been lost. The contract was advertised in the Belfast News-Letter on 17 December 1903. According to later revisions of the 1903 Ordnance Survey map, the northern chapel was designated Church of Ireland and the southern chapel Roman Catholic.

The main entrance gateway faces west and consists of a pair of square piers carrying double wrought iron gates, flanked on each side by a smaller square pier and a pedestrian gate, with a low wall surmounted by railings extending outwards to either side and terminating in a further small pier that abuts each chapel. The piers are built of squared, rock-faced basalt in regular courses, with moulded concrete capstones and a concrete weathering to an offset plinth. The flanking walls are of snecked coursed basalt. The gates and railings are wrought ironwork with Gothic cusping to the upper rail and scrolling finials, otherwise plain in treatment.

The two chapels face the road with their gables, are identical in size and style except for their gable finials, and are mirror images of one another in plan. Each consists of a rectangular gabled single cell with a small flat-roofed vestry to one side.

The northern chapel has its main entrance facing east. Its east elevation is a tall gable with a wide central doorway containing rectangular ledged timber double doors with a radially glazed Gothic fanlight above; a later plywood panel has been fixed immediately above the doors, and modern steel bolts are fitted. The walling is snecked coursed rock-faced basalt with later reticulated pointing, sandstone quoins to the corners, sandstone weathering to a projecting plinth, and sandstone kneelers carrying moulded sandstone gable copings. A fleur-de-lys finial in sandstone sits at the apex of the gable above a quatrefoil sandstone panel — possibly a louvred opening now closed up — set in a circular sandstone surround. The doorway has a Gothic arched surround with stop chamfers and a concrete step. The south elevation has two Gothic arched windows to the right and a Gothic arched doorway to the left, all with stop-chamfered sandstone surrounds. The roof carries Bangor blue slates in regular courses between gable upstands, with a moulded cast iron gutter and a painted wooden fascia over projecting rafter ends; there is a small gablet motif to each skew corbel. The windows have leaded glazing in wooden frames with plate glass storm glazing, and there is a rectangular cast iron downpipe. The side door has a rectangular ledged timber door painted black with a later plywood panel affixed to its lower portion and a Gothic fanlight containing translucent glass. Some rot has been noted to the eaves fascia. The west elevation gable matches the others in walling; its finial matches that on the east gable; a recessed circular stone panel in a moulded stone surround is set high in the gable; and a large central Gothic arched window with stop-chamfered sandstone surround has been filled with glass bricks as a later insertion. Sandstone weathering to the projecting plinth is level with the front screen wall. A boundary pier abuts the west elevation to the left, and a flat-roofed vestry projects to the west behind it, with a plain basalt side wall and a smooth cement-rendered coping. The north elevation is similar to the south, with two windows glazed with wired glass; the bottom rail of the left-hand window frame has rotted and is partly missing. A rectangular cast iron downpipe is positioned at the left-hand end. To the right of the windows a small flat-roofed projecting vestry has one Gothic arched window now blocked with plywood. The vestry walling matches that of the main chapel, with sandstone quoins, a smooth cement-rendered coping to the parapet, a partly missing circular cast iron downpipe, and a circular cast iron soil pipe to the east side.

The southern chapel is identical in design, size, and layout to the northern chapel except that the plan is handed, with the vestry on the south side rather than the north. Its main entrance also faces east. The east elevation has a tall gable with a wide central doorway containing rectangular ledged timber double doors with a Gothic fanlight of radially glazed panes around a small Gothic arched pane in plain glass; on the inside the fanlight is obscured by wooden panelling. The walling is coursed snecked rock-faced basalt with later reticulated pointing, sandstone quoins, sandstone weathering to the projecting plinth, sandstone kneelers, and moulded sandstone gable copings. The gable apex carries a sandstone Celtic cross finial above a circular panel in a moulded sandstone surround, presumably containing a quatrefoil motif but later closed over. There are three concrete steps. The south elevation has two windows to the right of the projecting flat-roofed vestry. The roof of the main chapel carries Bangor blue slates in regular courses between gable upstands, with a small gablet motif to each skew corbel, a moulded cast iron gutter, and a painted wooden fascia over projecting rafter ends; part of the fascia is rotting and part is missing to the right of a rectangular cast iron downpipe. The windows are fixed lights with leaded glazing in rectangular and lozenge patterning in moulded wooden frames with stop-chamfered sandstone surrounds. The right-hand window has broken panes and damage to the leading. The cill of the left-hand window is fractured, with a crack in the wall stepping down to a fracture in the plinth weathering. The vestry walling matches the main chapel; its later flat roof is of asphalt on an overhanging wooden fascia and soffit. A window in the south face of the vestry is Gothic in form, divided into two panes by a transom, with a translucent upper pane over a wired glass lower pane, fixed glazing as the other windows; the bottom rail of the frame is badly rotted. The east side of the vestry has a circular cast iron soil pipe and a circular cast iron downpipe with a curved polygonal hopper; the lower section of the downpipe is missing. Some stonework of the plinth is missing from the corner where the vestry meets the main chapel. The west elevation gable matches the entrance gable in walling, with the same finial type; a recessed circular sandstone panel in a moulded stone surround is set high in the gable; and a large central Gothic arched window with stop-chamfered sandstone surround has been filled with glass bricks as a later insertion. Sandstone weathering to the projecting plinth is level with the front screen wall. The north elevation has two Gothic arched windows to the left and a Gothic arched doorway to the right, all with stop-chamfered sandstone surrounds. The roof is slated as on the south elevation, with a moulded cast iron gutter, painted wooden fascia over projecting rafter ends, and a rectangular cast iron downpipe. The windows match those on the south side, with broken panes to the left-hand window. The door has a ledged timber Gothic arched head and a modern metal handle.

Boundary walling to each side of the gateway and chapels matches the screen wall in materials. Abutting the outer corners of each chapel is a square pier of the same type as those at the gate, from which a low base wall extends to a further square pier, and then a low wall continues along the front boundary to each side; the railings here are plain with foliated finials to the end railings. The boundary wall to the left runs level; to the right it steps down the slope of the hill. Mature hedges line the inner face of the boundary railings. At the left-hand extremity of the front boundary a square pier of the same type as those at the gate is followed by rubble greystone walling with rough stone copings returning to form the north boundary of the older part of the cemetery, with breaks for cross paths. The east boundary is formed by similar continuous walling, and the south boundary likewise, with a gateway at its eastern end consisting of square piers of coursed rock-faced greystone with rough copings and a plain ironwork gate. The front boundary walls and railings terminate on the right-hand side with a pedestrian gateway of two square piers of the same type as before carrying a wrought iron gate matching those at the main entrance. Beyond this gateway to the right is a further section of boundary walling and an end pier as before, but with the railings removed, enclosing a grassed area in front of the former cemetery offices, now used as toilets. This is a two-storey gabled building of coursed snecked basalt with later raised cement-rendered dressings. The first-floor windows to the front facade are segmental-headed timber sliding sash, vertically hung, with horns; the ground-floor windows to the front facade are Gothic arched timber fixed lights with lower panes blocked by cement render dry-dashed with black stone chippings.

The cemetery stands to the north of the town on the edge of the built-up area alongside a main road, with its main entrance facing a post-war housing estate and open grassed land to the rear. There is a slight fall from north to south within the cemetery. Tarmac paths run throughout, and the grounds contain numerous mature trees and shrubs. The area around the chapels is tarmacked with flower beds between them divided by the central entrance driveway, edged with modern concrete kerbing. The cemetery contains the Smiley Burial Place, placed axially to the east of the northern chapel; otherwise it contains no memorials of special interest.