Castlestewart Mausoleum, Ballyclog Old Churchyard opposite St Patrick's Church of Ireland Church, 125 Coagh Road, Stewartstown, Dungannon, BT71 5LL

Castlestewart Mausoleum, Ballyclog Old Churchyard, Stewartstown

This is a graveyard containing a ruined 17th century church, to which an 18th century mausoleum has been attached, along with a separate freestanding mausoleum, a graveyard gateway, and various other memorials. The site stands in a very rural area, set back from the public road and surrounded by fields.

The Church Ruin

The roofless church dates from the 17th century and was described as "in building" in a survey of 1622. It remained in use until 1868, when a new church was opened on the opposite side of the road. The building is of rectangular plan, taking the form of two gables with longer side walls, aligned approximately east to west. A later square tower and a lower porch project from the west gable, with the main entrance facing north through the western porch.

The walls of the main body of the church are built of grey field stones, grey whinstone, and red sandstone rubble, with roughly squared quoins and red and grey dressings to some window openings. Both side walls have a slightly battered profile — that is, they lean very slightly inward as they rise.

The north elevation contains two rectangular, two-light windows, each consisting of a pair of round-headed lancets built of chamfered cut stone set within a flat-arched opening. These are rare survivals of complete windows of the period. Near the west end of the same wall is what appears to be a blocked-up doorway of rectangular form. At the left-hand extremity of the north wall there is a large fracture running from top to bottom, where the east gable has almost detached itself from the north wall. The east gable has two large rubble-built buttresses, one at each corner, and contains a large segmental arched window opening that is now bereft of dressings or tracery. In the angle between the east gable wall and the northern buttress, a sizeable remnant of earlier roughcast render, known as harling, survives.

The south elevation has two rectangular windows that lack any dressings or tracery but have timber lintels, which were presumably inserted during repair work carried out in the 1970s. The west gable contains more red sandstone than the other walls, and some of the masonry is roughly coursed. Projecting from its centre is a tall square tower built of roughly coursed red sandstone, with a belfry stage in brickwork above a projecting grey sandstone stringcourse. The brickwork is mainly old handmade brick, now eroded in places, with some newer brick repairs. The belfry has a Gothic arched opening in each face and is surmounted by a plain projecting grey sandstone cornice with a tall pyramidal sandstone finial at each corner. On the west face at the base of the tower there is a semi-circular red brick arched opening, now walled up with rubble. Projecting further west than the tower, and clasping its north-west corner, is a flat-topped porch built of roughly squared red sandstone blocks, with a Gothic arched doorway in its north face. The vaulted roof of the porch supports part of the tower above it.

Inside the church, the walls are of exposed rubble stonework and fieldstones, with the windows having splayed jambs. At the west end of the north wall is a now-blocked doorway with a flat arched head of red sandstone rubble carried on a timber lintel. In the east end of the south wall is a small rectangular recess with a roughly dressed stone surround, which is now close to ground level but was probably set somewhat higher when the original floor level was lower. In the west wall is an elliptically arched doorway, arched in brickwork over a timber lintel with rubble filling between the two. To the left of this doorway, below the current ground level, is a doorway leading to a burial vault outside. This doorway has a rectangular sandstone surround with rusticated sides and a segmental brick relieving arch above it. The opening is blocked with modern red brickwork and is approached by a flight of steps bordered by rubble stone walls with sandstone copings. Grass is now spreading down over the partly filled-in steps.

The Castlestewart Mausoleum

Projecting from the base of the tower outside, and from the south side of the west gable, is a long mausoleum with walls partly of stone and partly of cement render, and a flat grass-covered top behind parapet walls. The base or plinth is smooth rendered, lined and blocked in finish, though partly spalled in places to reveal red brickwork underneath, and has a moulded sandstone stringcourse above it. Above this is a parapet of ashlar sandstone with a moulded sandstone coping. Standing centrally on top of this structure is a tall rectangular two-stage stone plinth of ashlar sandstone with panelled faces, surmounted by a concave or swept sandstone pyramid and a ball finial. Neither the plinth nor the base carries any inscription, but this structure is reputed to be the Castlestewart mausoleum. The blocked entrance to the vault lies within the church ruin. Stylistically the mausoleum appears to date from the 18th century, and may be compared with similarly concave pyramidal capped monuments in the Stream Street Presbyterian churchyard at Downpatrick, County Down, and at Ballee, County Down. It is a well-proportioned and finely built example of its type and of unusual form.

The Bell Mausoleum

Standing freely to the east of the church ruin is a second mausoleum, built of ashlar sandstone and currently much obscured by overgrowth. On its east side it has a rectangular classical style doorway with a keystone surround, now bricked up, approached by a short flight of steps leading down to it, with an iron-railed enclosure on top. No inscription is currently visible, but this is believed to be the mausoleum of the Bells of Belmount in Stewartstown, as referred to by Samuel Lewis in his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland of 1837. Like the Castlestewart mausoleum, it appears stylistically to date from the 18th century and is of interest as a finely constructed example of its type.

The Gateway

The entrance to the graveyard consists of a pair of old iron gates with pointed tops to the vertical rails — two of which are missing — set between a pair of substantial circular roughcast piers. Each pier has an overhanging flat circular sandstone cap surmounted by a large sandstone ball finial with a flat projecting circular base. Attached to the northern pier is a small ironwork pedestrian gate set within a cement-rendered alcove, which is attached to one of the curving screen walls that flank the recessed gateway. The screen walls are of rendered finish with weathered rendered copings. The precise date of the gateway is not recorded, but stylistically it appears to date from the 18th century and is of handsome appearance and somewhat uncommon form.

Setting and Significance

The boundary of the graveyard is formed partly by wooden fencing and partly by hedges, with a number of mature trees running along it. The graveyard surface is grassed and humped in parts, rising up toward the church. The graveyard contains a number of headstones, some of which appear to be of 18th century date, but none of special individual interest.

Together, the ruined 17th century church with its rare window survivals, the two 18th century mausolea, and the gateway demonstrate the historical development of this site over time. The group forms a crucial visual link with the past in the Stewartstown area, offering a variety of interesting architectural elements in an unspoiled and picturesque setting. Their significance is further enhanced by a close visual relationship with the 19th century church on the opposite side of the road, so that as an overall group the various structures demonstrate continuity and tradition in the locality across several centuries.