Chesney Memorial cross and grave, Christ Church (Cof I) Graveyard, Newry Street, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down

An ornate Celtic cross and grave memorial dedicated to General Francis Rawdon Chesney, an internationally renowned 19th-century soldier. The memorial stands in a wall niche along the southern boundary of Christ Church graveyard at Kilkeel.

The principal feature is a large Celtic cross of white cast reconstituted stone, approximately 4 metres high, with a three-stage shaft and cross design. It stands on a battered concrete base with inscribed panels on three faces. The front panel carries a dedicatory inscription: "In pious memory of/ General Francis Rawdon Chesney/ of Packolet County Down/ who died January 30 1872/ This is erected by his surviving widow and children". The right-hand panel records the death of Jane, Chesney's daughter and widow of Nicholas Michael O'Donnell, noting she was born 16 December 1824 and died 3 July 1909 at Coolmore, County Cork. The shaft displays three decorated panels on each face, all featuring abstract Celtic designs, knots, zoomorphic repeats and Pictish-key patterns. Every edge of the cross carries similar ornamentation, with the centre emblazoned 'IHS' on both faces. The cross terminates in a pitched coping designed to resemble the steeply pitched roof of a Celtic oratory.

Within the graveyard proper, directly in front of the memorial cross, stands the Chesney family plot, enclosed by a low chamfered granite wall that formerly supported wrought-iron railings, now removed. The plot contains three monuments. Chesney's own tomb comprises a white marble grave slab with a raised cross mounted on top, resting on a chamfered granite plinth inscribed 'General Francis Rawdon Chesney' on the right side. To the left is a plain white marble cross, approximately 1.2 metres high, standing on a stepped plinth. Its upper front section is inscribed 'Rawdon Charles Chesney/ died Jul 12th 1865/ aged 12 years', with a biblical text on the lower section. To the right stands a Celtic-design cross in finely dressed granite, approximately 1.3 metres high. Its tapered plinth rests on a cushion-moulded base and is inscribed: 'Giving thanks to God/ and in loving memory of / Louisa/ wife of General F.R. Chesney/ born Feb 24th 1816/ died Dec 11th 1902/ at Beaumont […]/ Interred at Harlton Lancaster'. The shaft is further inscribed 'The things which are/seen are temporal/ The things which are/ not seen are eternal', and the cross head displays a circular guilloche border with a central knotwork boss.

General Francis Rawdon Chesney (1789–1872) was born in Ballyveagh townland near Annalong on 16 March 1789, the son of Captain Alexander Chesney, head of the district coastguard. He was named after his godfather, Lord Rawdon (Earl of Moira), who had served as his father's commanding officer in South Carolina during the American War of Independence. He graduated from Woolwich Academy and the Royal Military College at Marlow, and served initially in Guernsey. In 1822 he moved to Packolet, near Kilkeel—a property named after a river in South Carolina where his father had spent much of his childhood. Chesney achieved international renown for surveying the line of the Suez Canal, work that was eventually executed by the Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps and opened in 1869; de Lesseps acknowledged Chesney's contribution by referring to him as the 'father of the Suez Canal'. He also explored an overland route to India via the Euphrates. He commanded the 14th Brigade of the Royal Artillery, achieving the rank of general in 1859. He retired from the army in 1864 at the age of 75 and died at Packolet on 30 January 1872. A brass memorial to him is located in the south transept of Christ Church. Local tradition holds that the ornate Celtic cross memorial was initially regarded as too 'Irish' in character to be accommodated within the graveyard proper. A compromise was apparently reached whereby the cross was sited just beyond the consecrated ground, and the boundary wall was realigned to enclose it. The memorial was erected by Chesney's widow and surviving children between 1860 and 1879.