John Martin Monument, Clay Road, Shrigley, Tullyveery (Td.), Killyleagh, Co. Down, BT30 9PN

John Martin Monument, Shrigley

This is a substantial High Victorian Gothic memorial, designed by the Belfast-born architect Timothy Hevey and erected in 1871. It stands at the southern end of Clay Road, Shrigley, and was built to commemorate John Martin, the founder of Shrigley cotton mill and the surrounding mill village. The monument originally incorporated a clock and a drinking fountain. It is tall and spire-like in character, combining an octagonal colonnade at ground level with a square tower rising above, capped by a spire.

Architectural Description

The monument rises from a series of octagonal granite steps, around which sits a fairly recent low railing. At each angle of the steps there was once a granite plinth bearing a decorative pier, but all of these have now been removed. Above the steps is an octagonal plinth with a granite trim and tiled inset, the tiles appearing relatively recent.

From this plinth rises an octagonal colonnade of eight polished red granite columns. The columns have floral capitals in badly worn light-coloured sandstone and high bases in the same sandstone combined with granite. The columns carry pointed arches with voussoirs alternating between light and red sandstone, and linked label mouldings with decorative stops. Each arch is framed by a light sandstone gable with moulded verges and decorative stops reminiscent of ceiling bosses. Some of the verge apices are broken and may originally have carried finials. Every second gable contains a small carved pictorial roundel in light cream sandstone, though most of these are now broken. The gable verges are tied together by a projecting sandstone course, below which runs a further course in red sandstone bearing griffin-like gargoyles at each angle; these are now badly damaged.

Above the colonnade rises the square tower, built in light sandstone with occasional bands of red sandstone. Its base is battered and has moulded decoration to the edges. Each face of the tower is flanked by two flying buttresses, each bearing small roundels and topped with tall spire-like caps with finials, some of which have been partially or completely broken off. The flying buttresses support full-height angle buttresses. The lower half of each tower face has a triple pointed arch opening containing two small grey granite colonettes with floral capitals. A projecting course runs above these openings. The upper half of each tower face has a large circular opening which originally held a clock face; the clock faces have since been removed and the openings are now louvered. Above this is another projecting course in red sandstone with gargoyles to the angles. Each face then has a small gable with moulded, crocket-like verges and small roundels to the tympanums. Between the gables there were once corner piers, but most have been broken off. Behind and above the gables rises the spire, which has crocket moulding to its angles, a moulded finial, and a metal weather vane.

Interior of the Colonnade

Within the ground-level colonnade stands a thick octagonal central pillar, which splays upward into the ceiling. This pillar is constructed in light sandstone with red sandstone quoins and thin three-quarter columns to the angles, whose bases merge with the pillar's chamfered plinth. A decorative course in red sandstone runs just below ceiling level, and the ceiling itself is in light sandstone with moulded ribs. On the north side of the pillar is a tall church memorial-type moulding in light sandstone with a gabled top and cross finial. This feature was originally the drinking fountain. It is now badly damaged, has lost much of its detailing — including what appear to have been side colonettes — and its central panel has been blocked up with breeze blocks.

Condition and Alterations

The monument has suffered considerably from both vandalism and weathering. Numerous gargoyles, piers, roundels and finials are broken or missing entirely, and the light-coloured sandstone is badly worn in places. The smashed clock faces have been removed, the original rusted railings replaced, and the drinking fountain blocked with breeze blocks. Tiling has been applied to the base plinth. These interventions have in many respects further diminished the monument's appearance. The light sandstone of which the monument is largely constructed is particularly vulnerable to erosion.

Historical Context

The village of Shrigley owes its existence to John Martin, the son of a Belfast merchant, who in 1824 built a large six-storey cotton-weaving mill — one of the largest in Ireland at the time — around which the surrounding community grew. The original mill burnt down in 1845 and was replaced by Martin with a flax-spinning mill. As a mark of gratitude, the local population resolved to commemorate Martin during his own lifetime by erecting a clock tower and drinking fountain in his honour. A competition was held in 1870, and the monument was built the following year to Hevey's winning design. John Martin himself died in 1876.

The monument originally stood at the heart of the village, with the mill gate immediately to the south and the workers' houses — largely dating from the 1820s to 1840s — to the north. After the mill lay idle for nine years, it was adapted from 1939 onwards as a leather tanning factory, with most of its component buildings either demolished or greatly altered. By the 1990s much of the complex had been abandoned and fallen into decay. Between 1968 and 1972 all of the workers' houses were demolished and replaced by a modern housing estate further to the west.

The monument now stands in isolation: to its south are the much-modernised and badly dilapidated remains of the former mill, and to its west a bland 1960s housing estate. It is the last recognisable remnant of what was once a thriving industrial community, and its loss of 19th-century context has compounded the damage done to the structure itself.