Survey Data
Reg No
50130084
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical
Original Use
Grave monument
In Use As
Grave monument
Date
1870 - 1875
Coordinates
314745, 236905
Date Recorded
21/06/2018
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Freestanding ashlar limestone Gothic Revival cruciform-plan mausoleum with belfry tower, dated 1871, having canted transepts and apse. Steeply pitched fishscale-banded limestone roof with wrought-iron cresting; tower has fishscale-banded spire with carved cross finial. Ashlar limestone walling with gabled offset corner buttresses with gabled tops, eaves having crocketed frieze and cusped Gothic parapet. Pointed lancet window openings to transepts and apse, having hood-mouldings with foliate stops, shafts, continuous splayed sill course, and replacement obscured glazing. Paired blind cusped lancet openings to east, north and south (check) elevations, with crocketed gabled hood-mouldings with finials superimposed on recessed responds having carved foliate and floriate heads carried on red marble shaft. Belfry having embellished traceried openings and square-plan corner piers with gablets to bases and supporting green marble colonnettes with vegetal capitals. Pointed-arch doorway to front (east), having triple-order moulded limestone surround with red marble half-shafts on plinths, foliate carved head and double-leaf fretted cast-iron door. Accessed by two stone steps; shield to tympanum with raised lettering 'Boland AD 1871'. Decorative cast-iron railings on limestone plinth, with similar double-leaf gate. Located on perimeter of O'Connell Monument, over vault having paired pointed-arch doorways and squared limestone rubble walling accessed from recessed street of vaults.
Appraisal
A lively late nineteenth-century Gothic Revival mausoleum, in the form of a chapel, liberally embellished with gablets, crockets and fine ornamental carving. Its openwork spire is an eye-catching feature. The combination of well-cut limestone work, carved limestone and marblework, and well-made cast-iron railings and door makes this monument one of the most decorative and interesting in the cemetery. It is erected over the vault of the Boland family on the perimeter of the O'Connell Monument and is distinguished from the others by its Gothic vault entrances. The mausoleum is among a number of notable monuments of considerable architectural quality and craftsmanship within Glasnevin Cemetery. Originally known as Prospect Cemetery, the burial ground was opened in 1832 following a successful campaign by Daniel O'Connell, as a civic, non-denominational cemetery and which holds the graves and memorials of over one million people, including many notable citizens.