Survey Data
Reg No
13303022
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical
Original Use
Mausoleum
In Use As
Mausoleum
Date
1970 - 1975
Coordinates
210810, 279549
Date Recorded
12/08/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Freestanding pedimented tetrastyle Greek Revival style mausoleum, erected 1972. Comprising white marble Doric columns in antis surmounted by carved frieze and pediment, accessed via cut limestone steps. Square-headed metal door. Located within St. Paul's Church of Ireland graveyard, to the north end of the church enclosure (13303021), and to the centre of Newtown-Forbes.
Appraisal
This interesting, if recently erected, mausoleum is built in the style vaguely reminiscent of a miniature Greek Doric temple. Although erected in recent years, it is similar in style to a number of early nineteenth-century mausolea in Ireland, including the Bindon Scott Memorial (1837) at Killadysert, County Clare. It is well-detailed in white marble and is of artistic merit. It marks the burial place of Beatrice, Countess of Granard, of Castle Forbes (13303001), who died in 1972 at the age of 90. It is an interesting and unusual addition to the built heritage of County Longford and forms part of an extensive group of structures/sites associated with Castle Forbes. It is unusual that the Countess is interred here at the Church of Ireland graveyard, given that she converted to Roman Catholicism during her lifetime.