Downhill Mausoleum

I visited the Downhill Mausoleum in 2014, at Downhill demesne, County Londonderry.

Downhill House, Palace or Castle - whichever nomenclature one prefers - was built by the Right Reverend and Right Honourable Frederick Augustus [Hervey] Earl of Bristol and Lord Bishop of Derry, commonly known as The Earl Bishop.

This august monument, several hundred yards from the mansion house, was erected for the Earl Bishop between 1779-83.

The Mausoleum is virtually rebuilt in the short clip above by Peter McMullan.

It was built in memory of his lordship's elder brother George, 2nd Earl of Bristol, who died a bachelor in 1775.

The 2nd Earl was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, a highly esteemed viceregal position with very considerable power, patronage and influence.

The mausoleum stands between the Lion's Gate and the Bishop's Gate.

Kyle Leyden informs me that:-

"It’s a common mistake to say that the cenotaph was based on the tomb of the Julii in Rome: it isn’t. As that name suggests, the Roman monument is a tomb i.e. it is a subterranean vaulted room covered in mosaic under the Vatican." 

"The Downhill cenotaph is based on the Mausoleum of the Julii in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in France, one of the best preserved Roman structures in the world." 

"Similar to Downhill it was built in memory of a military hero (Hervey was a Lord of the Admiralty) who died elsewhere, and probably was never intended to house a body."

Sir John Soane produced a sketch design (above) for the Earl Bishop, though the work was undertaken by the Irish architect Michael Shanahan.

Shanahan's version was said to be very similar to Soane's, though less elegant.

It comprised a square-planned, cross-vaulted structure, with arched openings and eight corner columns, standing on a high plinth.

The inscription surrounding the frieze is by Virgil:

Ille meas errare boves, ut cernis, et ipsum

ludere, quae vellem, calamo permisit agresti.

This verse translates roughly as: He lets my cattle roam, as you can see, and lets me play what I will on my rustic pipe.

The monument was crowned with a domed monopteral tempietto, contained a fine statue of the Earl Bishop's brother, in Roman dress, by John van Nost the younger.

Neither the timpietto nor the statue could withstand the storms of 1839, since when the fragments have lain around the base of the now stunted monument, awaiting restoration.

The 2nd Earl's statue is located near the Bishop's Gate in the grounds, though the head and part of the right arm are missing.

Seemingly the Earl Bishop 's intention had been to create an open-air museum, centred round the mausoleum, of reconstructed antiquities within the grounds of Downhill.

In April, 2023, plans were submitted for repairs and consolidation works to the monument.

First published in July, 2014.