NIAH Description – No: 14946011 Borrisnafarney Church, BALLYCORMICK, OFFALY – Buildings of Ireland
Detached single-cell mausoleum, built c.1830, with interred remains of the Bloomfield family. Set within graveyard at Borrisnafarney Church. Pitched stone roof with moulded stone coping to gables. Snecked stone walls with buttresses and arcaded cornice to north-east and south-west sides. Pointed-arched door opening with tooled stone surround, hoodmoulding and studded timber door having metal cruciform hinges. Plaster to interior walls with bricked-up shelves bearing name plaques of those interred. They read “Thomas Ryder Pepper 1828; Mrs Bloomfield 1828; Mrs Ryder Pepper 1841; Lieutenant General Benjamin Baron Bloomfield 1846; Harriot widow of Lieutenant General Benjamin Baron Bloomfield 1868”.
Appraisal
Located within the graveyard at Borrisnafarney Church, the stone built mausoleum is the resting place of members of the Bloomfield family, one of whom was the founder of the early nineteenth-century church. The execution of the design in the Gothic Revival idiom creates an austere, yet aesthetically pleasing memorial. Fine workmanship is seen in the stone roof, where slabs overlay one another, also in the stone arcading to the side elevations and again in the solid double entrance doors with metal studs. The interior name plaques, that commemorate those who lie there, ensure that history will not forget them.
For more information relating to the Bloomfield and Pepper family refer to Flights of Fancy, Follies, Families and Demesnes in Offaly by Rachel Mc Kenna, and the Loughton House chapter pp330-343.
Works were outlined by conservation engineers at Southgate Associates (see attached Methodology). Works were carried out on site by B&D Rainey Ltd under the supervision of Southgate Associates. The buttresses had shifted recently, predominantly on the right-hand side of the mausoleum and the rear left corner, likely due to subsidence and the lack of a suitable foundation. By using tie plates and rods and helibars the buttress’ are now tied into the masonry of the main structure and underpinned, lime mortar repairs around buttresses. The conservation works to the valleys and the installation of cast iron hoppers and downpipes has returned functioning rainwater goods to the structure. Repairs were carried out with assistance from Creative Ireland, Department Grant (Built Heritage Investment Scheme 2022), Follies Trust, The Moneygall Development Fund, local fundraising and the Select Vestry.
For more details see Offaly County Council Final Report.
Post Works Photographic Report by Southgate Associates.
