By Damian Murphy
A little of Carrick-on-Shannon’s ecclesiastical heritage was lost but much more was gained when Edward Costello (1823–91) chose to build a mortuary chapel not in the sylvan setting of a churchyard or municipal cemetery but on the site of an old Primitive Wesleyan meeting-house in Bridge Street, a bustling high street, and a stone’s throw away from where he had provided the people of the town with their weekly essentials as a general merchant. The mortuary chapel was designed with two vaults, the first to house the remains of his recently deceased wife, Mary Josephine (1829–77), and the second for his own remains when his time came.
The completion of the sale of the meeting-house coincided with the publication of a call for tenders in the Freeman’s Journal (17 December 1877), which named William Hague (1836–99) of Cavan and Dublin as the architect. It is likely that Costello chose Hague on the strength of his design for the nearby parish church, St Mary’s (1873–9), then nearing completion. Unlike the parish church, which was completed only on the second attempt, work on the mortuary chapel progressed swiftly and it was dedicated with the offering of a requiem Mass and the interment of Mary’s remains on 22 April 1879.
Small in scale, and severe in its styling as a Hard Gothic oratory, the chapel is not entirely without decorative interest. The façade of crisply cut silver limestone includes a low-relief string-course resembling the busts of the twelve apostles in silhouette and centres on an expressive hood-moulded door-case with foliated tympanum. The heraldic devices on either side have a precedent in the parish church but, whereas those display the arms of the diocese and the Vatican, the mortuary chapel is personal and shows the intertwined monogram of Edward and Mary, the Costello arms and motto, NE TE QUÆ SIVERIS EXTRA (‘Do not seek thyself outside thyself’). The steeply pitched gabled roof is given a ‘slated’ finish of chiselled limestone ashlar slabs, is crowned at the apex by a Celtic cross finial and is decorated along the eaves with a nail-head motif.
Where the exterior is coldly austere, the vaulted interior is comparatively warm, its walls lined with a honey-toned Bath stone. The central aisle, its encaustic tiles of blood red and cream bordered by black, shows symbols of the Passion of Christ, including the Casting of Lots, Flagellation, Crucifixion and Resurrection. Dimly lit, its east end backing against a high wall, its only window is filled with colourful glass by Franz Mayer and Co. of Munich and London, showing the patron saints Sancta Maria and Sanctus Edwardus.
The mortuary chapel was designed not only for the quiet contemplation of the Costellos as their coffins slowly decay in public view under large sheets of thick plate glass but also for active participation in the celebration of the Eucharist; the altar, decorated with the symbols of the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart in high relief, is complete with a gilded tabernacle. It is on that basis that the Costello Mortuary Chapel, measuring just 12ft wide and 16ft deep, stakes a tenuous claim to the title of second-smallest church in the world. Restored in 2011, the chapel is open to the public.
Damian Murphy is Architectural Heritage Officer, NIAH. Series based on the NIAH’s ‘building of the month’, www.buildingsofireland.ie.