MITCHELL, JOHN

Architect, or perhaps two architects of the same name, working in Co. Derry in the last quarter of the eighteenth century and first quarter of the nineteenth. John Mitchell produced plans for the Custom House in Coleraine circa 1782, of which only the offices were built.(1) He was supervising architect of Tamlaght Finlagan Church of Ireland Church at Ballykelly, Co. Derry, built in1790 after a plan 'furnished…by Lord Bristol, its being an exact imitation of a church on his estate in England',(2) and may perhaps be the 'Mr Mitchell' who built a wooden bridge over the River Bann at Agivey in 1802(3) and who was measuring work at Ballyscullion, Co. Derry, for Lord Bristol in 1803.(4) A person of the same name is listed as an architect in Bridge Street, Coleraine, in Pigot and Co.'s City of Dublin and Hibernian Provincial Directory (1824). Possibly a connection of ALEXANDER MITCHELL. ALEXANDER MITCHELL.

References

(1) NA/PRO (Kew) Cust.1.163 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc. 2008/44); the Custom House itself was built to designs by Thomas Ivory.
(2) A. Day, P. McWilliams & L. English, eds., Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol. 25 (Parishes of Co. Londonderry VII), 69; see also North West Ulster, 121, and James Stevens Curl, The Londonderry Plantation, 1609-1914 (1986), 239,241(illus.).
(3) G. Vaughan Sampson, Statistical Survey of the County of Londonderry (1802), 324.
(4) T.G.F. Paterson, 'The Edifying Bishop', BIGS 9 (Jul-Dec 1966), 81.

4 work entries listed in chronological order for MITCHELL, JOHN

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Building:	CO. DERRY, COLERAINE, BRIDGE STREET, CUSTOM HOUSE (PROPOSED)
Date:	1782ca
Nature:	Offices only built (Custom House by Thomas Ivory).
Refs:	NA/PRO (Kew) Cust.1.163 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44)

Building:	CO. DERRY, BALLYKELLY, CHURCH OF ST FINDLUGANUS (CI, TAMLAGHT FIN
Date:	1790
Nature:	JM 'directing architect'; plan supplied by Lord Bristol, 'its being an exact imitation of a church on his estate in England'.
Refs:	A. Day, P. McWilliams & Nóirín Dobson, eds., Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol. 25 (Parishes of Co. Londonderry VII), 69; see also Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster (1979), 121, and James Stevens Curl, The Londonderry Plantation, 1609-1914 (1986), 239,241(illus.); Simon Walker, Historic Ulster Churches (Institute of Irish Studies, 2000), 69(illus.; church also illustrated on cover).

Building:	CO. DERRY, AGIVEY, WOODEN BRIDGE
Date:	1802a
Nature:	'A bridge on the same plas as the wooden bridge at Derry has been constructed over the Bann, opposite Aghgivey, by a Mr Mitchel, of this county.'
Refs:	G. Vaughan Sampson, Statistical Survey of the County of Londonderry (1802), 324

Building:	CO. KERRY, TRALEE, COUNTY GAOL
Date:	1873
Nature:	Internal alts. to adapt it to the separate system and remodelling of governor's house.
Refs:	Drawing(s), dated 1873, in NA, OPW drawings collection; IB 15, 1 Jul 1873, advertisement for tenders