Ailesbury Mausoleum

The Ailesbury Mausoleum, Maulden Churchyard, Bedfordshire, built in 1656 and "Gothicised" in 1859
Lady Diana Cecil (d.1654) (Countess of Elgin, 2nd wife of Thomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin (1599–1663)), in memory of whom the Ailesbury Mausoleum was built by her husband in 1656. Portrait by van Dyck
Left: Cartouche above entrance to the Ailesbury Mausoleum displaying the arms of Bruce (right): Or, a saltire and chief gules on a canton argent a lion rampant azure, with Latin motto below: fuimus, "we have been"

The Ailesbury Mausoleum situated in the churchyard of St Mary's Church, Maulden, in Bedfordshire, is a Grade II listed structure built in 1656 by Thomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin (1599–1663) (father by his 1st wife of Robert Bruce, 2nd Earl of Elgin, 1st Earl of Ailesbury (1626-1685)), of nearby Houghton House in the parish of Maulden, for the purpose of housing the coffin and "splendid monument"[1] of his second wife, Lady Diana Cecil (d. 1654), a daughter of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter and widow of Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford.[2] In the opinion of the architectural historian Sir Howard Colvin (1991)[3] it is one of the first two free-standing mausoleums ever built in England, together with the Cabell Mausoleum at Buckfastleigh in Devon.[4]

  1. ^ Mausolea and Monuments Trust, Ailesbury Mausoleum
  2. ^ Historic England, "Mausoleum Approximately 10 Metres North West of North Aisle of Church of St Mary the Virgin (1113925)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 20 April 2017
  3. ^ Colvin, Howard, Architecture and the After-Life, 1991, pp.312-3
  4. ^ dijit.net. "Cabell Mausoleum - Mausolea & Monuments Trust". www.mmtrust.org.uk.