Constable Mausoleum

The avenue of yew trees leading up to this mausoleum provides a sombre setting for what might otherwise be taken for an elegant garden building. It is a domed temple, set on a circular platform (reputedly built on the site of a tumulus) with two flights of steps leading up to the entrance. Although classical in style, the detail is spare and lightly drawn. Inside, the building has a balustrade running around a central well. The upper storey has a full-height plastered arcade with carved and painted shields in the frieze, a ribbed vault and coloured glass in the skylight. Standing in the centre of the well is a tall pedestal which supports the urn inscribed to Sir William Constable. The vaulted corridor round the base of the tower contains memorials to other members of the family, together with a plaque inscribed with the words “Bones of the Ancestors of the/ Family of CONSTABLE/ Collected in The Old Vault of the Family adjoining the Church of Halsham and transferred to the MAUSOLEUM on the 23rd of August 1802”

Architect

Thomas Atkinson of York, but completed by his son John.

Style

Neo-Classical

Listing

Grade II* (England and Wales)

Year built

1792

History

Built by Sir Edward Constable in accordance with the will of his father, Sir William Constable (d.1791) of Burton Constable. The base of the building was altered c.1830 by Charles Mountain of Hull. The mausoleum was restored around 1910.

Condition

Good (2002).

Sources

BoE: Yorks, York & the East Riding (1972), 241;

N.Higson, ‘The Building of the Halsham Mausoleum’, Trans. E. Yorks Georgian Society, (1961-3), 2;

VCH: Yorks East Riding (1984) 5, 32, pl.33.

Links

UK & Ireland Genealogy website

Related Articles/Publications

None

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