Cooke Mausoleum

Bee skep-shaped mausoleum having central masonry dome partially recessed within cylindrical pit of rubble limestone walling.

Architect

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Style

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Listing

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Year built

c.1835

History

Constructed by Adolphus Cooke (1792-1876) of nearby Cookesborough House, to house the remains of his father, Robert. Adolphus Cooke had a strong belief in reincarnation and designed the mausoleum in the form of a bee skep as he believed his father would be reincarnated as a bee. Adolphus Cooke was himself interred within his father’s mausoleum when the rector refused to bury him in a mausoleum which he had constructed in the form of a fox's lair (believing he would be reincarnated as a fox) in the grounds of Cookesborough House.

Condition

Overgrown.

The Follies Trust plan to conserver the mausoluem in coming years (2015).

Sources

Department of Arts, Heritage and. (2005). Cooke Mausoleum, St. John the Baptist Church of Ireland church, County Westmeath. Available: http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=WM®no=15401309. Last accessed 21st November 2015.

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