Goddard Mausoleum

The mausoleum, better described as a vault, is a long low rectangular structure projecting from the north side of chapel. It has a stone slab roof, pink granite colonettes at the four corners, and quatrofoil panels along the north and west flanks. All except two of the panels contain inscriptions. Three tombstones, with crosses (the central cross is missing though the base remains) are set against the east flank of the vault.

Architect

Not known

Style

--

Listing

Grade II (England and Wales)

Year built

1852

History

In 1852 all except the chancel of the Church of the Holy Rood was demolished, and a new church built elsewhere. At this time the Goddards, who had held the manor of Swindon since the sixteenth century, were still living at The Lawn, the house they had built on the site of the ancient manor immediately south of the church. The remaining fragment of the church was in the grounds of their house, and the Goddards subsequently built the present ‘mausoleum’ against the north side of the chancel.

It is possible that their family pew, with a burial vault beneath it, formerly stood in this position, and that the structure they erected is merely a roof to shelter the vault exposed when much of the church was demolished. The fact that many of the inscriptions on the outside walls commemorate members of the family who died long before 1852 suggests this may be the case, as does the form of the building itself. In 1943 the property was sold to Swindon Corporation who demolished the house in 1952. The chancel was partially refurbished as a chapel in 1964, and the grounds are now a public park.

Condition

Fair. The roof is sound but some of the stonework is cracked and badly weathered (2002).

Sources

BoE: Wilts (1975), 505-6;

VCH: Wilts (1970), 9, 108, 144, 147.

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