A fine Neo-Classical mausoleum, square with segmental pediments. The stone barrel-vault is surmounted by a sarcophagus with grasping rings at either end and medallions with lions’ heads on each side. The building used to be enclosed by railings but these were removed during the Second World War. The doorway was bricked up in the 1950s.
Not known
Neo-Classical
Grade II* (England and Wales)
1797
Erected by William Raikes (1737-1800) to receive the remains of his wife, Martha Pelly (d.1797) “in whom the conjugal, the parental and all the relative virtues were heightened by a superior understanding”. She was the daughter of Job Matthew (d.1802) a Governor of the Bank of England, also buried in the mausoleum. William’s brother, Robert, was the promoter of the Sunday School movement, while William himself was a successful London merchant who dealt in oriental goods. He and his wife lived at Valentines in Ilford. Their second son, another Robert, moved to Yorkshire in the early 19th century and, following the example of his father, also built a mausoleum (see Robert Raikes Mausoleum, Welton Dale, East Yorkshire). The last member of the family interred in the Woodford mausoleum died in 1862.
At risk. Although the walls are in reasonable condition, an elderflower tree has taken root in the roof and this, together with other plants, is prizing the stonework apart (2002).
J Litten and F Clark, St Mary's Church Woodford (1977), 29-30;
D Raikes, Pedigree of Raikes (1980);
Burke's Landed Gentry (1921).
None
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Churchyard of St Mary
Woodford Road
Woodford
London Borough of Redbridge
E18 2PL
England