Walston Mausoleum

The mausoleum stands on the south side of the churchyard, close to Newton Hall where Walston lived. It is built in limestone ashlar with a conical slate roof. From the front it appears to be circular though it is actually D-shaped on plan. At first glance, with its fluted Ionic columns supporting a plain entablature, it might be mistaken for an 18th century classical mausoleum. There is a lion’s head mask and decorative frieze above the double doors.

Architect

Sir Ambrose Poynter

Style

Listing

Grade II (England and Wales)

Year built

1922

History

Sir Charles Walston (1856-1927), whose name was formerly Waldstein, was born in New York, and educated both there and in Germany. He came to England in 1880 to take up a lectureship in Classical Archaeology at the University of Cambridge. He was Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge in 1888-9, and Slade Professor of Fine Art there in 1895-1901 and 1904-11. He also carried out excavations in Greece and was the Director of the American Archaeological School in Athens between 1889 and 1893. He was knighted in 1912. The mausoleum was built to take the remains of Waldstein's New York parents-in-law, David and Caroline Einstein, from whom the money came. David Einstein died in London on a visit in 1909. He and his wife's ashes are believed to be in two of the pots to the side. Walston's ashes are in a Roman glass urn standing on the pedestal. This urn came from Herculaneum and was given after his death by the Italian government as a reward for his campaign to get Herculaneum excavated.