architecture, eyecatcher, Mausoleum, Scotland, South Lanarkshire

The Pleasure Dome: Hamilton Mausoleum, South Lanarkshire

Just south of Glasgow an immense drum topped with a dome can be glimpsed from the M74 motorway. This is the mausoleum commissioned by the 10th Duke of Hamilton. When he was interred there in 1852, it was hailed in the newspapers as ‘the most costly and magnificent temple for the reception of the dead in the world’, although with the caveat ‘always excepting the Pyramids’.

Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton and 7th Duke of Brandon (1767-1852) by Henry Raeburn (1756-1823). Private Collection.

Alexander, 10th Duke of Hamilton (1767-1852) inherited Hamilton Palace from his father in 1819. He had been on the Grand Tour and had a passion for arts and antiquities, building up a vast and important collection.

Unknown artist, View of the South Front of Hamilton Palace, ca. 1800, Watercolor, pen, and black ink on medium, slightly textured, cream wove paper, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1975.4.1641. Public Domain.

A number of architects were consulted about the planned mausoleum, including the Duke’s kinsman David Hamilton (1768-1843). Hamilton designed the crypt with niches for the coffins of many generations to come.

But the rest of the building we see today was built to a design by David Bryce (1803-1876) based on a sketch by the Duke himself. By 1852 the crypt was ready to receive the remains of the Duke’s ancestors which were brought to the mausoleum from the old church in Hamilton. The building was still incomplete when the duke died in September of the same year, although he was immediately laid to rest in his sarcophagus in the upper chamber and work continued around him.

The Duke was fascinated by all things Egyptian and had asked a specialist, Mr Pettigrew, to embalm his body after his death. He then wished to be placed in a sarcophagus which he had purchased. This casket, ‘executed by the most cunning workmen of the Pharoahs’ featured a female face and was thought to have been used in the burial of an Egyptian queen: according to one source the Duke ordered it to be further chiselled out to make room for his body.

The Sarcophagus as pictured in the Illustrated London News in 1882.

Not everyone was impressed with the Duke’s mausoleum (or the Duke for that matter: he was considered self-important). In 1863 Lady Waterford found it in poor taste, writing that it was a ‘monument of pride’ in which the Duke ‘reposes alone […] under an immense doom [dome] in the sarcophagus of an Egyptian queen’.

In 1943 a novel called The Pleasure Dome was published. It was the work of Elizabeth Kyle, and the story was based on the history of Hamilton Palace, and the colourful characters associated with it. Elizabeth Kyle was a pen-name of Agnes Mary Robertson Dunlap (1901-1982), who also published as Mary Forsyth and Jan Ralston, although she used her real name for her journalism. Her first novel was published in 1934 when she was described as ‘not one of those writers who derive local colouring from their imagination’: instead she drew upon her experiences of wandering ‘about Europe and America in a more or less vagabond way in order to satisfy her craving for adventure’. She also travelled widely as a correspondent for both the Manchester Guardian and the Glasgow Herald.

The mausoleum is hard to photograph so here’s the dome from a jaunty angle. The plaque has a Latin inscription telling that the 10th Duke erected the mausoleum for himself and his descendants.

The Flâneuse is rambling, but there is a good reason for introducing the book. Kyle’s characters include the Duke of Hamilton, his architect, and the architect’s assistant Mr Connell, a man who has experience in building ‘whigmaleeries’. This wonderful word instantly evokes something enchanted or whimsical, but the Folly Flâneuse reached for her dictionary to double-check: whigmaleerie – ‘a fanciful ornament or contrivance’. Also in the cast of characters was the Duke’s father-in-law William Beckford, builder of whigmaleeries including Fonthill Abbey in Wiltshire to a design by James Wyatt and Beckford’s Tower in Bath (H.E. Goodridge, architect of Beckford’s Tower, was one of the men who submitted a design for the mausoleum at Hamilton Palace).

Charles Wild. The exterior of Fonthill Abbey, the seat of William Beckford. Great Britain, c. 1830. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1138063/fonthill-abbey-watercolour-drawing-wild-charles/

The mausoleum featured on many nineteenth century picture postcards, but one in particular caught the eye of the Flâneuse. The message on the front is quite conventional, with Howard sending lots of love to his sweetheart in 1904, but the reverse, written in code, suggests clandestine meetings and illicit affairs. Upon cracking the code Howard is found to be above reproach: he tells Lilian his cold is getting better and comments on the weather. Incurable romantics will however be pleased to know that Howard and Lilian married in 1910 and had a long life together.

Postcard sent in 1904. Courtesy of a private collection.

The family collection, including the treasures collected by the 10th Duke, was sold in a magnificent sale in 1882. In the early 1920s mineral workings under the estate threatened the stability of the palace and the mausoleum. In 1921 the bodies in the crypt, along with the 10th Duke in his sarcophagus, were reinterred in the nearby Bent Cemetery, where a simple monument marks their site (the remains of two most recent Dukes were reinterred on the Isle of Arran). Only the plinth which once held the sarcophagus remains in the upper room of the mausoleum.

The 13th Duke of Hamilton sold a vast chunk of the estate, including the palace, mausoleum and the hunting lodge called Chatelherault to Hamilton Town Council in the early 1920s. Work began almost immediately to demolish the palace, and there were calls to pull down the mausoleum too. Happily, local interest was so strong that the plans were abandoned. Today the mausoleum stands as an unlikely eye-catcher in the midst of playing fields and cricket pitches.

For much more on the history of the mausoleum visit the Low Parks Museum in Hamilton or see the excellent Virtual Hamilton Palace website https://vhpt.org

Two lions guard the entrance to the vault. One is on duty and awake, whilst the other sleeps until it is his turn to stand sentry. The lions and the masks were carved by Alexander Handyside Ritchie of Edinburgh.

The mausoleum is open for very entertaining guided tours on certain days each year. There’s more here https://www.slleisureandculture.co.uk/info/201/hamilton_mausoleum/234/tours

Happily the rules have been relaxed and one may wander at will.

Thank you for reading. The Flâneuse is always pleased to receive any thoughts or comments. Please scroll down to the foot of the page to get in touch.

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12 thoughts on “The Pleasure Dome: Hamilton Mausoleum, South Lanarkshire”

  1. Julia Abel Smith says:

    Was the Egyptian sarcophagus sold too?

    Considering the earlier magnificence of the Dukes of Hamilton, their current resting place at the edge of the cemetery, surrounded by litter on my visit, is too poignant.

    However, Chatelherault, the ducal kennels built as an eye catcher on the hills beyond, is delightful.

    Thank you for another fascinating post.

    1. Editor says:

      Good morning Julia. Yes, the current resting place is a bit of a come-down for the haughty duke. Apparently he was reinterred there in the sarcophagus. Chatelherault is a delight and we had a lovely walk to the monument to a later duke. But perhaps that’s a story for another day!

      1. Julia Abel Smith says:

        Please do tell us about the monument to the later duke another day.

        I would love that.

        1. Editor says:

          I will do my best. Watch this space!

  2. Eric says:

    A very informative and entertaining piece – thank you.

    I also enjoyed the picture of the gentleman ‘mansplaining’ the Sarcophagus to his fortunate companion!

    1. Editor says:

      Hello Eric and many thanks for showing your appreciation. The engraving is great but I’m pleased to report that the modern guide is informative and fun.

  3. TOM GARDNER says:

    AS A 78 YEAR OLD, SEMI – RETIRED ANTIQUES DEALER, WITH PERHAPS A GIFT IN MY ‘DNA’ OF APPRECIATING BOTH NATURE AND THE BEST OF MAN MADE CREATIONS, I FIND YOUR
    OFFERINGS A MOST SPLENDID USE OF MY TIME.
    THIS LAST ONE WAS BOTH AN IN-DEPTH SHARING … OF THE FOLLOY & DREAMS OF MAN.

    MANY THANKS!

    TOM

    1. Editor says:

      Follies of man. Indeed! Thank you Tom and have a good weekend.

  4. Gwyn Headley says:

    How have I lived until now without the word whigmaleeries in my vocabulary?

    1. Editor says:

      Afternoon Gwyn. You are not alone. Think it is new to most people, even the most folly-fixated.

  5. David Edgar says:

    Without wishing to seem impertinent, may I further augment the vocabulary of our Flaneuse? Such a place having a set of niches to receive coffins or urns containing the remains of a deceased may be called a COLUMBARIUM. Yes, it also the word for a dovecote.

    1. Editor says:

      Hello David. I think whigmaleeries was quite enough long words for one post!

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