Hamilton Mausoleum

Hamilton Mausoleum was the resting place of the family of the Dukes of Hamilton. Built in the grounds of the now-demolished Hamilton Palace, its high stone used to hold the record for the longest echo within any man-made structure in the world, taking 15 seconds for the sound of a slammed door to fade. In 2014 the record was broken at the Inchindown oil storage tanks in the Scottish Highlands.

In line with his grandiose enlargement of Hamilton Palace, Alexander, 10th Duke of Hamilton, replaced his family burial vault which stood close to the east quarter of the palace in the aisle of the old and dilapidated collegiate church. Now the solitary remaining testament to the colossal scale and grandeur of the buildings which once stood in Hamilton Low Parks, Hamilton Palace Mausoleum is a Roman-style domed structure of panelled masonry. Standing to an overall height of about 37 m, it occupies a site some 200 m north of the site of Hamilton Palace. Construction was begun in 1842 by architect David Hamilton and completed by architects David Bryce and sculptor Alexander Handyside Ritchie in 1858, five years after the death of the 10th Duke.

The Duke was interred in an Egyptian sarcophagus of the Ptolemaic period, on a black marble slab in the main chapel, while 17 of his ancestors were interred in the crypt below. The coffins of the 10th Duke and his ancestors were later removed after subsidence and flooding from the River Clyde affected the mausoleum, and were re-buried in Hamilton's Bent Cemetery in 1921.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

Mote Hill 2, Hamilton, United Kingdom

Details

Founded: 1842
Category: Cemeteries, mausoleums and burial places in United Kingdom