Welcome to another 'Historic' Day out with Helen and Cameron. I hope you enjoy our visit to this unusual building

The Dukes of Hamilton were, and still are, the ‘numero uno’ of the noble Scots families as a result of the marriage of the first Duke of Hamilton to the sister of James II. Indeed, as Regent at the time of Mary Queen of Scots, Hamilton was the heir presumptive and accordingly, at that time, first in line to the throne.

When Helen and I were on our ‘Historic Day Out’ to Chatelherault, reported in the SCM list and featuring on my web page, we found that there were only two other relics of the famous Duke of Hamilton’s family left in the town. Portland, the town house where the museum is situated and the mausoleum.

On that visit we noticed that there was to be an evening tour of the mausoleum and, as it had been many years since we had been there, we decided to sign up for it. I know that a trip to a mausoleum doesn’t sound like a bundle of laughs for an evening out but it is a rather spectacular building and, as you know, we enjoy such adventures.

Arriving at the museum, the appointed meeting place, we had time for a further look around and learn more about Hamilton Palace, demolished in the 1920s before our two guides for the evening introduced by themselves as Tom and Tom. Contrary to popular belief everyone in Scotland is not called ‘Jimmy’. :-)

The other seven making up our party for the tour were a group of women also, like ourselves, in their ‘prime’ as Miss Jean Brodie would say. They regularly arrange and share evenings out and they had decided that this would be something different.

A short walk to the Mausoleum brought us to the view that I have included on my ‘Historic Day Out’ web page. (Address below). An impressive building it is some 120 feet high, (as high as Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square London) and 110 feet in diameter.

Designed by the famous Victorian Architect David Bryce and situated to the north of Hamilton Palace (in its day), the Mausoleum, built during the 1840s was the creation of Alexander, the 10th Duke of Hamilton. Styled ‘El Magnifico’. The Duke put a great deal of thought into the planning of what was to be the resting place for himself and his family in perpetuity. The cost of the whole venture was 130,000 pounds. Equivalent to many millions of pounds at today’s values.

Built from huge blocks of local sandstone, that neatly dovetail into each other, the precision of the stonework is a tribute to the skill of the craftsmen who built it. Indeed in the whole building only one ton of lime was used. Essentially the structure is in three parts. 1. The impressive dome. 2. The dado level which is highly pilastered and panelled. 3. The vaulted basement in which the crypt is placed.

The Crypt

The entrance to the crypt is through the middle of the three arches facing east as was the custom. The Duke, a specialist buyer of artefacts for the British Museum was an expert in Egyptian culture and much of the design of his Mausoleum incorporates Egyptian ideas or themes. The three entrances to a tomb, two being false, being one of them.

Above each arch are beautifully carved heads. These were carved by the famous Scottish Sculptor Alexander Handyside Ritchie (The Sculptor of ‘The Wee Wallace’ in King St. Stirling.) and they represent Life, Death and Immortality.

1. Life wears a garland of fruit and flowers and the face is lined with the cares and worries of life. The clock hands point to noon. The mid point of existence.

Death is crowned with poppy heads, representing everlasting sleep, and the finger is over the lips for silence. The eyes are closed in the ‘sleep that knows no waking’

Immortality presents as a great contrast to the other two. The face is beautiful and the head is crowned with lilies and circles with a serpent with its tail in its mouth. The whole representing eternity. Above the centre of the forehead is a butterfly. The Greek symbol for immortality.

One of the strange aspects of these carvings pointed out by Tom and Tom was the fact that, while all three were carved out of the same stone Life and Death had worn away quite amazingly while Immortality was still fresh and bold..

Above the three arches featuring the heads sit two massive lions.( Also by Handyside Ritchie) Each is carved out of a single block of sandstone and weighs so much that it took 24 very large Clydesdale horses to haul them into position. The one on the left is wide awake while the one on the right is sleeping. The story goes that one, at least must stay awake otherwise the British Empire would fall. I pointed out that something must have gone wrong as there is not a lot of the Empire still remaining. Another of our party suggested that while obviously still awake the lion looked as if it had developed glaucoma ----- could this have had anything to do with it !! J It wasn’t all serious history. Entering the gates of the centre arch brought us to the entrance to the crypt but before going in we had a look at the heating system, installed in the 1840s, to keep the place aired. Quite amazing given the date.

A series of stone steps took us into the crypt itself. Nowadays lit by electric light it was, in the Dukes time lit by 25 candles all round walls and the central pillar. The original candle brackets are still in situ.

A central pillar holds up the vaulted arches and we were immediately struck by how new and fresh the stonework looked. Each chisel mark looked as if it had just been struck. This is accounted for by the fact that it is rarely exposed to light, atmosphere or moisture

The room is square with four large spaces at each corner, presumably for the more prestigious family members, and the three sides facing the door providing 28 single niches to take the bodies of the other family members. Alexander had not even planned to be with them-----he had the whole of the upstairs quarters to himself. More about that later.

Tom, or was it Tom, reckoned that in the ‘good old days’ of the Palace some servant lassie would be detailed to come down into the crypt on a regular basis with a candle and wax or oil the coffins to preserve them.

Early in 1852 Alexander had his relatives brought from the old churchyard of the 15th century church and had them re-interred in the crypt. Their new resting place was only to last until 1921 when, because of fears the Mausoleum might collapse because of mine workings, all Hamilton bodies (Except the 11th and 12th Dukes who were transferred to Arran) were interred in the Bent Cemetery in Hamilton

The Chapel

Ascending one of the solid and impressive staircases we moved round the building to the west entrance, the Chapel entrance. This doorway once was graced by the most magnificent doors of solid cast bronze. Each door weighing one and a half tons, was designed by Sir John Steel and cast in the Edinburgh works of James Milne. Magnificent in their casting they are facsimiles of the gates of Ghiberti to be found in the Baptistry of Florence. They were removed to the inside of the building, earlier this century, as their extreme weight was causing the building to sink

It was the intention of the 10th Duke that the chapel would be used for worship but the closing of the present large oak doors, while not apparently as dramatic as the closing of the solid bronze doors, immediately shows the unsuitability of the place as a place of worship. The remarkable echo makes it sound as if the place is about to fall down round our ears. With a reverberation period of about 15 seconds this building has the longest echo in any building in this country.

One of the ladies of our party, egged on by her friends who said that she had a wonderful singing voice, was persuaded to go to the centre of the chapel and sing. She gave us the most beautiful rendering of ‘The Flower of Scotland’. As the echoes came back at us in repeated waves it was as if we were listening to a full choir. Truly it was worth being there just for that single, memorable experience. She was give a huge round of applause. Well it was an ordinary round of applause but, by the time it had reached the dome and returned,---well you can imagine for yourself.

One story, which may or may not be true, says that one of the Hamiltons sold the Mausoleum to an American who was going to number each piece, dismantle it and ship it over to the States before rebuilding. He reneged on the deal because no guarantee could be given that the echo, which he really wanted, would travel with the chapel.

Standing inside the doors and craning our necks our eyes were immediately drawn up the narrow and high stone structure to the only daylight that enters the building through the glass dome. Solemn silent and imposing are the words that spring to mind.

The chapel is full of surprises other than the echo. There are four ‘whispering alcoves’. In each you can whisper quietly into one corner and your partner can hear you with normal clarity in the other over a distance of about twelve feet.

The floor too is a revelation. A huge mosaic of dozens of different types and shapes of marble laid in intricate and complex design covers the whole area and, although perfectly flat, it gives a distinct illusion of being dome shaped in imitation of the main dome situated some 100 feet above. It is in fact exactly the same size as the glass dome in the ceiling of the building. Around the edge the marble has been meticulously laid to give the illusion of a stairway. Jacobs Ladder—the stairway to heaven---who knows what symbolism was once intended.

Opposite the door of the chapel is an other imposing feature of the building. The most enormous plinth built of solid black marble that I have ever seen. On this plinth once sat an Egyptian sarcophagus on the lid of which was the representation of an Egyptian princess.

Alexander the 10th Duke, who you may remember was a buyer for the British Museum, presumably, bought this Sarcophagus on one of his expeditions to Egypt. Not for a trophy or for show he earmarked it for himself. What happened to the Princess is not formally recorded as indeed is much of the detail of the following story :--

Version one is simply that the embalmed body of the Duke, in the Sarcophagus, stood on the black marble plinth in the chapel.

Version two tells that the builders had to chisel out some of the interior of the Sarcophagus as the Princess had been five foot six and Alexander was six foot two.

Version three relates that, after the coffin had been carried into the chapel by six mutes carrying gold batons, ( Another of the Duke’s little ideas) all mourners were asked to leave. The Dukes legs were then ‘re-arranged’ with a sledge hammer because the basalt of the Sarcophagus was too hard to chip away to make room for him.

So ended ‘El Magnifico’. In reality Life and Death has a habit of cutting us down to size—don’t you think. :-)

Which version is true? I do not know. Take your pick. Versions one and two are the official ones. Version three is well known orally in the Hamilton area but does not appear in any official writings. It does, however, make a good story.

With that our evening came to an end and giving our thanks to the two Toms and wishing the party of ladies well we drove the thirty miles to home and to the delights of the nightly dog walking. But that is another story.