cemetery, religious
Isabel Arundell Burton, 1890
St Mary Magdalen's RC Church, 61 North Worple Way, Mortlake, SW14 8PR
Grade II* listed mausoleum in the form of an Arab tent with ripples in the stone imitating canvas. Interior is embellished with oriental lamps, devotional paintings and camel bells.
Richmond
Mortlake
419, 209, 33, 337, 493, 485
Frequent buses from Richmond station
There is a small ladder to see into the interior of the mausoleum
Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) was a renowned Victorian explorer and prolific author. He and his wife Isabel (neé Arundell) are buried in a large stone mausoleum built to look like the tent they used when travelling in in Syria.
Burton was a remarkable traveller and explorer, linguist, poet, soldier, diplomat, author and translator of major works in Arabic and other languages including: The Kama Sutra, 1001 Arabian Nights and The Perfumed Garden. After an early career serving in the Army in India (1842-1853) and later fighting in the Crimean War (1855-1856), he travelled to Mecca as well as to Africa and the Americas under the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society. Between 1856-1860, he journeyed to the great lakes of central Africa in search of the source of the river Nile. Co-founder of the Anthropological Society of London in 1863 and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, he was appointed a KCMG (Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George) in 1886.
The tent is made of Forest of Dean sandstone, with surfaces finished to emulate the irregularities of the canvas of a tent, originally lime-washed to achieve an even closer match. The stone door at the front of the tent was originally hinged but is now sealed shut.
Within the tent the floor is paved in Carrara marble (Tuscany, Italy) with black marble inserts and the underside of the roof is painted to represent the heavens. At one end there is a marble altar and tabernacle, along with a number of the explorer’s possessions including dried flowers, lamps and camel bells.
The mausoleum, built in 1890, is a Grade II* listed building and it is of great importance both for its association with Burton and for its fusion of Christian and Muslim symbols, funerary art and artefacts.
Habitats & Heritage are working on plans to conserve the building and open it up, as Isabel Burton originally intended.
For more information please visit our web site;
https://habitatsandheritage.org.uk/get-involved/our-projects/burton-exploring-without-boundaries/