The De Grey Mausoleum Adjoining Church of St John the Baptist

The De Grey Mausoleum, built in 1614 by Henry Grey, 5th Earl of Kent, owner of Wrest Park, and extended in 1705 to the east by Henry Earl of Kent, adjoins the Church of St John the Baptist in Flixton. The mausoleum is encased in colourwashed cement render, with brick coping to embattled parapets and shaped gables, and has slate roofs. It is cruciform in plan, and incorporates the north and east elevations of the church’s chancel.

The western block, which is the original structure, features two three-light windows under flat heads on the north elevation; the eastern one is blocked. The exterior is relatively plain, with recessed panels articulating the elevations. The interior is architecturally simple and contains a significant collection of funerary monuments.

These include a monument to Henry Grey, 5th Earl of Kent, dated 1614, featuring polychromed alabaster recumbent figures on a tomb chest, and a monument to Lady Elizabeth Talbot, dated 1653, made of polychrome marble with Ionic columns, an open segmental pediment, and garlands. Further monuments commemorate Henry Grey, 9th Earl of Kent (erected 1658), Lady Jane Hart (dated 1673), Henrietta de Grey and Henry de Grey (dated 1716 and 1717 respectively), Anthony de Grey, Earl of Harrold (1726, by Dowyer), Henry de Grey, Duke of Kent, and his two wives (1740, designed by Edward Shepherd, with a figure of the Duke thought to be by Rysbrack), Philip, Earl of Hardwicke (1790, by Banks), Henrietta Frances, Countess de Grey (1848, by Terence Farrell), and Thomas Philip de Grey, Lord Lucas (1859, by Matthew Noble). The De Grey Mausoleum is notable for containing one of the finest series of funerary monuments in the country.