Belhaven And Stenton Mausoleum, St Michael's Graveyard, Cambusnethan

The Belhaven and Stenton Mausoleum, located within St Michael’s Graveyard in Cambusnethan, was likely designed by David Rhind of Edinburgh and built in 1869. This tall, rectangular-plan mausoleum, oriented east-west, is constructed in a Roman style and serves as a sarcophagus. It features a segmental pediment topping a tiled roof with a fish-scale pattern and a barrel vault, all richly decorated with carved arms. The exterior is finished in polished yellow sandstone ashlar.

The mausoleum rises in three stages, beginning with a tall pedestal and a roll-moulded plinth. A plain, rectangular middle stage supports a full Corinthian order entablature, with a frieze adorned with husk garlands. The north elevation, the principal facade, features a rectangular inscribed panel above this entablature. It commemorates Robert Mortimer, Lord Belhaven and Stenton, enumerating his public offices, birth year (1793), and death year (1868). Lion masks are positioned on the topmost section of the pediment, while acroterion masks adorn the corners.

The south elevation mirrors the north, with a panel dedicated to Lady Belhaven, who was buried in 1873. The eastern side elevation has an architraved ventilator panel to the middle stage, the tympanum of which is obscured by trees. The western side elevation includes a walled-in, pedimented doorway at its centre and an architraved inscribed panel above, quoting a biblical passage. Lion and Unicorn figures support a coat-of-arms within the tympanum of this doorway.

The mausoleum’s design is remarkably similar to the Miller Mausoleum at Craigentinny Crescent, Edinburgh, built by the same architect in 1848. The mausoleum occupies the site of the earlier Mediaeval Cambusnethan Parish church and graveyard.