Milton

All Saints (Mausoleum)

Newark Archdeaconry

Newark and Southwell Deanery

Introduction

The church was built of stone in 1831-2, designed by Sir Robert Smirke and commissioned by the 4th Duke of Newcastle as a tomb for the Duchess, who died in 1822 (giving birth to twins). Ten members of the Newcastle family are buried here.

The building comprises a rectangular nave with a raised sanctuary area, portico and an octagonal lantern of two stages, with Greek Doric columns, containing two bells, dated 1833, by Thomas Mears of Whitechapel.

The nave of four windows has a west entry, the mausoleum an entrance to the east. From the portico the rotunda is reached, and to the north and south the tomb chambers. The circular crossing is divided off and the church ends with an Ionic reredos west of it.

The mausoleum became the parish church of Markham Clinton instead of West Markham All Saints, which stands half a mile away, so the latter was neglected. Then the roles were reversed in 1949 so the mausoleum started to decay and was vandalised. A recent restoration has revived interest in this individual building after the Redundant Churches Fund (now the Churches Conservation Trust) took over in 1972.

There is a plain wood tablet for the 4th Duke (d1851) and one for Joseph Denman (d1863) who donated the organ, but the main attraction is the marble monument by Sir Richard Westmacott for Georgina Elizabeth, Duchess and her twin babies.

‘It is a clever combination of church and mausoleum’, Pevsner wrote of the building.

An information board in the churchyard tells how, in foggy weather in the early hours of 3rd December 1943, a returning Lancaster bomber crashed very near to the church, killing six of the crew.

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