PERHAPS the most impressive building in Westbury Cemetery is the Phipps Mausoleum.
Standing near the eastern boundary, behind the Anglican chapel and with its spire pointing heavenwards, it was built to be the final resting place of members of a family who were landowners and residents in the town for many centuries.
It is said that the first Phipps were recorded in Westbury during the reign of Henry VIII. Branches of the family were involved in the woollen trade and Thomas Phipps bought Heywood House in 1700. Other Phipps occupied the Leighton estate and Leighton House was built by Thomas Henry Hele Phipps in 1800, by which time the family had moved away from mill ownership to become what was often called the landed gentry.
Over the next half century Leighton was home to several different Phipps families. Sometime in the 1850’s John Lewis Phipps bought the estate from his uncle and moved in with his family. John Lewis had lived at Leighton as a child and was the son of the Phipps who had built the house. He had become wealthy as a merchant in Liverpool so could well afford to live the life of a country squire.
He was one of the developers of the new Westbury Cemetery in the 1850s and as he grew older decided to have a mausoleum built for himself and his heirs. CF Hansom of Clifton was engaged to produce the design and James Burgess of Westbury was the builder. The building covers an area of 41 by 32 feet with the floor 11 feet below ground level. The whole cost about £1500 and within the mausoleum are 25 vaults.
It was the first mausoleum of three to be built in Westbury Cemetery. Started in about 1870, John Lewis Phipps died in 1871 while it was still under construction. It was completed three years later.
His only son, Richard Leckonby Phipps, inherited his estate. But having created a mausoleum for future generations, his father could not have anticipated what would happen next. The family left Westbury. Richard sold the estate and moved to Andover in 1887 – possibly because the hunting was better there. However, he died of typhoid two years later. He was brought back to Westbury and laid to rest in the mausoleum with his father. And it seems he was the last. Evidence of any other descendants interred there is difficult to find.
The mausoleum is now Grade II* listed, but over the years has fallen into disrepair. Today it is on the Heritage at Risk register.
Pictured: The mausoleum
