Ramsden Mausoleum at Barrow Municipal Cemetery

Summary

Mausoleum,1886 for the Ramsden family. Gothic Revival style.

Reasons for Designation

Ramsden Mausoleum at Barrow Municipal Cemetery, 1886, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it is a well-designed burial monument in attractive red ashlar-sandstone, enhanced by Gothic stone detailing.

Historic interest:

* Sir James Ramsden was a British civil engineer, industrialist, and civic leader, who played a dominant role in the development of the new town of Barrow-in-Furness.

Group value:

* it has strong group value with the other listed buildings in Barrow Cemetery and contributes to the special interest of the wider cemetery landscape (registered Grade II) by Edward Kemp.

History

Barrow Municipal Cemetery was laid out by Edward Kemp of Liverpool between 1872 and 1874 on land given by the Duke of Devonshire. The cemetery occupies a roughly rectangular area of about 66 acres. It was designed with several sinuous pathways and complementary planting, with a gatehouse and lodges, north lodge, entrance, and Roman Catholic, Non-conformist and Church of England chapels designed by Edward Paley and Hubert Austin. The mausoleum for Sir James Ramsden was constructed in 1886, some 10 years before his death.

Sir James Ramsden (1822–1896) was a British civil engineer, industrialist, and civic leader, who played a dominant role in the development of the new town of Barrow-in-Furness, serving five successive terms as mayor on its first achieving municipal borough status, from 1867 onwards. He served an apprenticeship with the Liverpool firm of Bury, Curtis and Kennedy before becoming locomotive superintendent for the new Furness Railway Company in January 1846. He very soon rose to become company secretary and later served as managing director between 1866-1895. He lived at Abbotswood, a large new mansion on the outskirts of the town and took an active interest in virtually all local developments, including the early Barrow Shipbuilding Co; the new Port of Barrow, and the massively expanded iron and steel industries. He was also a notable benefactor, contributing towards many new social and civic facilities within the town. Ramsden was knighted in 1872, and a statue by Matthew Noble was unveiled that same year in what was to become Ramsden Square in Barrow. He remained a largely local figure, declining calls to stand for Parliament in 1885 when the borough was seeking its first Member of Parliament.

Details

Mausoleum,1886, for the Ramsden family. Gothic Revival style.

MATERIALS: red ashlar sandstone.

DESCRIPTION: situated within the earthen bank at the east side of the cemetery, where it originally faced the former twin chapels. It has a single doorway in a buttressed front wall. An oak door with decorative ironwork and scrolled grill described in the original List entry is not visible behind an outer boarded door. The door is set within a moulded arch with a hoodmould with ram's head keystone. The parapet has roll-moulded copings. The flanking buttresses have double-chamfered plinths, offsets and the arms of Ramsden and the Borough beneath roll-moulded gablets. An inscription on the parapet is now illegible but is recorded as 'Interred here is Sir James Ramsden, founding father of modern Barrow; knighted 1872, d.19.10.1896'.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

388440

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Websites
Sir James Ramsden, Stories Behind the Stones, accessed 26-01-2026 from https://furnessstoriesbehindthestones.co.uk/stories/ramsden-james/

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Print the official list entry