De Grey Mausoleum, Flitton, Bedfordshire
Henry Grey, the sixth Earl of Kent, founded the mausoleum in around 1605, and was buried here in accordance with his will of 1614. The mausoleum owes its origins to the 'little Chappell or buryall place' added to the church of St. John the Baptist in Flitton by Henry Grey as a final resting place for his family and descendents. The church itself had been built by the De Grey family of nearby Wrest Park one hundred and fifty years earlier. For the next 250 years, the mausoleum was used as the burial place for members of the family. Their monuments clearly show changing attitudes towards death and bereavement from the 17th century to the Victorian period as well as changing styles of funerary architecture. The De Grey family members were not actually buried within their tombs, but instead in vaults beneath the stone floor of the mausoleum. This site is now in the care of English Heritage (2011).
