The ‘Bliss’ Mausoleum is located in Brandon Park. The park was established in 1820. The Mausoleum was built in 1845 by Edward Bliss, a gun flint manufacturer. He died on 2nd April 1845 & his wife Sarah died in 1859. Both of them were interred here. The Estate was left to Henry Aldridge who later changed his name to Bliss.
Henry Bliss later inherited the title and estates of a cousin and became Baron Alrego of Portugal. In 1869 he inherited another title, Baron Boretto of Spain. It is thought he added the monogram onto the wrought iron gate of the mausoleum. He died in 1890 and was also buried in the mausoleum.
He was succeeded by his son known as Henry d’Alegro. He died in 1903. The estate changed hands and the bodies were removed to the churchyard in Brandon. Henry d’Alegro had a collection of human skulls believed to have come from the Anglo-Saxon settlement at the Staunch Meadow in Brandon. (Mausolea and Monuments Trust)
Building Construction
The Mausoleum is built as a chapel in the gothic style of yellow brick with knapped flint panels. It has a slate roof & a stone cross finial, flanked by obelisks. It has two flat-roofed side extensions which housed the coffins. The knapped flints were probably gun flint cores and are course laid with flushwork panels in the buttresses. The flintwork has been described as a fine example of the skills of the Brandon flintknappers.
The following photographs were taken as part of a survey carried out by the Breckland Society and published in 2016 for the ‘Flint in the Brecks‘ project.
We are indebted to Carol Palfreyman & Mike Willett for the Mausoleum Survey and Photography