Nestled in the churchyard of St. Andrews, in Hampshire’s Nether Wallop, stands the Douce Mausoleum, a 15-foot-tall stone pyramid that towers over visitors. Interred in the mausoleum is Dr. Francis Douce, an eccentric 18th-century physician. Born in 1675, the surgeon became fixated to the point of obsession with his own death. At 75, he hired architect John Blake of Winchester to design his tomb. Inspired by the ancient pyramids of Egypt, Douce and Blake’s pyramid became the first British example of a pyramid used for funerary purposes. The mausoleum was carefully aligned along…
