A remarkable survival hidden behind a public housing block on Niddrie House Drive, 3¾ miles (6 km) east southeast of the centre of Edinburgh, the Wauchope Mausoleum was built in 1735 as the last resting place for the family who were the lairds of Niddrie Marischal from the late 14th century. Now a B-listed Scheduled Ancient Monument, the mausoleum was built by Andrew Wauchope over the tomb of his ancestor William Wauchope, who died in 1587. The building features a Classical facade and includes stonework that was most-likely part of an earlier chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, which was built in 1502 but destroyed in 1688. Niddrie Marischal House was once attached to the east of the building. This was built in the 1630s and sold to Edinburgh Corporation on the death of the last of the family in 1943, but gutted by fire in 1959 and demolished a few years later. The mausoleum once lay in the centre of a courtyard surrounded by public housing blocks (built 1969-70). With little thought for its significance, the mausoleum was used to house electrical equipment in the 1980s. When the housing blocks were replaced in 1991, the situation of the grave-house was further diminished. A conservation plan was put in place by the City of Edinburgh Council in 2010.
