Deep in the woods of Monivea, County Galway can be found the ffrench Mausoleum. This was commissioned by Kathleen ffrench to commemorate her father Robert who died in 1896. Said to have been designed by Francis Persse, the architect brother of Lady Gregory, the mausoleum was completed in 1900 at the cost of some £10,000. Built of Wicklow granite, it takes the form of a miniature castle, with the ffrench arms and motto Malo Mori Quam Foedare (Death before Dishonour) above the door. The marble-lined interior, lit by stained glass from Mayer of Munich, contains a life-sized white Carrara sculpture of Robert Ffrench in his robes of the Order of Malta, carved by  Italian sculptor Francesco Jarace. Alas, the building was locked on a recent visit, so it was not possible to see this. Kathleen ffrench was the last of the family to live at nearby Monivea Castle and, following an exceptionally adventurous life, including some time imprisoned in Russia following the Bolshevik Revolution, on her death in China in 1938 she left the entire estate to the Irish State with a request that the very substantial family home be used as a residence for indigent artists. As so often in this county, her wishes were not honoured and other than a 16th century tower house, the whole place was subsequently demolished.  

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