The World of Interiors

JOURNEY’S

END

Sir Richard Burton – writer linguist adventurer – spent

wife built a trompe-l’oeil tent as a final resting place

for her knight errant in suburban London. But while

Mortlake is far from Mecca or Medina the tomb with

its gilt stars and marble panels is a fitting shrine to a

restless wanderer. Text and photography: Tim Beddow

Left: the exotic mausoleum is quite at odds with its background

of Victorian terraced houses. Above: during the last restoration

in 2010 two large marble inscriptions were returned to their true

places on the door. They had been vandalised and moved in