Description

SK49NW
5/85
29.4.68

WENTWORTH
CORTWORTH LANE(south side, off)Rockingham Mausoleum including obelisks and railed enclosure(formerly Listed as The Mausoleum Nether Hough)

GI
Cenotaph.1784-1793 by John Carr of York for William Wentworth Fitzwilliam in memory of his uncle,Charles Wentworth,second Marquis of Rockingham and Prime Minister at the time of his death in 1782.Ashlar sandstone;iron-railed enclosure.Tiered three-stage monument with four freestanding,diagonally-set,obelisks;all within circular enclosure.Doric lower stage;Corinthian upper stages.Five-step plinth.Rusticated lower stage has doorway on side facing Wentworth Woodhouse(q.v.).Double door in corniced architrave flanked by columns with full entablature and pediment.Other sides have boarded windows in matching surrounds and aedicule.Doric frieze and cornice with standard elements.Second stage:paired columns flank round-arched openings,sarcophagus within.Each opening with archivolt and console-shaped keystone.Entablature surmounted by large urns(one missing).Third stage:peristyle colonnade with domed cupola.Interior:robed statue of Charles Wentworth by Nollekens,pedestal inscribed with epitaphs in prose by Edmund Burke and in verse by Montagu(statue now set within iron cage).Four niches set round have paired bust bases inscribed with the names of Rockingham's closest friends:Edmund Burke,Charles James Fox,Admiral Keppel,Lord John Cavendish,John Lee,the Duke of Portland,Frederick Montagu and Sir George Saville(the busts,all by Nollekens,now removed to safety).Eight fluted columns support dome decorated with Adam-style plasterwork.Obelisks:pedestals have moulded plinths,die with fielded panels and cornices.Plain shafts with vase finials.Enclosure:railings have stout,pointed,bars set in round-topped plinth wall;plain top rail;matching gate opposite doorway.The monument was largely complete by 1789,the obelisks originally from the west front of Wentworth Woodhouse were removed to this site in 1793.At time of resurvey main structure strapped by ironwork,timber shoring to second stage arches and brickwork within iron-banded colonnade of third stage.The architectural splendour of the monument is at present marred,nevertheless it retains all its importance in the local landscape.R.B.Wragg,'The Rockingham Mausoleum(1784-1793)',Yorkshire Archaeological Journal,vol 52,1980,pp 157-166.

Listing NGR: SK4135497030

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• The Rockingham Mausoleum at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17529431

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)