The Blickling Park mausoleum is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in the grounds of

Blickling Hall Blickling Hall is a Jacobean architecture, Jacobean stately home situated in 5,000 acres of parkland in a loop of the River Bure, near the village of Blickling north of Aylsham in Norfolk, England, Norfolk, England. The mansion was built on the ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, England. It was commissioned in 1793 by Lady Caroline Suffield, the daughter of

John Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire John Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire (17 August 17233 August 1793) was a British nobleman and politician. Biography The son of John Hobart, 1st Earl of Buckinghamshire by his first wife Judith Britiffe, he was educated at Westminster Scho ...

, as a tomb for her father and his two wives. The structure was designed by the Italian architect

Joseph Bonomi the Elder Joseph Bonomi the Elder (19 January 17399 March 1808) was an Italian architect and draughtsman who spent most of his career in England where he became a successful designer of country houses. Biography He was born Giuseppe Bonomi in Rome on 19 ...

and built by Henry Wood. It is in the form of a pyramid, modelled on that of Cestius in Rome, as an early example of

Egyptian Revival architecture Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson's defeat o ...

. The structure is now in the ownership of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

Design and construction

Mausoleum in Blickling Park - detail - geograph

The mausoleum was commissioned by Lady Caroline (wife of

William Harbord, 2nd Baron Suffield Colonel William Assheton Harbord, 2nd Baron Suffield (21 August 1766 – 1 August 1821), was a Member of Parliament for Ludgershall (1790–1796) and Plympton Erle (7 February 1807 – 4 February 1810). He was colonel of a fencible cavalry regim ...

), the eldest daughter of

, in memory of her father who died in 1793. Caroline, who inherited her father's estate

, commissioned the Italian architect

to design the structure. Bonomi designed a mausoleum based on the ancient

Pyramid of Cestius The pyramid of Cestius (in Italian language, Italian, ''Piramide di Caio Cestio'' or ''Piramide Cestia'') is a Roman Era pyramid in Rome, Italy, near the Porta San Paolo and the Protestant Cemetery, Rome, Protestant Cemetery. It was built as a t ...

in Rome, in an early example of

. Bonomi exhibited his design drawings at the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

, they are now stored in Blickling Hall. The structure was erected between 1794 and 1796. The structure is a square-based pyramid constructed from more than 190,000

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...

blocks, that were finished on site by the builder, Henry Wood. When constructed the stone was white but has since weathered to varying shades of grey. The pyramid measures square in plan and is sited on an avenue of

yew Yew is a common name given to various species of trees. It is most prominently given to any of various coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Taxus'': * European yew or common yew (''Taxus baccata'') * Pacific yew or western yew (''Taxus br ...

s, on the edge of an

ancient woodland In the United Kingdom, an ancient woodland is a woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 16 ...

around from the hall. The east face of the pyramid contains a central doorway surrounded with an

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...

and surmounted with an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

. The entablature is engraved with the Hobart family motto ''auctor pretiosa facit'' (Latin: "the giver makes the gift precious"). Atop the entablature is a carved depiction of the Hobart arms, crowned and supported by a hound and a stag. The panelled door has two leaves, each of which weighs . The north and south faces have a central, square window opening with moulded stone architrave. The west face contains a memorial panel, with architrave. The panel notes that the structure was erected in memory of Hobart by his widow and Harbord. The panel is surmounted by a carved stone bull. The bull is a symbol associated with the Hobart family and stems from a desire to associate themselves with

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...

, whose childhood home was Blickling and whose family symbol was a bull. The interior of the mausoleum is a single chamber used as a chapel. It has a domed vaulted roof with a dentilled

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

. The chamber has eight recesses, one is used for the door and two for the windows, the recesses in between these are used for wall-mounted memorials and the final three recesses (which face the entrance) contain tombs for Hobart; his first wife Mary Anne and his second wife Caroline. The tombs are in the form of marble

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a cadaver, corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from ...

raised on plinths. The floor is paved in marble.

Later history

In 1806 Edmund Bartell described the mausoleum in his ''Guide to Cromer'': "Its situation is very happily chosen in the midst of a large and venerable wood, whose solitude appears only to be broken by the prying curiosity of the stranger, or the footsteps of the nimble deer". Through Caroline's marriage to Suffield the Blickling estate came into the possession of the

Kerr family Kerr may refer to: People *Kerr (surname) *Kerr (given name) Places ;United States *Kerr Township, Champaign County, Illinois *Kerr, Montana, A US census-designated place *Kerr, Ohio, an unincorporated community *Kerr County, Texas Other uses ...

. It was bequeathed to the

Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian Philip Henry Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian, (18 April 1882 – 12 December 1940), known as Philip Kerr until 1930, was a British politician, diplomat and newspaper editor. He was private secretary to Prime Minister David Lloyd George between 19 ...

in 1940. At some stage iron railings were added around the perimeter of the structure. The mausoleum became a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

on 19 January 1952 and now holds a Grade II* listing. The interior was described as being in a very poor condition in 1978 and in 2002 the structure was noted to be subject to occasional vandalism. The National Trust, which describes the mausoleum as "one of Blickling’s most iconic landmarks", is fundraising for repairs to the structure, to include replacement for the worn door hinges.

Gallery

File:Mausoleum in Blickling Park - detail 2 - geograph.org.uk - 554098.jpg, Detail of memorial plaque File:Mausoleum in Blickling Park - the other side - geograph.org.uk - 554095.jpg, Rear elevation File:Blickling mausoleum and great packington church plans.png, Bonomi's plans for

St James' Church, Great Packington St James' Church is an 18th-century chapel situated in the grounds of Packington Hall, near Meriden, Warwickshire. It is a Grade I listed building. The church was built in 1789 to a design by architect Joseph Bonomi for the Earl of Aylesford ...

(left) and the mausoleum (right)

References

{{Reflist Mausoleums in England Monuments and memorials in Norfolk Grade II* listed monuments and memorials Grade II* listed buildings in Norfolk Buildings and structures completed in 1796 Pyramids in Europe Blickling