Coke Mausoleum, Tittleshall

An undistinguished building attached to the north side of the chancel, constructed in brick with thin drip-moulds over what were once round-headed windows. Three of these, in the east, west and east end of the north wall, have been filled with honeycomb brickwork, while the one at the west end of the north wall has been partially bricked up and a two light window inserted in the lower part of the opening. Presumably this was done when the eastern section of the mausoleum was sealed off in 1897. The massive buttresses and small arched entrance in the north wall are also later additions, probably made sometime in the 19th century.

Architect(s) Not known

Listing Grade I (England and Wales)

Year Created 1710

History Godwick Hall, to the east of Tittleshall, was the principal seat of the Coke family until Thomas Coke built Holkham Hall in the mid 18th century (1734-1753). The Coke mausoleum at Tittleshall was built prior to that change. It is thought to have been built in the early 18th century and contains the coffins of ten adults and several children. In 1897 the eastern half, which housed the coffins, was sealed off and the rest of the building was converted to a vestry and organ chamber.

Of far greater interest than the mausoleum, however, is the fine series of Coke monuments in the church. This includes an alabaster wall monument to Bridget Coke (d.1598); a recumbent effigy of the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Edward Coke (d.1634) by Nicholas Stone; a classical canopied monument to Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester, and his wife Margaret, designed by Charles Atkinson with busts by Roubiliac, erected 1760; and an exceptionally fine wall memorial to Mrs James Coke (d.1805) by Joseph Nollekens.

Condition Good. The lead roof has been renewed recently (2002).

Sources BoE: Norfolk 2, (1999), 734; Shell Guide: Norfolk (1982), 165; Church handbook (revised 1996).