Buckinghamshire Mausoleum (Hobart)

One of the most severe yet dramatic of all such monuments, Bonomi’s mausoleum takes the form of a stone pyramid based on the tomb of Caius Cestius in Rome, its height and breadth being of equal length. Inside there is a central domed space with eight radiating barrel-vaulted alcoves. The three alcoves facing the entrance contain the marble sarcophagi of the Earl and his two wives. The burial chambers are thought to be concealed within the walls. The floor is paved with marble slabs.

Architect(s) Joseph Bonomi

Listing Grade II* (England and Wales)

Year Created 1794

History Built following the death of John Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire (1728-93) by his second daughter, Lady Caroline Harbord (later Lady Suffield) to whom he had left the estate at Blickling. The mausoleum contains the tombs of the Earl, his first wife Mary Anne (d.1769) and his second wife Caroline (d.1817). Bonomi’s designs for the mausoleum were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1794 and are now at Blickling Hall. The house, grounds and mausoleum are owned by the National Trust.

Condition Good, although subject to periodic vandalism (2002).

Sources BoE: Norfolk 1, (1997), 406-7; H Colvin, Architecture and the After-Life (1991), 339, fig.318; G Headley and W Meulenkamp, Follies (1990) 358, fig. 164; Roger Bowdler, 'The Mausoleum at Blickling: Bonomi's pyramid for the Earl of Buckinghamshire', Apollo, 147, 434 (New Series), April 1998, 11-14; John Maddison, 'Architectural drawings at Blickling Hall', Architectural History, 34 (1991), 80-1.

Links National Trust website

www.mmtrust.org.uk | Copyright © 2021 The Mausloea & Monuments Trust. All rights reserved. Page 1 of 3 www.mmtrust.org.uk | Copyright © 2021 The Mausloea & Monuments Trust. All rights reserved. Page 2 of 3 Location Blickling Hall (in the park), Blickling, Norfolk, NR11 6NF