Mausoleum for Marquis of Stafford, Trentham

Opposite the main gates of Trentham Gardens is the only grade I listed building in Stoke-on-Trent. It features a solid oak door at the front, a window at the rear and an upper storey with four louvered windows, one on each flank. The gloomy interior, with its Greek Cross plan, has tunnel-vaulted arms. The ashlar walls slope inwards on all sides.

This mausoleum was built in 1807-8 to the design of Charles Heathcote Tatham of Trentham. In 1907 the bodies of the half-dozen members of the Levison-Gower family laid to rest in the catacombs were removed and buried in special lead coffins elsewhere within the cemetery compound; descriptive tablets were placed above each grave.

Mausoleum, Stone Road, Trentham 

---

Mausoleum. Circa 1808, by Charles Heathcote Tatham.

Ashlar. Neo-Egyptian style, with heavy battered walls to single storeyed main structure and squat central tower. Massive corner piers with exaggerated batter, and very heavy entablature continuing across the facades. mall entrance doorway with steeply inclined jambs and heavy lintel.

Ornate wrought-iron entrance gates. Louvred openings to tower with keyblocks over, and low pyramidal roof surmounted by a lead cross. Wide splayed window in rear elevation.

Stone vaulted ceiling inside, and Stafford Arms over doorway with the date, MDCCCVIII.

Erected for the Marquis of Stafford, later Duke of Sutherland.

---

Article from the Sentinel Newspaper, May 2000:

Millicent, the duchess of Sutherland

Restoration of Stoke-on-Trent's only Grade I listed building looks ready to begin this summer. And when repairs on Trentham Mausoleum are complete its upkeep will be partly financed by converting part of it into a columbarium where people's ashes can be stored in special caskets marked by a plaque. The mausoluem on Stone Road was built in 1808 as the last resting place for members of wealthy county landowners, the Sutherland family, who lived at Trentham Hall until Millicent, the duchess of Sutherland and her husband gave their home to the city of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910. Despite its aristocratic occupants, the building was allowed to deteriorate and last year featured on English Heritage's list of most neglected at-risk historical monuments. The council hopes to win grants from English Heritage, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Staffordshire Environmental Fund to cover the £250,000 cost of the renovation, which includes fixing the leaking roof, cleaning the tombstones and restoring a stained glass window and oak entrance doors. David Shaw, the council's assistant director of leisure and cultural services, said: ‘‘The idea is that at the moment Trentham Cemetery has no room for new burials so people turn to Newcastle or Stone. This would give local people something in the neighbourhood they can use and visit easily.'' As well as those paying their respects, the mausoleum would be open for the first time to the public, with guides able to point out historical features such as the bell installed inside because of the Victorians' macabre fear of being buried alive.

more on the Mausoleum

more on Trentham Hall and Gardens

next: Pair of Cottages on Stone Road, Trentham
previous: Mile Post on Longton Road, Trentham