The Mausolea and Monuments Trust is a charitable trust, founded in 1997, for the protection and preservation for the public of Mausolea and Sepulchral Monuments situated within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

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APPEAL

After its successful appeal to restore the Sacheverell Bateman Mausoleum at Morley, the MMT has now launched an appeal to restore the Heathcote Mausoleum at Hursley, Hants. Click here for details.

PUBLICATIONS

The Trust is compiling an illustrated gazetteer of UK mausolea, which will give full details of the design, history and current condition of these strange and fascinating buildings.

The MMT Newsletter is published three times a year. It includes a variety of articles on architectural heritage issues and the work of the trust, plus book reviews, news and other items of interest.

WHAT IS A MAUSOLEUM?

A mausoleum is a house of the dead. Larger than tombs, they are free-standing roofed structures erected to receive coffins. They take their name from one of the Wonders of the Ancient World. the vast tomb of King Mausolus at Halicarnassus in Asia Minor.

Most British mausolea date from the 18th and 19th centuries. Symbols of dynastic pride, pious respect and love, they stand in their hundreds in churchyards, cemeteries and parks. Many of Britain's finest architects were involved in their design. Neoclassical, Egyptian or Gothic, they form a varied, emotionally charged and irreplaceable part of the built heritage. And unlike tombs, they have interiors that need protecting.

MMT MAUSOLEA

The MMT is currently restoring and maintaining five mausolea:

• the part-collapsed Guise Mausoleum at Elmore, Gloucs. of c. 1736;
• the Neo-classical Nash Mausoleum of c. 1775 at Farningham, Kent;
• the neat brick Heathcote Mausoleum at Hursley, Hants of c. 1800:
• the massive, sunken Wynn-Ellis Mausoleum at Whitstable, Kent by Charles Barry Jnr of c. 1872;
• Bodley's ornate Gothic Sacheverell-Bateman Mausoleum at Morley, Derbyshire of c. 1895

Want to help? Click here to join The Mausolea and Monuments Trust.

• Click here for a Country Life article on the work of the MMT.
• Click here for suggestions for further reading on funerary architecture