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M  a  u  s  o  l  e  u  m

     Photo Submitted by, and Copyright of :- J P Zajac.

A folly that is freely open for inspection, all 'spick and span' and easily accessible for people has, to my mind, far less appeal than something remote, private, and slightly derelict. Follies like the latter that have acquired nature's 'patina' of ivy and overgrown undergrowth are however rare nowadays.
The trouble with these latter examples is that everyone else finds them eventually as well, and inevitably that also includes the vandals.

In Cobham wood near Gravesend there is a marvellous Neo-Classical style mausoleum, it is deep in woodland [as any decent mausoleum should be of course] about half a mile or so from a road and it has occupied this [once] secluded location since 1786.

The Structure:
The mausoleum is created from the top quality building material of the time, Portland Stone, and is sturdy enough to withstand all that the vandals can throw at it [ pun intended ] up to a point. As time progresses and the deterioration continues however, it becomes obvious that something has to be done for it.
The Grade 1 listed structure is approximately 50 foot square, the exterior having columns around the four sides supporting the cornice, on which sits the roof in the form of a pyramid. At each corner is a pediment with a stone chest on the top.
The mausoleum consisted of the upper chapel with a crypt underneath.
The chapel interior originally had a lavish appearance from the use of the finest Italian marble. Whilst the crypt area under the chapel had space for 32 internments. It was built on the instruction's laid out in the will of John Bligh, the 3rd Earl of Darnley, who decided that he and successive members of his family should be buried in style. The cost, it is said, was in the order of £9000, a considerable fortune over 200 years ago.
Up until that time members of the Darnley family had been buried in Westminster Abbey, a privilege [ in some peoples eyes at any rate ] allowed because of the royal blood - relatively diluted by that time - that the family had.

The Architect:
James Wyatt, a prestigious name in the architectural field of the time was responsible for the design, this one being considerably more successful than one of his other works, Fonthill Abbey. 
In fairness though Fonthill fell down for reasons that were really not Wyatt's fault, but more the haste of his client William Beckford.

(Link To Beckford's Tower, Bath)  

Oddly after all the expense and work involved in the construction - huge amounts of stone were transported to the top of the hill on which it is situated - it lay empty, the Earl staying buried at nearby Cobham church.
It is said the mausoleum was never consecrated because of a dispute the Earl had when alive, with the Bishop of Rochester, in whose diocese it lay.

As the family fortune declined it fell into disrepair and lay forgotten in what was then the private woodland of the family estate, Cobham House.
Nowadays the woodland is open to everyone by way of several paths that run past it, so what was once a secluded and forgotten secret, is now the place to go for those who like to buy air-fix glue and paint aerosols but have never constructed or painted a model airplane in all their lives.
It may look sad from the outside, but the interior is in an even worse state of affairs. In 1980 on November the fifth, surely not a coincidence, a fire was constructed inside the upper chapel area from car tyres doused with petrol. The resulting explosion when this ignited brought the entire vaulted roof down inside, which in turn caused the chapel floor to fall into the crypt below. Why someone would try to burn down a stone structure is somewhat puzzling.

The Future:
The owners [ over 200 years later still the Darnley family ] sold the mausoleum to a property developer in 1990, who planned to convert it into living accommodation, but he then did what property developers have a tendency to do, - and went bankrupt. At present it is owned by Gravesend Council, who paid £150,000 for it from the official receivers. This was considerably less than the initial cost of building it at the outset no doubt, even allowing for inflation.
Many plans have been proposed for restoration, but as yet nothing has happened, except for it to have become a magnet for vandals, and a handy place to dump an old car.



These are two high Resolution images.

Top Half   

Bottom Half   

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