The Rockingham Mausoleum was commissioned in 1783 by William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam when he inherited the estates of his uncle Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham who died without a direct male heir. The architect chosen for the Rockingham Mausoleum was John Carr of York, who had already built the stable block at Wentworth Woodhouse for Lord Rockingham himself. Carr was to do a great deal of work for Lord Fitzwilliam, notably alterations to the side pavilions and to the west elevation of Wentworth Woodhouse. He submitted a number of options for the monument, some of which were based on the concept of an obelisk. The three-storey design ultimately selected for the Rockingham Mausoleum may have been inspired by the Mausoleum of the Julii at St Remy de Provence, Glanum near Arles, France. As executed, it is a combination of a cenotaph and a Temple of Friendship, housing within it a statue by Joseph Nollekens of Rockingham himself in Garter robes with upraised hand. Building started in 1785 and took four years to complete. accounts record regular small payments to local artisans and more infrequent but larger disbursements to better-known craftsmen such as Nollekens. The building was enclosed by a fence of 743 iron railings commissioned from the Rotherham iron-founders Samuel Walker and Company. Finally, in 1792 four obelisks, which had previously stood on the West side of the Woodhouse, were relocated to the Monument and placed inside the enclosure. The monument is the property of the Fitzwilliam Wentworth Amenity Trust, which completed its restoration in the 1980s with the aid of compensation from British Coal and a grant from English Heritage. It only became possible to undertake this work when local coal mining operations had come to an end, making it safe to remove iron clamps which had kept the building stable while mining was in progress. The monument was opened to the public for the first time in 1991. The Fitzwilliam Wentworth Amenity Trust is a charitable trust formed in 1979 with an endowment from the Thomas Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 10th Earl Fitzwilliam. The principal aim of the Trust is to promote the permanent conservation of lands and building of beauty or historic interest and generally to protect, preserve and improve the rural and visual character and amenities of the Parish of Wentworth and the adjacent areas. The Trust continues to invest in the conservation and restoration of the landscape and buildings in and around Wentworth.
