Secret Stroud mausoleum is one of Gloucestershire's only buildings listed by Historic England in 2022

A little-known mausoleum in a Rodborough churchyard is one of only a handful of buildings in Gloucestershire to have been added to Historic England's National Heritage List this year.

By Chloe Gorman  |  Published
The Mausoleum of Sir Alfred Apperly in Rodborough is one of the only buildings in the county to be listed by Historic England in 2022.

A mausoleum, built in the Arts and Crafts style, is one of the only buildings in Gloucestershire to be added to the National Heritage List for England in 2022, with Historic England giving Grade II listed status to the Mausoleum of Sir Alfred Apperly in Rodborough, near Stroud - and highlighting it as one of the year's most interesting additions. 

According to Historic England, Apperly was a prominent local landowner who became wealthy through the wool trade, with the miniature mausoleum being built to house his remains in around 1913. It also bears the names of several of his family members, including a grandson who died at the Battle of the Somme. 

The unusual monument features what it describes as 'an exquisite design' in the Arts and Crafts style, created by architect Percy Morley Horder and designer John Houghton Maurice Bonnor.

Horder also designed Stroud's famous The Greyhound Inn, which is now home to South American restaurant Galgos Latino, as well as buildings in Cambridge, London and Nottingham; while Bonnor is perhaps more well-known for his jewellery and stained glass.

One of Bonnor's designs - a brooch named Una and the Lion - is on display at London's V&A museum. It acquired the brooch from opera singer Scheherazade Pesante, who was wearing it on stage when she performed the final scene of Puccini's Tosca in 2005.

Heritage enthusiasts can find the Mausoluem of Sir Alfred Apperly in the grounds of St Mary Magdalene Church in Rodborough. 

The other Gloucestershire sites listed in 2022 were war memorials in Brimpsfield, the City of Gloucester, Dymock and Stratton, as well as Salt Warehouse in Brimscombe Port and Lindors in St Briavels.


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