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The Norfolk mausoleum with a link to Old Trafford gets status upgrade

News imageGeograph/John Salmon A stone-built mausoleum in a churchyard. It is in the shape of a small chapel and is surrounded by black railings. Geograph/John Salmon
The Trafford family, who built this mausoleum, once owned Trafford Park in Manchester, now home to Old Trafford football stadium

The listed status of a mausoleum commissioned by an early 19th Century widow for her late husband, Sigismund Trafford Southwell, had been upgraded to Grade II*.

Margaret Trafford Southwell employed Anthony Salvin to design the burial place in the churchyard of St Mary's Church in Wroxham, Norfolk, and it was completed in 1830.

Salvin was later associated with medieval castle architecture, working on Windsor Castle, the Tower of London and the refacing of Norwich Castle.

Historic England said the previous Grade II listing "did not fully capture the building's architectural, historic and religious significance".

Trafford Southwell fought at the Battle of Waterloo.

His family once owned Trafford Park in Manchester, now home to Old Trafford football stadium, the home of Manchester United, and the Old Trafford cricket ground, according to the church.

News imageGeograph/Ian Capper A flint-built medieval church on the right and on the left is a Gothic-revival style mausoleum in cream stone, surrounded by black railings in a church yard. Geograph/Ian Capper
The building is considered a fine example of the Early English Gothic style, Historic England said

The building, which is known as the Trafford Mausoleum, is unusual as a Roman Catholic burial chapel in the churchyard of a functioning Anglican church.

In the early 19th Century, Roman Catholic men could not sit as MPs, vote in elections, or hold most senior government offices, but that changed with the Catholic Emancipation Act in 1829.

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