[1] Vaucluse House commenced as a small stone cottage built for the eccentric Irish knight, Sir Henry Browne Hayes, who had purchased two adjacent grants Laycock's 32 hectares (80 acres) and Cardell's 10 hectares (25 acres) in August 1803 (the house was actually sited on part of MacGlynn's holding).

In April 1805 Hayes' friend and land agent, Samuel Breakwell, wrote that Sir Henry was "building an handsome Stone House, where he intends to reside entirely at the Close [of] this year."

His wife, Sarah (née Cox, 1805-1880), the daughter of ex-convicts, worked as a milliner before their marriage in 1829 and suffered social isolation for having borne two of their children out of wedlock.

Sarah informed Fisher that she would travel to Brussels to order marble for the vault and would also bring "some Iron gates and railing to enclose it".

The vault was to be large - Eliza wrote: 'it was Papa's wish to have my grandfather, my Uncle & Willie & Bell & poor Nellie & we should all like to be there when our time comes.

At the conclusion of the service mourners proceeded to Vaucluse, the procession being so lengthy that "when the first portion had reached ... Rushcutters Bay, the last of the carriages had not left George Street".

It is shelved all round with large slabs of slate resting upon stone supports, and arches of brick rise upon iron girders.

[1] The rock outcrops and native vegetation on Parsley Hill that once formed a backdrop to the mausoleum have been supplanted by residential development and it has lost its visual relationship to Vaucluse House, however, the chapel and vault remain relatively isolated within the stone and iron palisading...The brass plaque commemorating Sarah Eleanor may have been responsible for the long-held belief that her mother, Sarah Wentworth, was buried in the mausoleum.

The Wentworths' second son, Fitzwilliam, died in Sydney on 8 August 1915 and following a service at St Michael's Church, Vaucluse, he was buried in the mausoleum.

[1] On 14 October 1927 the Church of England Property Trust, Diocese of Sydney, executed a deed of covenant to administer the mausoleum.

'[1][2] The Friends of the Historic Houses Trust fundraised through events and tours to contribute $12,500 towards the cost of conservation of the Wentworth Mausoleum.

The rock was overshadowed by a ridge / escarpment immediately to the east, which, with associated boulders, was to give the Mausoleum chapel and appropriately picturesque backdrop.

The roof retains its original polychrome terracotta tiles [in bands of red and cream] although the pinnacle at each corner has lost its finial.

Cast plaster corbels in the shape of an angel support the roof trusses, and, at each junction of the purlins and rafters, there is a timber star.

The western elevation contains a stained glass window incorporating the Wentworth coat of arms and brass plaques on the walls commemorate members of the family.

[1][2] Just inside the door to the Mausoleum, after a section of hexagonal terracotta tiles, is a black and white marble mosaic depicting the twin-tailed Triton (the son of Neptune in Roman mythology) blowing his shell trumpet forms the threshold.

The original site was subdivided for the construction of the Wentworth Memorial Church in 1965-7, which occupies a rock plateau that overshadows the Mausoleum.

[1] c. 1965 – Mausoleum original solid timber outer door was removed (probably owing to decay) when the copper hood was installed over the entrance.

The Wentworth Mausoleum (by Mansfield Brothers, architects, 1872 - 1874) with its combination of built (chapel, vault, palisade fence and gates) and natural elements (rock plinth, sheltering rock escarpment and plantings) is significant as a work that demonstrates a continuity of Picturesque Movement landscape planning and architectural design (generally employing the Gothic Revival style) on the Vaucluse estate.