1086"Trentham is mentioned in the Domesday Book described as a royal manor valued at115 shillings.
1150 - 1153An Augustinian Priory is founded on the site by the Earl of Chester, probably on the site of a nunnery founded around 680 by St Werburgh.
1537 - 1550The Priory is dissolved in 1537 by Henry V111 and sod by the Crown before being bought in 1540 by Wolverhampton wool merchant, James Leveson for 1000 marks and a rent charge of £105 per year. Amazingly Leveson's successors paid this charge until 1948, 408 years later. Leveson adapted the Priory as the first Trentham Hall.
1630 - 1639The first hall was demolished and a large Elizabethan house built in the 1630s by Sir Richard Leveson. Despite him being imprisoned during the Civil War, the Hall and Gardens remained largely intact.
1730 - 1750Sir John Leveson-Gower(1st Baron Gower) substantially rebuilt the Hall 1707-1709 to the design of Francis Smith of Warwick. His son, also Sir John now 1st Earl Gower and for a time Lord Privy Seal, remodels the Hall again 1737-40. Noted Italian stuccadore Giuseppe Artari worked on the interiors.
1759 - 1780Capability Brown starts his enormous works on the Estate, enlarging the lake and remodelling the parkland, and Brown with his son-in-law, Henry Holland were engaged by Granville Leveson-Gower, son of the 1st Earl, to again remodel the house1775-80. Granville was elevated to Marquess of Stafford in 1786.
1800 - 1833Granville died in 1803 and his son George, 2nd Marquess of Stafford, undertook substantial works to the Hall 1805-09 by Charles Heathcote Taum. George was elevated to be 1st Duke of Sutherland in 1833 but died later that year.
1833 - 1850This was the grand era for Trentham. George Granville Sutherland- Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke, immediately embarked on an extensive rebuilding scheme. Celebrated architect, Charles Barry,
redesigns the Hall in the Italianate style, adds a Belvedere Tower, the Sculpture Gallery and Clock Tower as well as creating the Italianate Gardens.
1872Expanding industry in the Potteries creates massive pollution in the River Trent. The Gardener's Chronicle, 13th April 1872 reported that the River was "the foulest blot on Trentham...a foul slimy sewer, brimful of the impurities of every dirty crowded town that hogs its banks".
1900 - 1912By 1900 due to the pollution Trentham ceased to be a desirable residence and in 1905 the 4th Duke offered it to Staffordshire County Council for higher education but they declined as it was too far from the Potteries. No buyers were interested in purchase and the main part of Trentham Hall was demolished in 1911/12. The contents were sold for a mere £500.
1920s - 1979The Sutherland family opened the gardens and estate as Trentham Gardens, building in the 1930s a grand Dance Hall ( now the site of the Garden Centre) and an art deco outdoor Swimming Pool by the south west corner of the lake (demolished in 1986). Trentham Gardens became the place to visit, known as the 'Playground of the Potteries'. The popularity declined in the 1970s and the Sutherlands sold the estate in 1979 to a local entrepreneur, ending 439 years of ownership.
1979 - to dateBritish Coal bought the estate in 1986 and after years of neglect and decline it was sold in 1996 to St. Mowden Properties plc whose stated intention was to restore and regenerate the famous historic Gardens and Estate. St. Mowden's grand £100m master plan for the 725acres Estate was envisaged to take at least 10 years to deliver and started in 2004 after securing planning consent. Massive regeneration has already been delivered and the final piece of the jigsaw, the restoration and recreation of Trentham Hall is now under consideration. Watch this space.
Today, you are standing in the middle of what was the main part of Trentham Hall. The parts that remain after the demolition over 100 years ago show why it was famed as one of England's grandest houses. to the west (right side facing the church) is the Porte- Cochere, the
original grand entrance to the Hall which bears the Sutherland family coat of arms. It incorporates the Orangery, part of Heathcote Taum's earlier house. The sculpture Gallery, which housed the Duke of Sutherland's superb art collection, and the Clock Tower are located on the eastern side of the space left by the demolition. Behind the Sculpture Gallery are the former Estate Offices and Stables. All the remains are Grade II* or Grade II Listed as being of special architectural historic interest."
Opening Times and Admission fee to Trentham Gardens can be seen at the following link: (
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