Trentham Hall and Gardens were established on the site of a C12 Augustinian priory in the C16 by wool merchant James Leveson, who purchased the dissolved priory in 1540. The estate remained in the family’s (later known as the Leveson-Gower family and the Dukes of Sutherland) ownership until 1979, and during that time the house and grounds were re-designed multiple times.
A new house was built for Sir Richard Leveson in the 1630s and included gardens comprising a series of walled enclosures, a pool, a fountain, dovecotes, arbours and an orchard. By the 1680s there was also a bowling green and a greenhouse. During the 1690s the park was remodelled for Sir John Leveson-Gower (created 1st Baron Gower in 1703) to the plans of his chaplain, George Plaxton. The works included the cutting of twin canals divided by a central walk from the house to Kings Wood to the south west. In 1707 to 1709 the hall was re-designed by William Smith of Warwick, and in 1720 the 2nd Baron Gower is thought to have commissioned Charles Bridgeman to extend and improve the land. There is some dispute about the accuracy of the attribution to Bridgman, which is based on surviving unsigned drawings, nonetheless it is clear that works to the garden were undertaken and included the enclosure of Kings Wood, the creation of an intricate network of rides, and the construction of a brick wall around the boundary of the park; some remnants of these features survive. Around this time there was also the patte d’oie (paths that radiate from a central point, resembling the appearance of a goose’s foot) at the west entrance comprising four tree-lined avenues, and a kitchen garden to the north-west of the house; hot beds and a hot wall are known to have been built in this garden in 1732. Trentham Hall was remodelled again in 1737 to 1738 by Francis Smith of Warwick, and in the 1740s a further overhaul of the landscaping was undertaken, including the removal of the long walk between the two canals to accommodate a lake, and the creation of a new kitchen garden to the east of the house.
The 2nd Baron Gower, who also acquired the title Earl Gower and Viscount Trentham, died in 1754. He was succeeded by his son Granville Leveson-Gower, a leading political figure who was created Marquess of Stafford in 1786. He continued the improvements to the landscape and in 1759 commissioned Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown to re-work and enlarge the parkland. Brown provided a plan for his proposals that same year, which marks the first of three commissions at Trentham over a 20-year period. His work included increasing the size of the lake and naturalising its shape, adding earth mounds and specimen trees to the bank to enhance the natural topography, as well as planting numerous trees to screen the village from the landscape. The formal gardens adjacent to the house were removed and replaced with a wide lawn separated from the parkland by a ha-ha. Brown also created a new approach drive from Tittensor to the south of the park and is credited with the design of Monument Lodges. During this period Henry Holland, Brown’s son-in-law and business partner, remodelled the house and extended the nine-bay south elevation to fifteen bays.
In 1803 the estate was inherited by George Granville Leveson-Gower. Between 1805 and 1809 he commissioned Charles Heathcote Tatham, a pupil of Holland, to do further works to Trentham Hall, which included the addition of wings to the south elevation of the house, and lodges to the west entrance. George Granville was immensely wealthy, his father having married the heiress Lady Louisa Egerton, while he himself became the 1st Duke of Sutherland on his marriage in 1785 to Lady Elizabeth Sutherland, Countess of Sutherland.
The Duke of Sutherland died in 1833 and Trentham was inherited by his eldest son, also George Granville, the 2nd Duke of Sutherland, and his wife Harriet (nee Howard). The family’s huge inherited wealth was more than matched by their extravagance and in 1833 Charles Barry was commissioned to undertake another large transformation of both the house and grounds. Barry, greatly influenced by the Renaissance architecture and gardens of Italy, was an important country house architect and a passionate architectural gardener, and his work at Trentham played a significant role in the popularisation of the Italianate style.
To Trentham Hall he created the grand west entrance, erected a belvedere tower over the old kitchen, and added an orangery, sculpture gallery and clock tower, as well as rebuilding the stables and service quarters. To the gardens, he replaced the shrubberies and wide lawn between the house and the lake with Italianate formal gardens. These comprised two terraces leading down to the lake, with pavilions, parterres, balustrading, statues, urns, and fountains as features. The gardens then became increasingly more natural on progression into the park and the wider estate.
Barry's pleasure gardens at Trentham were the first of a series of gardens he designed based on both his studies of the Italianate style and his recognition of the demands of aristocratic families to have pleasure gardens with architectural features close to the house. It is thought that Barry discussed and showed his plans for Trentham with many of his contemporaries including W S Gilpin, W A Nesfield and J C Loudon. It is difficult to establish their distinct contribution to Barry’s designs, if any, and it is generally agreed that the gardens are Barry’s scheme. Barry’s creation of the formal terraces between the house and the lake, on what was a virtually flat site, was a particularly impressive feat, attracting the comments of J C Loudon, the influential horticulturist and critic. This, combined with the work of the head gardener George Fleming, appointed in 1841, brought Trentham to the public’s attention.
Fleming was able to turn what was a barren site into a rich and fertile one. This was achieved by laying a network of drains to a depth of six feet, enriching the soil, and improved heated greenhouses. The management of the gardens at Trentham became well known for being a showcase of his innovative and experimental planting schemes, gaining a reputation as a teaching garden. His work at Trentham was instrumental in the popularisation of the bedding system and included innovations such as the ribbon border and colour schemes based on Berlin wool work to create a gradual shading effect, culminating in one of his major additions to the gardens, the ‘rainbow walk’.
Trentham Hall and Gardens feature in numerous paintings and publications of the C19 and the period of Barry and Fleming represents Trentham at its height when it was at the forefront of both architectural and garden design. This is captured in Benjamin Disraeli’s novel ‘Lothair’, published in 1870, which gives an evocation of Trentham in its heyday:
‘It would be difficult to find a fairer scene than Trentham offered, especially in the lustrous effulgence of a glorious English summer. It was an Italian palace of freestone; vast, ornate, and in scrupulous condition; its spacious and graceful chambers filled with treasures of art, rising itself from statued and stately terraces. At their foot spread a gardened domain of considerable extent, bright with flowers, dim with coverts of rare shrubs, and magical with fountains.’
The third Duke succeeded in 1861 and sought to reduce expenditure, particularly in the gardens. Fleming was succeeded by Zadok Stephens who, during the 1860s and 70s, simplified Fleming’s work and toned down the colour schemes as the popularity of more pastel shades developed, and by 1871 it is thought that all Fleming’s work had been removed.
By 1907 the pollution of the River Trent, which runs through the site, had made the house uninhabitable and it was largely demolished in about 1911. Remains of its grand west entrance and conservatory; orangery, sculpture gallery and clock tower; and stable block and service quarters survive. In the 1920s the entrance lodges were relocated from the west entrance of Trentham Hall to their present site opposite Tatham’s mausoleum on Stone Road where they marked the main entrance for Trentham Gardens in their use as public pleasure grounds. From this period huge crowds came to what was marketed as 'The Versailles of the Midlands’ and known as the ‘Playground of the Potteries’. The various structures built for entertainment in the early to mid-C20 such as the tennis courts and the ballroom on the site of the former kitchen gardens to the east and an Art Deco open-air swimming pool to the western shore of the lake have since been demolished.
The Sutherland Family sold the estate in 1979 and since 1996 it has been operated as a commercially owned leisure attraction. In the early C21 the site of the former kitchen garden to the eastern extent of the site was developed as a commercial retail park. Also, at this time, within the framework of Barry’s design, the upper terrace of the formal garden was restored, and the lower terrace re-imagined to the designs of Tom Stuart-Smith and Piet Oudolf. Nigel Dunnett’s wildflower meadow is the latest evolution of the garden. Whilst the new garden designs are noteworthy, they cannot yet be considered as part of its special interest.