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Houses & Gardens

Over the three hundred years following James Leveson’s purchase of Trentham Hall in 1540, the Leveson-Gower family bought, rebuilt or embellished several large houses in Staffordshire, Shropshire, London and Scotland. They were most active in the time of the second Duke and Duchess, when Trentham Hall was rebuilt, Stafford House completed and furnished and Cliveden in Buckinghamshire purchased. Each of the family’s properties were magnificent in architecture and interior design, most notably Stafford House (1827-1913) in London. On a visit from Buckingham Palace early in her reign, Queen Victoria famously remarked ‘I have come to your palace from my house’ .

From the early seventeenth century the gardens at Trentham Hall were innovatively designed to incorporate pioneering features from floral displays to water features. Accounts from Sir Richard Leveson’s rebuilding of Trentham in the 1630s to commercial advertisements for Trentham Gardens in 1925 provide a fascinating insight into the history of this famous Staffordshire beauty spot.

Click on the links below to learn more about Houses and Gardens in the Sutherland Papers

Trentham Hall & Gardens

West Hill

Cliveden

Stafford House

Sir Charles Barry

George Devey

James Trubshaw