240 



GARDENS OLD AND 



the centra! block, with its porch, flanked by two projecting 

 wings, as at Hatfield and Charlecote, and there were twisted 

 gables and many chimneys above, while immediately to the 

 left rose the Perpendicular western tower of Trentham Church. 

 The hollow square formed by the house was completed by a 

 garden wall and balustrade, in front of which was still another 

 court forming the approach, and entered through an ornamental 

 gate. Within these courts were doubtless formal beds 

 appropriate to the situation, with cut yews and, perhaps, 

 a sundial or a basin of water in the midst of each. The 

 parapet of the enclosure had a perforated inscription raised 

 against the sky. It ran thus : 

 CAROLO BRITANI/E REGE RICARDVS LEVESON EQVES BALNEI 



/EDES HASCE HIC FIERI VOLVIT. 



If the curious in such matters will take from this inscription 

 the letters I, V, L, C, and D, as they follow in sequence, 

 reading them as Roman numerals, and will then add them 

 together, he will arrive at the total of 1633, which was 

 the year of the work of Sir Richard Leveson, Knight of 

 the Bath, at Trentham. 



family who married ths Leveson heiress, and in 1703 Sir J.ihn 

 Leveson-Gower was created Baron Gower of Sittenhum. 

 Later descendant^ a .Lied the honours of Viscount Trentham, 

 Earl Gower, and IVUirquess of Stafford, and, in 1833, the 

 husband of the Countess of Sutherland was raised to the 

 Dukedom of Sutherland. 



The house which has been described stood until towards 

 the end of the last century, whsn a plain structure of Georgian 

 solidity took its place. The tower of the closely neighbouring 

 church was taken down, and a kind of dulness settled upon 

 Trentham, though much was done at the time to beautify the 

 gardens and grounds. Tne house was surrounded by beautiful 

 woodland, clothing the swelling hills, rare beauties were in its 

 gardens, and a sheet of water, fed by the yet unpolluted 

 Trent, diversified by sylvan islets, extended across the dale. 

 B.it the second Duke of Sutherland saw greater capabilities in 

 his house, which Sir Charles Barry was employed to beautify 

 and enlarge. At the western end of the southern facade a 

 great conservatory was buiit out, matched by a projecting 

 dining-room at the other ; the crest of the building was adorned 



Copy light. 



' Country Lift" 



THE WEST SIDE AND ENTRANCE. 



This front of the house, like the principal entrance to 

 Trentham at the present day, faced the west, but the great 

 gardens, as now, were on the south side. Old Plot, in his 

 "Natural History of Staffordshire," shows them very clearly. 

 They had the rectangular character common at the time, and 

 were in the form of two walled enclosures, separated by a 

 division running out from the house at right ang'es to its 

 southern front. These gardens looked down the valley of the 

 Trent, towards the wooded hills and the fields, but the great 

 lake, which now fills the bottom of the hollow, had not been 

 formed, and Perseus did not yet dom nate the scene. 



Sir Richard died childless, and his estates descended to his 

 grand-nephew, William Leveson-G:>wer. The Cowers were 

 an old family of Yorkshire, settled at Sittenham, near Sheriff 

 Hutton, a property which still belongs to the Dukes of 

 Sutherland. Of that place was John Gower, the poet, 

 " moral Gower," the " master " of Chaucer. Another Gower 

 was concerned in the death of Gaveston, and still another in 

 the Wars of the Roses, as standard-bearer to Prince Henry at 

 Tewkesbury, where he was captured by the Yorkists and 

 afterwards beheaded. It was the second Baronet of the Gower 



with a balustrade ; and a stately campanile arose behind ; 

 while to the west a semi-circular corrid >r or loggia, with a 

 noble portico in the middle, was erected as the principal 

 entrance, and, at the other end of the pile, a splendid suite 

 of private apartments arose, extending along the terrace to 

 the east. 



This is the Trentham which is depicted in these pages. 

 To describe it in any detail is not the purp ise here. Whatever 

 unstinted care, taste, and judgment could achieve has been 

 lavished within and without upon the great ducal abode. 

 Here hospitality presides, and the workers of the Potteries, 

 who are privileged at times to survey the glories of Trentham, 

 have endless delights in its extensive gardens and park. The 

 church, as of old, closely neighbours the house, in its shadowy 

 grove. The corridor entrance is imposing and unique, and 

 leads to the magnificent state apartments of the house. The 

 hall and grand staircase are very splendid and ornate, and are 

 hung with family portraits. Although Trentham is not one of 

 the great " show " places of the country for its pictures, it 

 possesses several choice examples of Romney, Reynolds, 

 Gainsborough, and many more. A noble corridor l?ads to the 



