Description:Papers relating to life at Trentham Hall include many documents telling us about the architectural design and layout of the Hall and its outbuildings during the late eighteenth century. The document above is entitled ‘An Account of Chambers and Hay Lofts over Earl Gower’s Stables at Trentham May 1778’.
The accounts refer to the rooms over the Stables at Trentham Hall, including the chambers and haylofts which would be situated ‘over the old Hunting Stable fronting the Brew house’ when alterations on the Hall were completed. The accounts describe how the chambers and haylofts would be arranged and utilised following building work on the Hall in the late 1770s.
The ‘Footman’s Room’ is described in detail, including references to a fireplace, closet and five windows. The room had ‘a good floor’ capable of holding ‘six or seven beds’. The accounts also tell us that the room underneath the footman’s room was used ‘for cleaning shoes and powdering’.
The ‘Old Cheese Chamber’ adjoined the old ‘Common Stable’ which had been converted into a Coach House. The Old Cheese Chamber required repairs but could hold three or four beds and formed ‘a good room for underservants’.
The Coach House also had a good floor and would hold a double bed. The accounts note that ‘the access’ to both the Old Cheese Chamber and the Coach House would be ‘litterd with straw and Hay being the passage to two Lofts’. A nine stall Stable and a Glazier’s Room were situated underneath these two rooms.
The accounts also describe ‘the North range of Stables’ including the Coachman’s Chamber which was ‘a very warm room’. The Bailiff’s Office or chamber, a number of new rooms and garrets above the rooms also feature.