Description:Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1851-1931), the fourth Duke of Sutherland, served as the Mayor of Longton from 1895 to 1896. In December 1896 he presented ‘a gift of land’ to the Borough of Longton ‘for a Public Library and Technical and Industrial Institution’.
The Sutherland Papers includes the Copy Deeds for the Duke’s gift of land to Longton which contain a plan of the area of land given to the Borough for the Library and Institute. The Copy Deeds state that the Duke gave ‘a piece of land’ which was ‘3630 square yards or thereabouts’ for the purpose, situated on the ‘North East Side’ of Longton ‘by the Highway leading from Longton to Stone’. The land was given to Longton for a ‘yearly rent charge of £5000’.