Description:In 1697 Reverend George Plaxton, the Rector of Donnington and close associate of the Leveson-Gower family, designed a water feature which was constructed in the gardens at Trentham. A letter from February 1695 describes the planning and construction of this water feature in detail.
In the letter, written to Sir John Leveson-Gower, Baron Gower (1675-1709), Plaxton describes the water feature as ‘the noblest and most profitable Thing that ever was at your House’. Sue Gregory describes the feature as being designed in a Dutch style with twin canals divided by a central walkway. Plaxton writes that the feature would ‘reach from the white gates up to the Coppy’, a coppiced woodland which was already a feature in the gardens. Plaxton’s excitement about the water feature, and particularly the low price of its construction is evident in his letter. He writes ‘a long canal of 468 yards in Length, a paddock course of 900 yards and upward a walk of 468 yards, 468 yards of Noble fence to a park all done for under £40’.
For biographical information about George Plaxton, see Jan Broadway, ‘Plaxton, George (1647/8–1720)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/70087]
Contextual Information featured on pages relating to Trentham Gardens has been provided by Sue Gregory who has been instrumental in the research and selection of documents for this section. Sue has been part of the management team of Staffordshire Gardens & Parks Trust since its creation in 1992 and has over fourteen years of experience researching Trentham Gardens in the Sutherland Papers.