The Foxley Charity in Trentham, 1670
In her will, made in 1670, Lady Katherine Leveson, the wife of Sir Richard Leveson (1698-1661), established the Foxley Charity. This charity provided money for the maintenance of widows and poor children ...
The Gardeners at West Hill, 1824
West Hill’s extensive lands included a productive garden where vegetables and fruit were grown. The Inventory lists a ‘Flower Gardeners House’ which appears to have had one living room and an adjoining ...
The 'Groom of the Chambers' Room, West Hill, 1824
Adjoining the Upper White Dressing Room at West Hill was the 'Groom of the Chambers' Room. Like many of the rooms on the second floor, this room featured ‘Holland Roller’ window blinds and a number of ...
The History of Lilleshall
The image above shows an extract from George Plaxton’s A History of Lilleshall.
Clergyman and antiquary George Plaxton was a beneficiary and close associate of the Leveson–Gower family during the ...
The Housekeeper's and Butler’s Accounts for Trentham Hall, 1682
Amongst the account books for Trentham Hall during the later seventeenth century is a volume of accounts kept by the Housekeeper and Butler at the Hall. The image above is an extract from this volume, ...
The Housemaid’s Room, West Hill, 1824
The Housemaid and Butler at West Hill were housed on the basement floor of the mansion house. The inventory of furniture in the Housemaid’s Room includes two ‘copper tea kettles’, a mahogany chair, a ...
The Improvement Policy on the Sutherland Estate in Scotland, By Annie Lynne McCausland
Worship Industry or Starve: The Scottish Highlands are world renowned for their natural beauty, legendary history, and unique culture. However, centuries ago, they were seen as alien, desolate, archaic, ...
The Large Upper White Bedchamber, West Hill, 1824
One of the most extravagantly decorated rooms on the second floor of West Hill was the Large Upper White Bedchamber.
Amongst the more lavish items which the room contained was ‘a Capital 5ft6 Fourpost ...
The Leveson Family & Trentham Priory
The Leveson family first became associated with Trentham in 1540. In 1536 Trentham Priory was dissolved during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. A successful wool merchant from Wolverhampton, James ...
The Library and Servant's Room at Trentham Hall
Amongst the papers of Sir John Leveson Gower, first Earl Gower (1694-1754) is a document entitled ‘An Estimate for the workmanship of the Carcase of a building design’d for a Library and Servants Room ...
The Marquis of Stafford’s Bedroom
The Marquis of Stafford’s private room contained a ‘Japanned front’ stove and six ‘handsome Rosewood and Gold Elbow Chairs’ with ‘cushions & cases’. The room housed a writing desk and an ‘elegant rosewood ...
The New House at Trentham, 1630-1639
Trentham Hall was passed down through generations of the Leveson family to Sir Richard Leveson (1598-1661) who built a new house at Trentham in 1630. Work on this new property took just under nine years ...
The Nursery, West Hill, 1824
The Nursery at West Hill contained two bedsteads and also ‘two rush seat black stained childrens chairs’. The room also featured a number of lockable presses with shelves, one of which was ‘Satinwood ...
The Pines at Codsall
The Sutherland Papers include a ‘Plan of Property at Codsall’ which was sold by the Duke of Sutherland at Auction in 1891.
Dated 24th June 1891, the plan shows the land in Codsall in lots, including ...
The Principle Drawing Room, West Hill, 1824
The Principle Drawing Room at West Hill was another lavishly decorated room with handsome features and elegant furniture exhibiting the wealth of the Leveson-Gower family.
A ‘handsome Brown & pink’ ...
The Sale of the Ketley Estate, 1894
The image above shows a poster advertising the sale of the Duke of Sutherland’s lands in Ketley in 1894. Ketley formed part of the Duke’s Lilleshall Estate comprising of 834 acres of lands, farms and ...
The Sale of West Hill: The Mansion House in 1842
Reminiscent of the 1824 Sale Papers for Melrose Hall, the Sutherland Papers contains ‘The Particulars and Conditions of Sale’ for ‘West Hill’ which is described as ‘A Noble Mansion’, formerly known as ...
The Social Role of Stafford House
Many documents in the Sutherland Papers reflect the prestigious social role of Stafford House. Throughout the nineteenth century the house functioned as the centre of social life in London. In addition ...