Trentham Gardens and Adventure Play - Past, Present & Future

Trentham – The History 

1086            Domesday Book describes Trentham as a Royal Manor and values it at 115 shillings

1153                      Henry 2^nd creates a Royal Deer Park

1537 – 1540       The Estate passes from the Crown through several new owners – Richard  Trentham, Sir Thomas Pope and James Leveson

1630 – 1639       Sir Richard Leveson demolishes the old hall, building a new mansion and creating walled gardens; imprisoned as a Royalist during the Civil War but property left intact

1759 – 1780       Lancelot Capability Brown commissioned to transform the landscape and house re-designed by Henry Holland

1803                     Property now owned by Marquess of Stafford and Countess of Sutherland who embark on a programme of new works

1833 – 1850       Duke of Sutherland commissions Sir Charles Barry (most famous for his design of The Houses of Parliament) to undertake a major building programme; the Hall is redesigned, The Orangery, Sculpture Gallery and Clock Tower are added and the Church is rebuilt. The Italian Gardens are laid out in 1840 and under the care of master gardeners George Fleming and Zadok Stevens they rapidly become celebrated. 

1872                      Booming industry in the potteries takes its toll on Trentham with pollution of The River Trent impacting across the Estate

1905                      The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland offer the decaying house to the County Council; it politely declines

1911                      The  now crumbling and decaying Trentham Hall is sold for recovery of materials, demolished and its contents sold for £500. Gold, tennis and bowling facilities are developed on the property over the next 15 years.

1931                      Trentham Gardens Ltd is established and the Gardens are opened to the public; a new ballroom is built on the site of the original kitchen garden and an Art Deco outdoor swimming pool is built by the lake

1939 - 45             The London Clearing Banks set up temporary home at Trentham and it serves as a transit station for allied troops and is also used for military training.

 Post-war Years   Trentham becomes famous as a dance and entertainment venue with many famous bands performing – including a little known Liverpool group called The Beatles in 1963

1980s                    The Estate is bought for redevelopment as a leisure park and The Department of the Environment lists several buildings of special interest including the remains of The Hall, the Grand Entrance and Orangery. Development plans do not proceed and The Estate falls into decay

1996                      The start of a new era as St Modwen Properties Plc and German investor Willi Reitz acquire Trentham and apply for planning for a major regeneration programme to restore the historic estate and create a quality leisure destination

2003                     Planning is finally granted and a £100million programme of rejuvenation begins

Trentham – The Present

The restoration of the Trentham Estate is a project undertaken on a massive scale. An investment in excess of £100 million will be required to return Trentham to its former glory; a superb historic garden in a mature estate, but now in a contemporary setting that is accessible to everybody rather than an elite few.

The natural starting point was the Italian Gardens. Despite its general decay, most of the original layout still remained intact. A vigorous new planting scheme was undertaken, while the pathways and borders were restored by a team of experienced gardeners and contemporary new designers Tom Stuart-Smith and Piet Oudolf.

However the plans for Trentham involved far more than the restoration of one of the most historically important gardens in Europe. Trentham was to be a pleasure ground in which everybody could share. It was to become the focal point of the area once again; a place for local people to enjoy throughout the year, and for visitors to discover as one of the country’s top tourism destinations.

Pathways around the lake and woodland were cleared and re-opened. The Monkey Forest, home to 140 Barbary macaques was opened at the south end of the estate. One of the UK’s largest indoor and outdoor garden centre was opened, and the unique retail village, with its collection of shops housed in log cabins was developed on the north eastern edge of Trentham.

The speed and scale of this regeneration has been impressive. But as new custodians of this beautiful and historic place, we hope all our visitors agree that our work at Trentham has been successful and worthwhile, with much more work to come.

Trentham  - Regeneration Programme

2004:

·         Restoration of 7 fountains, balustrade, sculpture and recreation of Sir Charles Barry’s Upper Parterre.

·         Removal of the old caravan site from the parkland and clearance of inappropriate planting to improve the historic landscape.

·         Pruning back of the historical “Golden Yews” trees to regenerate these to their intended manicured shape.

·         Major programme of tree inspections and safety work undertaken.

·         A modern bridge provides a new route into the gardens.

·         The historic trellis walk is restored and planted with Wisteria to form one of the countries largest covered walk ways.

2005:

·         The 10 acre Italian Garden is replanted with vast contemporary perennial planting by leading British designer Tom Stuart-Smith. In total over 80,000 choice perennials were used together with over 100,000 seasonal bulbs.

·         Tom Stuart-Smith creates the Laurent-Perrier “Trentham Garden” at the Chelsea Flower Show – winning gold.

·         Garden Apprenticeship established.

·         HRH Prince Andrew reopens the restored Italian Gardens.

·         Creation of outdoor Amphitheatre by the lake.

2006:

·         Twelve Show Gardens, inc three local schools gardens, a Pottager, and a Sensory Garden are introduced.

·         Launch of the Great Gardens Scheme (www.greatgardensuk.co.uk)

·         The Woodland Stream and stumpery are created and opened by Kim Wilde.

·         60,000 Daffodils are planted to create a “Field of Hope” for the Marie Curie foundation.

·         Britain’s first “Barfuss Park” (bare foot walk) is opened.

2007:

·         Dutch Garden design guru Piet Oudolf introduces a new 8 acre “Rivers of Grass” and “Floral Labyrinth” garden. In total some 60,000 choice perennials and shrubs were planted.

·         The grass amphitheatre is extended to hold a capacity for 5,000 visitors, and is scheduled to hold concerts by Katherine Jenkins and Status Quo.

·         A festive ice rink is added to the amphitheatre from November to January.

·         The children’s play area is extended to include a JCB Young Drivers course.

·         Two Bird hides are added to the woodland garden, together with a woodland tree trail and a children’s dinosaur tree trail.

·         ITV Central introduced their own ECO Garden

2008:

·         The new “Hide and Speak” maze is completed by Easter 2008.

·         Launch of a supported schools activities programme

·         Launch of family entertainment and gardening workshops

·         Launch of children’s summer club

·         Launch of programme of RHS tours and workshops

·         A major programme of woodland conservation work will restore the historic landscape and conserve Trentham’s rich and delicate ecology.

·         Restoration of Private Wing Fountain.

·         It is planned to introduce at least 70,000 bulbs to the floral prairie as part of our aspiration to introduce over 1 million bulbs to the garden.

·         A new rose border is created with David Austin “English Roses”.

·         An edible flower garden is introduced to the Upper Flower Garden between June and September.

·         A viewing platform is added to the upper flower garden to give visitors a better view of the entire gardens.

·         From September work commences on a new Garden Tea Room and major improvements to the landscape on the Western Pleasure Garden and park.

2009:

·         Completion of new Garden Tea Room.

·         Plans to introduce a new aquasculpture by Andrew Ewing in the Western Pleasure Garden.

·         Initiating a four year programme to improve the planting throughout the Western Pleasure Garden.

·         Many other exciting ideas have already been developed and are currently being considered for implementation in the near future, including plans for Britain’s first edible landscape of wild flowers and edible weeds.

Trentham – The Future

Future developments being considered include a Woodland Tower, Woodland Board Walk, Crazy Gunnera Walk, sculpture, extended season plantings and interactive water and acoustic installations.