Once part of England’s grandest country houses, mostly demolished in 1912 due to pollution in the River Trent, the remains give an idea of the Hall’s former glory but are in a very poor state
Grade II*-listed, 1873, Charles Barry
Trentham Hall was established on the site of an Augustinian priory in 1540, when it was purchased by the wool merchant, James Leveson. It was remodelled over subsequent generations of the Leveson-Gower family as their fortunes grew, in 1660, 1707, and 1737, until finally, in 1833, the second Duke of Sutherland appointed Charles Barry to undertake a comprehensive redevelopment of the building in an Italianate style. Barry’s scheme included the addition of a grand Classical entrance to the west end, the erection of a belvedere tower over the former kitchens, and the construction of several new buildings, which included an orangery, a clock tower, and a new stable block. Its palatial scale was such that it caused the Shah of Persia to remark, to the then future King Edward VII that the house was ‘too grand for a subject, you’ll have to have his head off when you come to the throne’. But unfortunately this good fortune was not to last, and the house was largely demolished between 1910 and 1920, its stone balustrades and urns sold to Country Life readers, and only the orangery remains.
In recent years, the landscaped Italian gardens have been restored and reopened as a successful tourist attraction, but, as the photograph shows, what’s left of the Hall itself is now in a state of disrepair. Plans to turn the building’s remains into a conference centre and hotel unravelled after a conservation survey, when it was found that the market value of the redevelopment would be insufficient to justify repairs, but with the success of the restored gardens, and a recovering economy, surely conditions are now favourable enough for the owners to commission restoration works.
Status Update / March 2026
A phased programme of repairs to the gardens and associated listed buildings is underway, which is expected to include at least some of the remains of Trentham Hall. In 2025, however, part of the partially demolished hall building was added to SAVE Britain’s Heritage at risk register. A spokesperson said ‘there are various elements of the once grand and enormous house which remain on the site, but it is the orangery and entrance hall which, without an active use, have gradually deteriorated’.