A short history of ancient Trentham

Trentham was once considered of sufficient strategic importance to be claimed by kings. The earliest known document records that St. Werburg (niece of the Saxon King, Ethelred) was given control of a priory in Trentham in AD 680. When William of Normandy ordered an inventory of his English domains in around 1086 (now known as the 'Domesday Book') it noted that the 'king holds Trentham'. The King's estate is said to include land big enough for three and a half ploughs, managed by a Reeve who had 6 people in his service. Trentham also included an area of 3 ploughs and woodland of more than 1 square mile supporting a priest, a 'free man' (i.e. a man of property, possibly of noble descent) and 9 other people.

There is physical evidence of even earlier settlement in the vicinity as a bronze sword was discovered at Hanford and there are two ancient burial mounds on the west bank hillside on either side of the modern Whitmore Road. The churchyard, like many Celtic religious sites, is at the junction of two streams (left is a modern view - click to enlarge), with another stream joining from the other direction a short distance below. In Welsh, this meeting place of three valleys might be called Trinant and it is possible that the names of both the river Trent and Trentham are derived from this. During the Roman occupation of Britain, two roads met close to the spot pictured, one running north to south by the river and the other connecting the important settlements at Derby and Chester. The Saxon Cross in the churchyard (right - click to enlarge image) is said to commemorate a Queen, whose body lay in the church on its journey to interment elsewhere.

In the years between the Norman Conquest and the dissolution of the monasteries (that took place during the reign of Henry VIII), the Augustinian Priory at Trentham (said to have been founded in 1150) acquired considerable surrounding lands, stretching northwards towards what is now the Town of Newcastle-under-Lyme. After the dissolution (which took place between 1536-1539), much of this property was purchased by the Leveson family, whose descendents eventually received the Dukedom of Sutherland, as well as many subsidiary titles including Viscount Trentham. By the 1840s, the second Duke was reputed to be one of the richest men in Europe, particularly as a result of the income he received from the coal mines on his land. He built a statue (erected in 1836, designer Winks and sculptor Chantry) to commemorate his father, the first Duke, which overlooks the village of Tittensor, on the west bank of the Trent and also a palatial hall and gardens (constructed between 1833 - 42 and photographed, right in 1900 - courtesy of the Francis Frith collection), employing Sir Charles Barry (who also designed the British Houses of Parliament) as his architect. Trentham Hall was demolished in 1911 by the fourth Duke. The second Duke also paid for the rebuilding of the neighbouring church of St May & All Saints, completed in 1844, which was remodelled to be more in keeping with the style of the Hall. Even so, Barry retained some of its earlier features, such as the Norman stone columns, mediaeval porch, Tudor rood screen and the base of the Saxon Cross, which was relocated to its present position. A family mausoleum, which is now a Grade 1 listed building (architect: Charles Heathcote Tatham) had been built, around 1807-8, across the river using local red sandstone blocks quarried on the estate at Beech. As can be seen from the picture, the mausoleum (click for larger image) is in need of restoration and the interior of the church has recently been reordered.

During the twentieth century Trentham largely changed from a village to a suburb of the neighbouring towns of Stoke and Newcastle, as is illustrated by maps and more recently aerial photography.

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