The Leveson-Gower family’s principal seat or house in Staffordshire was Trentham Hall in the north of the county. Having purchased the lands of Trentham Priory at the dissolution of religious houses in England, this became the core of their North Staffordshire estate. In all between the 16th and the 19th centuries, the family built four Trentham Halls on the site of the former priory. Each one reflected their growing wealth and aristocratic status.

In 1759 Lancelot (Capability) Brown was employed to design the landscape at Trentham. His original plan forms part of the Sutherland Papers. Later plans in the collection help to show how the gardens developed.

In 1834 Sir Charles Barry was employed by the Duke of Sutherland to design a new Trentham Hall, in keeping with the family’s new status as Dukes of Sutherland. He designed a vast Italianate -style house, built in two phases in the 1830s and 1840s at a total cost of £240,000. The commission was a very important one for Barry because the Duke of Sutherland was such a wealthy and influential patron. Barry’s presentation portfolio of elevations and plans is part of the collection. It is supported by accounts and extensive correspondence for the building of the Hall and the laying out of the Italian Garden. The Hall was demolished by a Longton firm in 1911.

The information about the gardens contained in the collection has been crucial to informing the accurate restoration of the gardens at Trentham.

The family also owned Lilleshall Abbey in Shropshire, Dunrobin Castle in the county of Sutherland and Stafford (now Lancaster) House in London. In 1848 they also purchased Cliveden in Buckinghamshire.