Place:


Alton  Staffordshire

 

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Alton like this:

ALTON, or Alveton, a township, a parish, and a subdistrict, in the district of Cheadle, Stafford. The township lies on the Churnet river, the Uttoxeter canal, and the North Stafford railway, 7½ miles NNW of Uttoxeter. It has a station on the railway, a post office under Stafford, and an inn. ...


Real property, £3,853. Pop., 1,173. Houses, 253.—The parish includes also the townships of Farley, Denston, and Upper and Lower Cotton. Acres, 7,379. Real property, £10,325. Pop., 2,250. Houses, 476. The manor belongs to the Earl of Shrewsbury. Alton-Towers, the seat of the Earl, is a splendid edifice, in a variety of styles, built in 1814; and contains a magnificent hall, an armory, 120 feet long, a picture gallery, 150 feet long, with superb collection of pictures, a chapel with stained windows by Pugin, and a state drawing room, with some ornaments of Queen Catherine. The gardens connected with it are richly ornate; and contain a Choragic temple, a Chinese conservatory, an imitation Stonehenge, a pagoda 95 feet high, and a Gothic temple commanding an extensive view. The ruins of a castle of the De Verdons, of the time of Henry II., stand on a rock by the Churnet, 300 feet high. St. John's hospital, founded by the Talbots, for a warden and fellows, with church and school, is near the castle. An ancient camp, with double fosse, occurs at Bonebury. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield. Value, £151.* Patron, the Earl of Shrewsbury. The church is modern. Cotton and Denston are separate charges; and there are chapels for Independents, Methodists, and Roman Catho lics, and charities £25.-The subdistrict comprises three parishes. Acres, 9,487. Pop., 2,693. Houses, 564.

Alton through time

Alton is now part of Staffordshire Moorlands district. Click here for graphs and data of how Staffordshire Moorlands has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Alton itself, go to Units and Statistics.

How to reference this page:

GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Alton in Staffordshire Moorlands | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.

URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/7860

Date accessed: 29th March 2024


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