Alton in 1859

ALVETON, or ALTON (ST. PETER), a parish, in the union of CHEADLE, S. division of the hundred of TOTMONSLOW, N. division of the county of STAFFORD, 4 miles (E. by S.) from Cheadle ; comprising the townships of Alton, Cotton, Denston, and Farley, and containing 2390 inhabitants, of whom 1168 are in Alton township. The extensive manor of Alton became the property of John Talbot, first Earl of Shrewsbury, by his marriage with the heiress of the Furnival family, and has remained with his descendants to the present time. 

The living, before the Reformation, was connected with the abbey of Croxden, to which the benefice was attached by Bertram de Verdon of Alton Castle, in 1176, after he founded the abbey. The ruins of the castle still remain, and are visible on the summit of a rock 300 feet above the bed of the Churnet : on the opposite bank of the river are the magnificent mansion and park of the Earl of Shrewsbury. The parish contains between 7000 and 8000 acres : there are limestone quarries in the township of Cotton, and some copper-mines at Ribden. The Uttoxeter branch of the Trent and Mersey canal runs through the parish, its course being for some miles parallel with that of the Churnet, over which it is carried by means of an aqueduct. The village is romantically situated on the banks of the river, which here flows through a fertile vale; on the summit of an adjacent eminence is a lofty tower, commanding extensive and varied prospects.

The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £5.16.5.; net income, £151; patron, Earl of Shrewsbury, to whom and others the impropriation belongs: the glebe comprises 5 acres. The church, which displays a mixture of the Norman and English styles, was repaired and enlarged in 1831. There is a chapel at Cotton. The Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists have places of worship; and a Roman Catholic chapel and school have been recently erected at Alton-Towers by the Earl.

Anthony Wall, in 1721, founded and endowed a school for twelve boys, of which the endowment is £11. 5. per annum; and there are also three other schools. At Bunbury, in the parish, are the remains of a very extensive fortress, of an irregular form, ascribed to Ceolred, King of Mercia, about 715 : it is defended on three sides by a double vallum, and on the fourth by a steep declivity.

An 1859 Gazetteer description of the following place in Alton is to be found on a supplementary page.

• Cotton. 

[Description(s) from The Topographical Dictionary of England (1859) by Samuel Lewis - Transcribed by Mike Harbach ©2020]