Alton in 1872

ALTON, or Alveton, a township, a parish, and a sub-district, in the district of Cheadle, Stafford. The township lies on the Churnet river, the Uttoxeter canal, and the North Stafford railway, 7 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., 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 modem. 

Cotton and Denston are separate charges; and there are chapels for Independents, Methodists, and Roman Catholics and charities £25.  The sub-district comprises three parishes. Acres. 9,487. Pop., 2,693. Houses, 564. 

An 1872 Gazetteer description of the following places in Alton is to be found on a supplementary page.

• Denston
• Farley

[Description(s) from The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72) - Transcribed by Mike Harbach ©2020]