ALTON, (or Alveton), a parish in the southern division of the hundred of Totmonslow, in the county of Stafford, 4 miles to the E. of Cheadle. It is a station on the Churnet Valley branch of the North Staffordshire railway, 4 miles to the E. of Cheadle, and 24 miles from Macclesfield.The town is situated on the river Churnet, in the midst of fine scenery, the course of the river here lying in a beautiful valley. The Caldon or Uttoxeter canal, after running in a parallel course with the river for a few miles, is here carried across it on an aqueduct. The parish contains the chapelry of Cotton, and the townships of Denston and Farley. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield, value £151, in the gift of the Earl of Shrewsbury, who is lord of the manor. The church is dedicated to St. Peter, and is a stone building, partly rebuilt in 1830. The original church, dedicated to St. James, was a Norman building, erected in the 12th century by Bertram de Verdun, lord of Alton, and given by him to the abbey of Croxden; some ruins of it are still remaining. There is also a chapel of ease in the township of Cotton, built in 1795 by T. Gilbert, Esq. The Roman Catholics, Independents, Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists have chapels here. There is a free school, which was established and endowed in 1721, by Anthony Wall, now open to all children of the parish; its present revenue being £11. National schools were erected in 1845. There are also Roman Catholic schools, instituted by the late Earl of Shrewsbury.
Alveton Castle, the seat of the De Verdons, in the reign of Henry II., stood on a rock, by the river, above 300 feet in height. The ruins of it still exist. There are also within this parish remains of a large camp, with a double ditch on three sides, and protected on the fourth by a steep incline. It is supposed to have been formed about the year 715, by one of the kings of Mercia. In 1840, the Earl of Shrewsbury erected, near the old castle, a hospital for aged people, dedicated to St. John.
On the northern slope of the Churnet Valley, opposite to the village, stands Alton Towers, the noble seat of the Earl of Shrewsbury. Fifty years ago, the site of this mansion and its park and gardens was a rabbit warren. It is now a scene of such extraordinary magnificence and beauty, as to be named by the great landscape gardener and botanist, Mr. Loudon, the Enchanted Valley. The mansion, which stands on a hill formerly called Bunbury, in the township of Farley, was begun by Charles, the sixteenth Earl, in the year 1814. After his death, in 1827, many additions and improvements were made by his successor.
The architecture is of various styles, principally Gothic. A fine sheet of water spreads out in front of the hall, which is flanked with terraces, and adorned with a lofty tower, and many turrets and pinnacles. It contains a lofty entrance hall, armoury, picture gallery, octagon, conservatory, long gallery, dining and drawing rooms, libraries, chapel, and other apartments, to name and describe which would take a volume. From the entrance hall, which opens into the armoury, there is a splendid view down the galleries, extending nearly 160 yards. The armoury, which is about 120 feet in length, has, in the centre, a statue of John Talbot, the great Earl of Shrewsbury, and round the sides are twenty-four figures in complete armour. Specimens of guns, weapons, &c., are arranged on tables. This apartment communicates with the picture gallery by a screen formed of spears and halberts.
In the picture gallery, which is 150 feet in length, is a large and valuable collection of works of art. A large number of the paintings are from the collection of Madame Bonaparte. Among them are the kneeling Madonna of Raphael, a Madonna by Da Vinci, the Prodigal Son of Bonifaccio, Magdalens by Paul Veronese and by Guido, and works by Spagnoletto, Giorgione, Cano, Murillo, Valasquez, &c. There are numerous busts, vases, antiques, &c., in the octagon, which is, like a chapter-house, supported by one central column. The conservatory contains many statues.
The fittings up of the chapel are very costly and splendid, gold crosses on the altarpiece, paintings on the walls, a fine screen by Pugin, and stained windows by Willement. The gardens reach to the river side, the terraces being connected by flights of steps, and they abound in temples, grottoes, fountains, falls, statues, and greenhouses. An elegant structure, on the model of the ancient Choragic Temple of Lysicrates, at Athens, stands near the entrance to the gardens. Views over the whole magical scene are obtained at the Harper's Cottage and the Gothic Temple.
A celebrated lawsuit respecting this magnificent estate and mansion, has recently terminated in favour of Earl Talbot, of Ingestree Hall, who in June, 1858, was declared, by a Committee of Privileges of the House of Lords, to have established his claim to the earldom of Shrewsbury; and in February, 1860, was adjudged by the Exchequer Court to be the owner of the estates.
