Alton Towers is located near the village of Alton in Staffordshire, England. The former country estate was a former seat of the Earls of Shrewsbury. It is now a major theme park in the United Kingdom. In 2012, it attracted 2.4 million visitors, making it the most visited theme park in the United Kingdom and 9th most visited theme park in Europe. It employs in excess of 2,000 staff members during the summer months.
The area around Alton Towers has seen human habitation for more than a thousand years. Since the Early Medieval Period, the site has been redeveloped several times from fortified encampment to castle and then country house.
Early history
An Iron Age fort was built on Bunbury Hill ( century BC) which is now occupied by the Alton Towers estate. In about 700 AD, the Saxon king Ceolred of Mercia built a fortress on the hill. King Ine of Wessex besieged the site in 716 AD. The ensuing battle, which ended in stalemate, caused such a loss of life the place was called Slain Hollow (which later became the estate's oriental water garden).
In the late 11th century, Alton Castle was built following the Norman Conquest above the Churnet Valley, in the village of Alton, Staffordshire. It is about from the present-day Alton Towers. By the 12th century, the large manorial estate had been given to knight Bertram II de Verdun (died 1129/30), as a reward for his work in the Crusades. In 1318, the estate passed by marriage to Thomas de Furnival when he married Joan de Verdun. Furnival later died crusading in the Holy Land in 1348. In 1406, Sir John Talbot acquired the estate when he married Maud, the eldest daughter of Thomas de Furnivall, 3rd Baron Furnivall. Talbot became the second created Earl of Shrewsbury in 1442 after the title was forfeited by the third earl of the first creation in 1102. The Norman castle was destroyed during the English Civil War.
In the 17th century, the former castle was redeveloped as a hunting lodge known as Alerton (or Alverton), which is the ancient name for Alton. The three-storey structure reused one of the castle's former towers, which remains part of the present-day building. The lodge was split into two properties, one of which was rented by a tenant. The other half was used by the Talbots as a summer residence, their main residence being at Heythrop Park in Oxfordshire.
Stately home and gardens
In 1801, Charles Talbot, 15th Earl of Shrewsbury, decided that the old hunting lodge was beyond repair, and commissioned a Gothic-style country house on his estate on the north side of the Churnet Valley. Over the next 10 years, architects such as Thomas Allason, William Hollins, and Thomas Hopper contributed to the building. A wharf was added to the nearby Uttoxeter Canal to unload construction materials. Work included a drawing room, dining room, chapel, library, long gallery, banqueting hall, conservatory, and entrance hall. As a result, the building was doubled in size. It also included the laying of the foundations for the Flag Tower. The house was renamed Alton Abbey, despite having no particular religious connection.
In 1814, Lord Shrewsbury and his wife moved permanently into their new house at Alton. Work then began on turning the farmland around the house into one of the largest formal gardens in Britain. Several gardens were planted, including a Dutch garden and a rock garden. More than 13,000 trees were also planted in the landscaped parkland. The gardens in the valley leading down to the River Churnet hosted a variety of features. These included a Pagoda fountain which was fed by water from a spring at Ramshorn that passed through various lakes and pools, cast iron Garden Conservatories designed by Robert Abrahams, a "Swiss Cottage" that hosted a Welsh harpist and a copy of Lysicrates' Choragic Monument from Athens.
After the 15th Earl died in 1827, he was succeeded by his nephew John, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, who completed the gardens and house started by his uncle. In 1831, the Shrewsburys' principal residence in Heythrop burned down. The 16th earl then came to live at Alton permanently, bringing everything that could be saved from Heythrop. Noted architect Augustus Pugin designed a new entrance hall, banqueting hall and various other rooms, extending the house further. The property was renamed Alton Towers. From 1839, the grounds were opened to the public at various times of the year.