Alton Towers, Alton, Staffordshire, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

An early 19th-century valley garden with a great variety of garden buildings associated with a major early 19th-century country house.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Alton Towers stands on the north side of the Churnet Valley, about one kilometre north of the village of Alton and 6km east of Cheadle. To the south the park is bounded by the dismantled railway line and the drain to its north, which follows the north bank of the River Churnet; to the west by Farley Lane which climbs steeply north from Alton village; and to the north by Wootton Lane. Beyond the present east end of the park, about two kilometres from the house, the ground falls to a series of ponds and lakes, the largest of which is Brooklays Lake. The house stands near the head of a steep subsidiary valley running south-east into the Churnet Valley, the upper part of which valley was developed in the early 19th century as the house's main pleasure grounds. The area here registered comprises about 135 hectares.

REFERENCES Used by English Heritage

J C Loudon, Encyclopaedia of Gardening (1822 edition), pp 327-35

Country Life, 3 (18 June 1898), pp 754-7; (25 June 1898), pp 788-91; 10 (28 December 1901), pp 838-9; 127 (2 June 1960), pp 1246-9; (9 June 1960), p 1305

R Sidwell, West Midland Gardens (1981), pp 161-5

M Batey and D Lambert, The English Garden Tour (1990), pp 270-5

M J Fisher, Alton Towers Past and Present (1997)

Archival items

Design for Quixhill entrance by J B Papworth, 1822 (at Alton Towers)  

Description written: 1997

Edited: September 1999