Alton Staffordshire Family History Guide
Alton is an Ancient Parish in the county of Staffordshire.
Other places in the parish include: Cotton, Denston, Denstone, Upper Cotton, Lower Coton, Lower Cotton, Upper Coton, and Farley.
Parish church:
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1681
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1676
Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational, Methodist New Connexion, Primitive Methodist, Roman Catholic, and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
Alton
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
ALTON, or Alveton, a township, a parish, and a subdistrict, in the district of Cheadle, Stafford. The township lies on the Churnet river, the Uttoxeter canal, and the North Stafford railway, 7½ 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., 2,250. 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 modern. Cotton and Denston are separate charges; and there are chapels for Independents, Methodists, and Roman Catholics, and charities £25.
The subdistrict comprises three parishes. Acres, 9,487. Pop., 2,693. Houses, 564.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Denston
Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales Circa 1870
Denston, a township-chapelry in Alton parish, Stafford; on the river Churnet, and the Uttoxeter canal, near Rocester-Junction r. station, 5 miles N of Uttoxeter. Post-town, Rocester, under Ashborne. Real property, £1,489. Pop., 241. Houses, 53. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Lichfield. Value, £150. Patron, J. P. Heywood, Esq.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Farley
Lewis Topographical Dictionary of England 1845
Farley, a township, in the parish of Alveton, union of Cheadle, S. division of the hundred of Totmonslow, N. division of the county of Stafford, 4¼ miles (E. by N.) from Cheadle; containing 472 inhabitants. At Oakamoor, near this place, where are some large copper and brass works, are also a chapel of ease, and a national school.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis Fifth Edition Published London; by S. Lewis and Co., 13, Finsbury Place, South. M. DCCC. XLV.
Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland Gorton 1833
Farley, co. Stafford.
P. T. Cheadle (146) 4 m. E b N. Pop. 398.
A township in the parish of Alveton and south division of the hundred of Totmonslow.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland by John Gorton. The Irish and Welsh articles by G. N. Wright; Vol. II; London; Chapman and Hall, 186, Strand; 1833.
Parish Records
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Directories
1854 Post office directory of Birmingham, Warwickshire, and part of Staffordshire – Google Books
Maps
Administration
- County: Staffordshire
- Civil Registration District: Cheadle
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Lichfield (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Lichfield
- Rural Deanery: Cheadle
- Poor Law Union: Cheadle
- Hundred: South Totmonslow
- Province: Canterbury