The Press.
London, England, 1857-07-11 00:00:00

ALTON TOWERS.

THE sale now going on at this princely seat, and the
great legal battle which is to be fought over the pro-
perty, invests the place with fresh interest.
Alton Towers is situated on a lofty eminence in
the valley of the Churnet, one of the steep command-
ing hills which form the base of Derbyshire Peak.
The house overlooks a narrow and very steep ravine,
which stretches southward for about a mile and a
half, terminating in a wild, dark-looking gorge, like
one of the mountain outlets in South Wales. The
approach to the Towers winds from the railway sta-
tion at Alton up the steep ascent, which is so thickly
wooded as almost to exclude the light and give a
sombre, melancholy aspect to the scene. The house
stands on the very edge of the ravine, down either
side of which are the terraced gardens, tier below
tier, till the bottommost parterres are almost undis-
tinguishable save for their brilliant colours. The
Towers themselves form a noble Gothic pile, vast as
a little town, with a whole crowd of turrets and pin•
nacles stretching high into the air, and visible for
miles around. There is a wild and picturesque
irregularity about the structure which gives it an
appearance of antiquity far beyond its real age. The
principal entrance is under a massive square tower
of the Gothic type, the broad steps up which are
flanked with the armorial bearings of the family, the
tyke or talbot rampant. Over the high Norman
doorway the emblazonments of the still older fami-
lies from which the Talbots spring are deeply cut in
atone, the shields of the Furnivals and De Verdons,
whose names are foremost in the " Doomsday Book,"
with the martlet of the great house of Neville, whose
last heir, Warwick the King-maker, fell at the field
of Barnet.

A contemporary this week gives the following, as
the history of these world-famous towers :

Forty years ago the site was one of the wildest anti
most desolate of moorland hills in North Staffordshire.
The approaches to it were bad and difficult in summer, and
in winter there was no approaching it at all. The land was
poor, almost destitute of wood and water, and a ledge farm-
house, called Alton•lodge, in the centre of an extensive
rabbit warren, occupied the spot in which the far famed
seat now rears its lofty towers. The country mansion of the
Earls of Shrewsbury was at that time Heytbrop Castle, in
Oxfordshire, a grand old feudal residence, which with the
whole of its contents was unfortunately a few years back
destroyed by tire. Their estates in Staffordshire were
seldom visited by the successive earls, who on the rare
occasions when they did inspect them limited their sojourn
to a few days only, and hastened back to forget the dis-
comforts of the visit in the luxury of Heythrop or Grafton-
' hall. In truth, they had some reason to avoid the place,
for beyond the lonely farmhouse we hav4 mentioned and '
Alton Castle—a mutilated stone remnant of the feudal times,
which had been finally battered down and blown up by
Cromwell—no decent house was within miles of the neigh-
bourhood. It was not till 1812 that Charles, the 15th earl.
who keenly appreciated the beauties of nature, visited
Alton-lodge, and, struck with the rough grandeur of the
to 3 eery around, and the unrivalled facilities it would offer
to a man of taste, determined to erect a villa there. When
he commenced his design, in 1814, his plan WAS only to
improve and beautify the farmhouse then existing ; but
the natural capabilities of the place gradually led to an ex-
tension of his views, and after going to some expense he
at length decided to rear an edifice worthy of his rank and
great possessions. To this object he devoted himself
exclusively, and, as a Roman Catholic could not then take
part in the political movements of the day, he was enabled
to pursue his darling object undisturbed by the demands
of party warfare. He obtained an inclosure act, and
planted and inclosed the hills and commons round the
edifice; formed a deer park, and planned the gardens,
which for rich and picturesque beauty leave Chatsworth or
Trentham far behind. He was stilllabouring at the works
at the time of his death in 1*27, when he left the care of
perfecting and completing his great plan to John, the 16th
earl. He followed in the fcotstepa of his predecessor, and
even added to and Unproved on his designs. Under
his care Alton Towers was finished almost as it stands
at present--me of the most.pieturesque =maims in
• lingista