Alton Station, previously called Alton railway station and Alton Towers railway station, is holiday accommodation and an abandoned railway station in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, managed by the

Landmark Trust The Landmark Trust is a British building conservation charity, founded in 1965 by Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or architectural merit and then makes them available for holiday rental. The Trust's headqua ...

. Opened in 1849 by the

North Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire. The company was based i ...

, the station was part of the Churnet Valley line and served the village of

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) *Alton (surname) Places Australia *Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario *Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealand, ...

and the country estate at Alton Towers. In 1954, the station was renamed Alton Towers. After being closed in 1965, Alton Towers was purchased by

Staffordshire County Council Staffordshire County Council is the top-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Staffordshire, England. 62 councillors sit on Staffordshire County Council. Staffordshire operates a cabinet-style council In England, local auth ...

in 1969 to curtail persistent vandalism of the station building, and in 1979 was sold to the

, who renamed the site to Alton Station and converted the former station buildings into holiday accommodation.

History

At the height of the so-called "

Railway Mania Railway Mania was an instance of a stock market bubble in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1840s. It followed a common pattern: as the price of railway shares increased, speculators invested more money, which further incre ...

", when railways were being built across the whole country, the

obtained Parliament's permission to build a number of lines, one of which was the Churnet Valley Line, on 26 June 1845. It ran from in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

to in East Staffordshire. A temporary station was erected in Alton which opened on 13 July 1849, and the permanent station buildings opened the following year. The station's design followed an

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

style, unique in this respect among all NSR stations, which were a Tudor or Jacobean style. The architecture is variously attributed to A.W. Pugin and Henry Arthur Hunt, the latter of whom designed most of the NSR's stations. Early passengers included many day visitors coming in large numbers from the

Staffordshire Potteries The Staffordshire Potteries is the industrial area encompassing the six towns Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, Longton, Stoke and Tunstall, which is now the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. North Staffordshire became a centre of cer ...

to visit nearby Alton Towers, the country estate of the

Earl of Shrewsbury Earl of Shrewsbury () is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the Peerage of England. The second earldom dates to 1442. The holder of the Earldom of Shrewsbury also holds the title of Earl of Waterford (1446) in the Peerage of Ireland ...

. A luggage lift was installed to hoist the Earl's baggage up to Alton Towers. The station also comprised a three-storey tower which contained the Earl's suite of waiting rooms and its platform was made particularly long to satisfy the Earl's desire to have impressive surroundings in which to receive his guests. Several additions were made during the 1880s: * 1882 - goods yard and sidings enlarged,

signal box In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

built * 1882 - waiting room extended with a new booking office * 1884 - platforms lengthened, pathway directly to the Towers built The station experienced a great increase in use from 1924, when Alton Towers was sold to become a tourist attraction, with its gardens and parts of the house open for public use, although it did not become a

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

for several decades afterwards. It became part of the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

during the

Grouping Grouping may refer to: * Muenchian grouping * Principles of grouping * Railways Act 1921, also known as Grouping Act, a reorganisation of the British railway system * Grouping (firearms), the pattern of multiple shots from a sidearm See also ...

of 1923. The station then passed on to the

London Midland Region of British Railways The London Midland Region (LMR) was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways (BR), and initially consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) lines in England, Wales and Northern Irela ...

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

in 1948, and thereafter the line began to decline. In January 1954, the station was renamed Alton Towers in recognition of its previous service to the Alton Towers estate. Passenger service was greatly reduced from 1960, with eventual closure by the

British Railways Board British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

occurring in 1965. Vandalism of the waiting room became a problem soon thereafter, and the station buildings, platform and sections of line were purchased by

in 1969.

Design and layout

The former station buildings, attributed variously to

Augustus Pugin Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 181214 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and, ultimately, Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival st ...

and local architect Henry Arthur Hunt, are of an Italianate villa style unique to the former North Staffordshire Railway and was built at the request of

Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 19th Earl of Shrewsbury Charles John Chetwynd-Talbot, 19th Earl of Shrewsbury, 19th Earl of Waterford, 4th Earl Talbot, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC (13 April 1830 – 11 May 1877), styled Viscount of Ingestre between 1849 and 1868, was a British Con ...

, who owned the Alton Towers estate and wished for an impressive station where he might impress his guests. When in use as a railway station, Alton Towers also possessed a three-storey tower, unusually long platforms, and a luggage lift to the Alton Towers estate, all of which were built at the Earl's request.

The site today

The station buildings, which are

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, were acquired by the

and the stationmaster's house converted into holiday accommodation, opening in 1972. In 2008 the Landmark Trust converted the waiting-room to provide additional accommodation space. The buildings are occasionally open to the public as part of an "Open Day" scheme run by the Trust.

References

External links

*
Landmark Trust official site
*

*
Alton station on navigable 1955 OS map
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alton Railway Station, Staffordshire Disused railway stations in Staffordshire Beeching closures in England Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1849 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965 Grade II listed railway stations Italianate architecture in England Grade II listed buildings in Staffordshire Landmark Trust properties in England Former North Staffordshire Railway stations Repurposed railway stations in Europe 1849 establishments in England