Alton, Staffordshire Genealogy

England Staffordshire

Parish History
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.

ALVETON, or Alton (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Cheadle, S. division of the hundred of Totmonslow, N. division of the county of Stafford, 4½ miles (E. by S.) from Cheadle; comprising the townships of Alton, Cotton, Denston, and Farley; and containing 2390 inhabitants, of whom 1168 are in Alton township. The extensive manor of Alton became the property of John Talbot, first earl of Shrewsbury, by his marriage with the heiress of the Furnival family, and has remained with his descendants to the present time. The living, before the Reformation, was connected with the abbey of Croxden, to which the benefice was attached by Bertram de Verdun of Alton Castle, in 1176, after he had founded the abbey. The ruins of the castle still remain, on the summit of a rock 300 feet above the bed of the Churnet: on the opposite bank of the river are the magnificent mansion and park of the Earl of Shrewsbury. The parish contains between 7000 and 8000 acres, whereof 2251 are in Alton township: there are limestone-quarries in the township of Cotton, and some copper-mines at Ribden; and a paper-mill is in operation. The Uttoxeter branch of the Trent and Mersey canal runs through the parish, its course being for some miles parallel with that of the Churnet, over which it is carried by means of an aqueduct. The village is romantically situated on the banks of the river, which here flows through a fertile vale; on the summit of an adjacent eminence is a lofty tower, commanding extensive and varied prospects. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £5. 16. 5½., and in the gift of the Earl of Shrewsbury: the tithes have been commuted for £433 payable to his lordship and others, and £250 payable to the vicar; the glebe comprises 5 acres, with a house. The church, which displays a mixture of the Norman and English styles, was repaired and enlarged in 1831. There is a chapel at Cotton. The Calvinistic, Wesleyan, and Primitive Methodists have places of worship; and a Roman Catholic chapel has been erected at Alton-Towers by the earl. At Bunbury, in the parish, are the remains of a very extensive fortress, of an irregular form, ascribed to Ceolred, King of Mercia about 715; it is defended on three sides by a double vallum, and on the fourth by a steep declivity.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 49-53. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50754 Date accessed: 11 April 2011.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
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Census records
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Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Staffordshire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
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Web sites
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