Alton Castle is a Gothic-revival castle situated on a hill above the Churnet Valley on Castle Hill Road in the village of Alton.
The site has been fortified since Saxon times, with the original castle dating from the 12th century.
The current castle was constructed in the mid-19th century by John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, of nearby Alton Towers.
Since 1967 the castle has been designated a Grade I listed building and is also a scheduled ancient monument.
The Grade I description of the castle given by Historic England reads as follows;
"ALTON C.P. CASTLE HILL ROAD (North-west side) SK 0642-0742 13/8 The Castle 3/1/67 GV I Castle remains. A castle was in existence here by 1176, some of remains are late C12 and there are additions of the first quarter of the C13. Ashlar with diagonal tooling and rubble core. The castle is situated on a hill overlooking the Churnet Valley. It was protected to the north by a precipitous cliff and to the south by a rock-cut ditch and curtain wall which enclosed an irregularly shaped site on an east-west axis; the gatehouse lay towards the west end of the south curtain and there were two wall towers towards the centre. The South Curtain: mainly late C12. The remains of the wall stretch from the south-east angle of St. John's Prepatory School (q.v.) to the western apex of the site being interrupted by the eastern wall tower; towards the east end of the curtain is a pilaster buttress, at the western apex immediately north of the gatehouse is the base of a square buttress or turret. The parapet has been destroyed but its height and position are to be discerned on the west side of the eastern wall tower (see below). The Eastern Wall Tower: late C12 and bonded into the curtain wall. Square open backed tower with a battered base and a string course at the ground level of the castle enclosure; a blind pointed arch springs from the string course and indicates the position of a barrel vaulted chamber entered from the enclosure; above this is a central arrow loop of circa 1190 with cross slit and fishtail shaped base, to the rear of the loop is a round arched embrasure; from the level of this loop upwards the corners of the tower are chamfered. The left hand side of the tower has a rectangular loop set high up immediately in front of the former south curtain parapet, the position of which is indicated by a break in the ashlar work. On the right hand side of the tower corbelling spans the angle between tower and curtain at parapet level. The Western Wall Tower: early C13. D-shaped. Foundations only. The tower.was served by a newel staircase situated in its north-west angle. The Gatehouse: early C13. Twin D-shaped towers survive to a height of approximately 10 feet, the eastern tower has a battered and offset plinth. Originally the towers flanked a dentral gate passage with a portcullis at its outer (southern) end, the lower part of a portcullis groove of square section survives on the east side of the passage. A mural staircase entered from a door on the west side of the passage gave access to the upper parts of the gatehouse (now destroyed). Below the level of the former gate passage and between the 2 towers is a sally-port with round arch, it gives access to a central corridor beneath the gate passage, at the north end of which a segmental-headed doorway to the west leads to the basement of the west tower and to a doorway in the north wall which probably communicated with the castle enclosure via a mural staircase. There is no indication as to how the basement of the east tower was entered, it may have been from a trap in the floor of the room above. A short length of wall extends from the front of the western tower and probably terminated the rock-cut ditch to the west and flanked one side of the former approach road. The gatehouse was under- going consolidation work at the time the survey (June 1985) and was partly obscured by scaffolding. Derek Renn "Norman Castles in Britain" (1973) p. 352. Scheduled as an Ancient Monument.
Listing NGR: SK0725342455" SOURCE: (
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"Alton Castle is built on a rocky precipice overlooking the River Churnet. The site had been fortified in wood since Saxon times. The castle is also referred to in historical documents as Alton, Alverton or Aulton.
In the 12th century was founded in stone by Bertram III de Verdun and reconstructed during the 15th century.
From 1442, the castle was in the possession of the Earls of Shrewsbury, who from the beginning of the 19th-century made their home at nearby Alton Towers. By the mid-19th-Century the castle was mostly in ruins.
John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, commissioned Catholic architect Augustus Pugin, who was already working for the Earl at Alton Towers, to construct a new gothic castle/country house on the site.
Most of the 12th-century ruins were demolished to make way for the new building which was designed to look like a medieval castle built by English crusaders of the Knights of the Teutonic Order in Germany.
The Earl also commissioned Pugin to develop the surrounding area on castle hill. A "replica of a medieval hospital, a guildhall and presbytery" were constructed; dedicated to St. John the Baptist, the buildings served as a church and hospital (almshouses) and were designed to provide and care for the poor for of the parish. The church was also used as a school for local poor children.
In 1955 the site was taken over by the Sisters of Mercy and the presbytery became their convent. The castle remained a private residence until 1919 when the Sisters of Mercy bought it for £3,500 to extend their boarding school. The school closed in 1989 and the castle was left empty until 1996.
In 1996, it was established by the Archdiocese of Birmingham as a Catholic Youth Retreat Centre.
Over 8,000 children visit the Castle each year, mainly with schools, but also from other children’s organisations such as youth groups and charities who work with children with disabilities. Some of the children have suffered disadvantages, including disability, and many come from inner city areas of social and economic deprivation. The children participate in a variety of activities during their stay including mountain biking, trekking, archery, rock-climbing and survival." SOURCE: (
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