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ALTON (1)

This name is well-represented in the Local Directories - there are about 100 entries. This accords with the 1890 Survey which included the name as being special to Derbyshire.

Since there are two places in the Country called "Alton" there is a strong temptation to assert that the name is derived from them. However "Alton" is not unique to Derbyshire. There are about a dozen places in England so-called but after analysing the evidence, it is submitted that "Alton" in Stafford has the strongest claim to be declared the principal source.

For reference, here follows a list. Except for an isolated settlement in Suffolk (Ipswich: 6 miles south) they assemble themselves into three well defined Areas. (1) Derby, Stafford, Leicester. (2) Worcester, Hereford. (3) Wiltshire, Hampshire, Dorset. Note: there is no uniformity in the meaning of the names. Those in Derbyshire mean "The Old Farmstead." That in Stafford, "The farm which is owned by a man called Aella" and that in Dorset "The Village near where the river rises (i.e The River Wey)". In passing note that the "Alton" in Scotland (Ayrshire, 1/2 mile north (of) Galston) is an English import and that there are no Irish counterparts.

Taking each place in turn and starting with our own county, there are two sites. The more prominent lies 1 mile west of Clay Cross but the other place has now merged with Idridgehay and appears as a few scattered habitations adjacent to the B5025 Highway. In Stafford, 8 miles west of Ashbourne in the well-known Visitors' Centre of "Alton Towers". Note that while "Alton" itself can be traced as far back as Domesday (1086) the "Towers" is modern (1814). In Leicester, about a few miles along the A11 near Coalville there is a place called "The Altons" of which "Alton Grange" seems the most well-established. The two places in Worchester (near Bewdley) and Hereford (near Leominster) must be mentioned but they do not seem to have generated any surnames beyond, possibly, the immediate vicinity. In the county of Wiltshire, 4 miles north of Amesbury there is the small village of "Alton" close to the picturesquely named "Alton Barnes" and "Alton Priors". (9 miles east (of) Devizes). In Hampshire there is the well-known market town between Farnham and Winchester and in Dorset we find another "Alton" on the B3413, 8 miles north of Dorchester.

It is significant that in all the relevant Directories, excepting our own the surname "Alton" is missing. This goes a long way to confirm the view that it is one of the Midland sites which generated the surname. It is submitted that if the important centre of "Alton" in Hampshire did not finish any identity, then why should the smaller settlements in Derby and Stafford have been able to do so? Not unless one of them enjoyed some special status causing it to be better known beyond its vicinity. Only "Alton" in Stafford seems to answer. This place, along with Ingestre in the same county, is strongly associated with the Talbot family which was greatly involved in Politics and Administration. Their power and influence throughout the Midland Counties on the Welsh Borders prevailed for several centuries beyond the Conquest. Although what follows cannot be put higher that inspired guess-work, it is submitted that the case for the surname "Alton" being derived largely from the place in Stafford is a least persuasive.

Surnames derived from place-names follow a pattern. The further away a family moved from its native place, the less likely was its origins to be known among its new neighbours and the more likely it would be to acquire a new identity. Single men tended to travel further afield than families and they often attracted generalised location names. There was considerable movement from Derby into the North and surname "Derbyshire" prevails strongly in the West Riding and Merseyside.

In the case of "Alton" it is suggested that the name was sufficiently well-known beyond its vicinity on account of its association with the powerful Talbot family. It would have employed many labourers whom it would have moved to places where it has interests beyond its Stafford centre and it would have dispatched numerous representatives to attend to its interests all over the Midlands. Furthermore it was the custom in the Middle Ages for employees and officials to take on the name of their employers or the place where they reside. It may be significant that all the early examples of the surnames indicate that the bearer is "From" or "Of" (i.e "de" ) a place called "Alton". Furthermore the fact that these examples are not far from the Stafford site reinforces the suggestion that it could be the principal source. The first reference is "Simon de Alton" (1141). It is set in otherwise only 50 miles away. Next comes "John de Alton" (1219) in the adjoining county of Leicester and only slightly further afield, in Nottingham, is "Peter de Alton" (1325). The Normans had considerable links with Scotland which may well account for "Robert de Alton" in Bavelay as early as 1280. The first references to the name in isolation is from Nottingham, 1508 and is to "Thomas Alton".

The name has gone overseas. There are two in Canada, three in the States and one in Australia. It is interesting to note that "Alton" in Iowa (USA) is surrounded by a "Matlock", "Sheldon" and "Chatsworth.

As given name "Alton" is best-known through Charles Kingsley's novel in which the hero is name is "Alton Locke". Otherwise the name cannot be traced in any of the Standard Biographies.

© Desmond Holden
From "The Peak Advertiser", 14th May 2001.

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