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ALTON (2)

This surname is something of an enigma. It is described as being special to Derbyshire; yet the local directory contains only some 100 entries which is not a particularly exceptional number. Furthermore, although there are two sites in the county called "Alton", all the evidence tends to suggest that the principal source of the name is to be found elsewhere.

There are, in fact, several places distributed across the country but only one seems to have generated our county surname. A place in Worcestershire lying some 5 miles west of Bewdley is really too small to have given rise to anything but a highly localised name: and the same goes for Alton in Wiltshire (4 miles north of Amesbury on A345 highway). In Hampshire there is the established place called "Alton" about half-way between Southampton and London and which should most certainly have influenced the development of the corresponding surname, yet all the early records are to be found for counties much further north.

Scotland provides an interesting example. There is a site of the name but it is very unlikely that it generated any surname, but for the benefit of families who think they might be involved, the place can be located alongside the A719 highway, about 1½ miles north of Galston in Ayrshire. But caution is advised. The Scots themselves think that as a surname "Alton" is almost certainly derived from an English place-name. In fact only one record exists: it is for Robert de Alton, dated 1280. Mention is made of him in a legal context in Midlothian. Inspired guess-work (it is put no higher) might bring him into association with the Royal House of Scotland and in the capacity of some sort of emissary for the influential English family of Talbot, established in Alton in Staffordshire. This is, at least, a plausible explanation for him being described "of" that place.

Directing attention now to possible locations in Derbyshire, it is rather disappointing to discover that there are only two contenders, and neither is really of any significance as positively to pin-point its being the source of the surname. In the evolution of surnames, it is frequently the case that location-names are problematical. If they are related to small or isolated settlements, that would constitute a surname which would be meaningless to people living beyond a certain distance. If a man were to leave such a place and go further afield in search of work his new neighbours would provide a new identity - often based on a personal characteristic or perhaps an occupational name. In the present instance the place called "Alton" in north-east Derbyshire, which is about 4½ miles south of Chesterfield, would have stood a better chance of being the basis of a surname in some of the larger settlements round about, but, sadly, there are no contemporary records to support this. The name signifies "The Old Farm" but this nomenclature is repeated in countless other places and does nothing to help. It is first recorded in 1298. The source of the surname can also be assumed from the neighbourhood name extending south of Wirksworth: there are some half-dozen habitations incorporating the name but no specific location seems to prevail over the others. Even with the aid of a large-scale map nothing corresponding to even a hamlet can be made out with certainty. There must, however, have been something to merit its being mentioned in a Charter dated 1298, where it is given as "Altone".

Following upon all the fore-going, it would seem that the most persuasive case rests with Alton in Staffordshire. Its being situated in another area is not an impediment. It is only a short distance from the border and Ashbourne is barely 8 miles away to the east: In the Middle Ages Ashbourne was a place of consequence would have a attracted people from Alton who would have been readily identified as being "that guy from Alton" and the name itself is mentioned in Domesday (1086). The earliest records can be interpreted as "The Settlement of Aelfa". Who this "Aelfa" was is not certain. This personal name occurs elsewhere and suggests that it was a favoured name.

The earliest records of the name are intriguing: though outside Derbyshire a pattern can be discerned in the adjacent counties. It is just possible that servants or agents of the powerful and influential Talbot family who lived at Alton, would have been employed as messengers: hence John de Alton in Lincoln (1219) and Peter de Alton in Nottingham (1235). Family historians might be able to follow up this suggestion. Otherwise it is greatly to be regretted that references are extremely scanty. Sadly, also, the name reveals no entries in the standard biographies. But the name has travelled across the Atlantic: there are 14 places called Alton in the United States.

© Desmond Holden
From "The Peak Advertiser", 1st December 2003.

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