National Gazetteer (1868) - Alton

"ALTON, a parish and market town in the hundred, division, and union of Alton, in the county of Hants, 17 miles to the N.E. of Winchester, and 47 miles from London, or 49 miles by the London and South Western railway. It is a place of great antiquity, as its name, signifying Old Town, indicates. A Roman cemetery probably existed here, as urns and other funeral relics have been lately dug up in the town. It was called by the Saxons Aweltuna, and was a royal demesne in the reign of Alfred. It is supposed by some to be the Æthelingadene, where a battle with the Danes was fought, in the year 1001. It returned a representative to one parliament of Edward I. and to one of Edward II. It was in the wood, a few miles from Alton, that Edward I., when prince, vanquished and made prisoner the outlaw, Adam de Gurdon.

In December, 1643, the town was taken by Sir William Waller, who defeated the royalist forces, under Colonel Bowles. Alton, which consists of three principal streets, is pleasantly situated on the river Wey, in the neighbourhood of extensive hop plantations, in a hilly and wooded country. The market-house has lately been enlarged, and additional facilities given to the farmers and dealers frequenting the market. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Winchester, value, with the curacies of Holybourne and Thedden attached to it, £728, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Winchester. The church, which is dedicated to St. Lawrence, is a large structure, in the perpendicular style and has a square embattled tower, with a spire. It contains a fresco painting of Henry VI., and two bishops, and two interesting brasses. The Society of Friends, the Independents, Presbyterians, and Wesleyan Methodists have chapels here.

There is a free grammar school, which was founded in 1642, by John Eggar, for the education of twenty-five boys. Its present revenue is £81. Part of the townhall, which stands in the market-place, was used as a national school-house, in which about 200 children were taught. There is now a national school, partly endowed, and a British school-house for both sexes. There is also a mechanics' institute, with a library of 1,000 volumes, an extensive lunatic asylum, an almshouse, a savings-bank, and a literary society. Petty sessions are held here by the county magistrates for the Alton division; a county court is also established; and polling for the county takes place here. The paper and silk mills, and the serge, drugget, and woollen manufactures, give employment to many hands. The bombazine manufacture, once carried on to a large extent, has declined. There are some large breweries in the town, for the ale for which it is famed. Alton was the birthplace of William of Alton, a Dominican friar, who lived in the reign of Edward II.; of John Pitts, the biographer, author of the book "De Illustribus Anglia Scriptoribus," who was born in 1660; of William Curtis, the botanist, born in 1746; and J. Curtis, the physician. Thedden Grange is the principal seat near Alton. The market is held on Tuesday for corn, and every alternate Tuesday for cattle and sheep; and fairs on the last Saturday of April, the 5th July, and the 29th September."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) - Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]