An Iron Age fort was built on Bunbury Hill (c. c – c. 1st century BC) which is now occupied by the Alton Towers estate.

The ensuing battle, which ended in stalemate, caused such a loss of life the place was called Slain Hollow (which later became the estate's oriental water garden).

By the 12th century, the large manorial estate had been given to knight Bertram II de Verdun (died 1129/30), as a reward for his work in the Crusades.

In 1801, Charles Talbot, 15th Earl of Shrewsbury, decided that the old hunting lodge was beyond repair, and commissioned a Gothic-style country house on his estate on the north side of the Churnet Valley.

These included a Pagoda fountain which was fed by water from a spring at Ramshorn that passed through various lakes and pools, cast iron Garden Conservatories designed by Robert Abrahams, a "Swiss Cottage" that hosted a Welsh harpist and a copy of Lysicrates' Choragic Monument from Athens.

As there was no direct heir to the estate, Bertram left the earldom and Alton Towers to a younger son of The 14th Duke of Norfolk but this was contested by Henry, 18th Earl of Shrewsbury, of Ingestre Hall, a distant cousin of the late 17th earl, who filed a legal writ to determine lawful ownership of Alton Towers.

As well as the gardens, people were attracted with fireworks displays, balloon festivals, clowns, and exhibitions of instruments of torture.

In 1924, the remaining part of the estate and house was sold to a group of local businessmen, who formed Alton Towers Limited.

[5] It is now commonly understood that the decay was caused in the inter-war period by the Bagshaw family – the majority shareholders – who sold the wood and plaster fixtures from the house's interiors as well as the lead roofing, allowing water to rot the building's remaining fittings.

After millionaire property developer John Broome married the daughter of majority shareholder Denis Bagshaw in 1973, he bought out the controlling stake in Alton Towers.

Over the next few years, he laid the foundation for the modern theme park by installing various permanent rides and developing areas of the grounds in progressive stages.

In 1978, the newly restored sunken gardens featured in a series of 30-second TV commercials for Accurist starring John Cleese.

[8] Alton Towers began its evolution into a major theme park in 1980 with the installation of The Corkscrew rollercoaster, the Pirate Ship, and the Alpine Bobsled ride.

In 1981, Talbot Street, the park's first permanent themed area, was opened on the site of the old fairground behind the Towers, as well as the Log Flume constructed near to the boating lake.

In 2000, a recreation of Alton Towers appeared in the theme park management video game Rollercoaster Tycoon as part of the Loopy Landscapes expansion.

The map was developed by Scottish video game designer Chris Sawyer, along with an adaptation of Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

At the time, Alton Towers also wanted to use some of the game's music for the real world version of the Swan Boats ride, but the project was cancelled.

[9][10][11] In 2005, Alton Towers was acquired by the investment group Dubai International Capital (DIC) when it purchased Tussauds for £800 million.

[12] The Tussauds Group was bought by Merlin Entertainments in March 2007 for over £1 billion from DIC, placing Alton Towers under their control.