After many years of the land passing between owners and uses, it fell into the hands of the Talbot family, who originated from France. John Talbot, the first Earl of Shrewsbury, fought alongside Henry V, and the family had a strong ties with the rulers of the country.

At this time the house which stood on the land was known as the Alton Lodge or Alveton Lodge. The Earl is known to have used this as his summer residence, although at the time the area was a very bare and barren place. When Charles became the 15th Earl, he saw great potential in the estate, and began working on plans to extend and improve the grounds and house. A considerable amount of work was done to the area over the next 50 or so years, until 1852. Charles's vision was to develop the grounds and house into a one of the greatest stately homes and gardens in Britain.

Following this ambition, lakes and pools were excavated around the grounds, all by hand. Water for these features was diverted from a spring some two miles away. During the years 1806 - 1807, 5,000 conifers and 8,000 other trees were planted around the grounds.

Work on the house began in 1811, and it's name was changed to Alton Abbey, despite having no claim to being an Abbey. Charles died in 1827, but his ambitions for the grounds were continued through his nephew John. The Choragic monument overlooking the gardens was constructed in Charles's honour, inscribed with the words "He Made The Desert Smile" (a replica of one in Athens). Over the following years, John followed through his uncle's vision and completed the gardens and house.

During this time John Talbot and Robert Abrahams also commissioned sculptures and buildings such as the Pagoda Fountain, the Chinese Temple and the Conservatories, which can still be found in the park today.

The year 1837 saw the Shrewsbury's main home in Heythrop burned to the ground. Everything recovered from the fire was moved to the renamed Alton Towers. The walls of this building were awash with valuable works of art, and paintings by artists like Raphael and Van Dyck could be found around the house.

Further work was done to the house from 1839, when Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, (famous for the House of Commons architecture), was enlisted by the Earl to work on the house. He also continued work on the surrounding grounds and gardens.

When the Earl John Talbot died in 1852, the fate of Alton Towers was changed forever. After long and costly legal battles between family members to lay claim to the house and grounds, Henry Talbot became the new owner. Despite winning the case, the costs incurred led him to sell the contents of the house.

In 1860 more money was needed to fund repairs to the house. The grounds were opened to the public for the first time, and enough money was raised to pay for repairs to part of the house.
The 20th Earl of Shrewsbury, Charles Henry Talbot, continued the tourist trade at the park in the early 1890's, by organising firework displays, illuminations and fetes, as well as exhibitions of various descriptions.

The early 1900's saw Charles Henry Talbot develop the Talbot motor car, that would become the first motor car to travel 100 miles in one hour.

Around this time the Earl and his wife had separated, and the Earl moved away from the Towers. He agreed to pay an allowance to his wife who was staying behind, but never bothered. This meant the Towers began their decline from glory.

Much of the Shrewsbury properties were sold in 1918, and in 1924 the Alton Towers estate was sold to a group of local businessmen, who formed the Alton Towers Company. They worked on the house and gardens to restore them to their former glory, installing catering facilities for the many visitors which the estate was now getting.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the estate was requisitioned by the army for use as a cadet training unit. By the end of the war, the house was in a poor state of repair, and was kept locked up by the Ministry of Defence until 1951, when it was handed back to the Alton Towers Company. With shortage of building materials needed to repair the house, and the poor state which it was now in, the Company lost interest, and the whole interior of the house was removed and sold, leaving what can still be seen today - bare stone walls.

The house was left abandoned, with only the Chapel still used to house a model railway, and the Armoury used as a gift shop. In the 1970's, the new owners decided to restore parts of the house, and reinforced the floors and ceilings allowing public access once again. A few attractions were also installed to give visitors to the estate something to do whilst looking at the gardens.

John Broome took charge around 1980, and began turning things around at Alton Towers. He decision was made to turn the area surrounding the Towers, (all 500 acres), into a leisure park for families to enjoy.

With a few attractions already at the park, the first major step John took was to install the U.K's first double corkscrew rollercoaster, The Corkscrew. This attracted visitors from all over the country, and this started the development of Alton Towers which is still continuing today.

The Tussauds Group purchased Alton Towers in 1990, and Tussauds was then bought by the Charterhouse group in 1998.