Farley

Farley Lane and the Churnet Valley

Farley Lane climbs steeply out of Alton village, past a scatter of cottages and farms, and forms the western boundary of Alton Towers itself. There's no pub here, no shop, no post office — just working farmland, with the theme park's tree line running along one edge of the parish.

You're in the Churnet Valley, in the Staffordshire Moorlands, with the Weaver Hills visible a few miles north-east — the southernmost limestone hills of the Pennines, topped by a trig point called, with no further explanation offered, "The Walk."

Food nearby and the long walk

For a pint or a proper menu you'll want to drive a short way: The Star at Cotton, over in Oakamoor, or The Tavern at Denstone, which sits by Denstone Hall Farm Shop & Café. The Duncombe Arms at Ellastone is the other option. None of them are in Farley, but none of them are far from it either.

Walking is what Farley is actually for. Visit Staffordshire lists "A Farley Good Walk," a roughly ten-mile circular route from Oakamoor rated "harder," taking in Farley, Ramshorn and Cotton. A public right of way runs from the west side of Alton Towers Resort, past Farley, up to Ramshorn Road, then down field paths to Oakamoor — connecting the theme park directly to open countryside.

Chapel, hall and medieval origins

The one building of note in the hamlet is the Ramsor Primitive Methodist Chapel, known locally as the Jubilee Chapel, put up in 1887 to mark Victoria's Golden Jubilee. Its pulpit was rescued from a former chapel at Gun End, near Leek. A Staffordshire Moorlands conservation appraisal calls it "the main if not only building other than farms and dwellings to survive from the 19th century" here — it's private now, holding services occasionally.

Farley Hall itself dates to 1607, built by Richard Bill of Norbury after he married into the estate; his family went on to work as land agents for the Earls of Shrewsbury and Gower. The Domesday surveyors didn't bother recording Farley separately — it was a township of the manor of Alton, and Alton's own entry notes simply that the land "is waste; no recorded resources."

The Towers estate and ways in

The parish carries 54 listed buildings, which is a lot for a population of 139. Five are Grade II*, all inside the Alton Towers estate: the house itself — built for the Earls of Shrewsbury, the 16th working with A.W.N. Pugin, now substantially a ruin — plus Robert Abraham's Conservatory of around 1824, the octagonal Gothic Prospect Tower, and Abraham's cast-iron Chinese Pagoda Fountain of 1827. The remaining 49 are mostly farmhouses and outbuildings.

The nearest working station is Uttoxeter, about ten miles away. Alton's own station, opened 1849 on the Churnet Valley line, closed to passengers in 1965 and is now Landmark Trust holiday accommodation. The D&G Bus AT3 links Blythe Bridge station to Alton Towers via Ramshorn Road and Cotton. Alton village, down the hill, has Alton Castle, rebuilt for the 16th Earl by Pugin and now a Catholic youth retreat centre; the Peak District begins about ten miles north.

Refuge at Farley Hall

In May 1939, Farley Hall took in around 38 Sudeten Czech refugees — clerical and engineering workers who'd fled the German occupation — after the youth hostel at Ilam Hall, where they'd first been placed, turned out to be fully booked over Easter by paying holidaymakers. They stayed at Farley Hall, then home to Major C.F. Bill, while Europe collapsed around them.