Built on an area known as Bunbury Hill, Alton Towers started its life as an Iron Age fort until around 700AD when it became a fort for Ceolred, Saxon King of Mercia. The land passed through many hands until around the 12th Century that it was given to a crusader called Bertram de Verdun for his efforts in the Holy Land Wars. Eventually it was passed into the hands of the Talbot family. John Talbot, the first Earl of shrews bury fought alongside King Henry V for most of his life and were very close to him. Throughout the decades the house was used as a summer lodge by the subsequent Earls of Shrewsbury until Charles, the 15th Earl took a major interest and began to extend it in 1800. In previous years the house was known as Alveton Lodge, then Alton Lodge until 1811 Charles renamed it to Alton Abbey. He had a great vision for his home and building continued until his death in 1827. This vision was carried on by his nephew, John, until 1852. The house that is seen today is the work of Pugin, who worked for the Earl from 1839. After John's death there was a huge family feud as to who had the right to the house and after an expensive legal case, Henry Chetwynd Talbot won. However the legal costs were so high he had to sell the contents of the house. It was in the early 1890's that the 20th Earl, Charles Henry Talbot, decided to develop the estate as a tourist attraction. Organised fetes, firework displays, balloon festivals and even exhibitions of instruments of torture were held. The estate was eventually sold off in 1924 to a group of local businessmen. In WW2, the house was requisitioned by the British Army and used as a cadet training centre, however as no building repairs were done it fell into a bad condition. After the war, the whole house was abandoned until 1980 when John Broome started one of the UK's premier attractions. Over the years paranormal activity has been reported on a regular basis. This has included the apparition of a maid seen walking down stairs, unexplained activity around the restaurant toilets, strange occurrences around the 'HEX' attraction and dragging noises heard coming from office areas.