A History of Alton 1700 to 1800

Life in the Alton area during the 18th Century

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Paperback - 48 pages
Jane Hurst; 2026 

Associated titles: Alton Papers 5 , Alton Papers 6 , Alton Papers 7 , Alton Papers 8 , Alton Papers 9 , Alton Papers 10 , Alton Papers 11 , Alton Papers 12, Alton Papers 13, Alton Papers 14 , Alton Papers 15 , Alton Papers 16 , Alton Papers 17 , Alton Papers 18 , Alton Papers 19 , Alton Papers 20 , Alton Papers 21 , Jane Austen & Alton , Jane Austen & Chawton , Miss Bell's Fountains , Alton's Inns , Alton's Pubs , Alton's Motor Traders, part 1 , Alton's Motor Traders, part 2 , Hartley Mauditt House

Introduction

The book follows the happenings in the town during this period.  The cloth trade was declining and hop growing increasing.  There was not enough work for all the corn-grinding mills and so the one in Alton itself had a papermill added on the site which did not close until 1909.  The number of Quakers grew and the Presbyterians were given permission to have a meeting house here.

Alton still lay on main routes from London to the south and west.  Although this would have helped trade, it also brought smallpox.  In the mid-1700s, the main road became a turnpike and there were proposals to build a canal through Alton but it came to nothing.  Daniel Defoe visited the town and botonist William Curtis was born in Lanten Street.  Cricket matches were played on The Butts and, in the 1790s, the elegant Workhouse was built.

This book links two previous ones: 'A History of Alton 1650-1700' and 'A History of Alton 1800-1850'.

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