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The 'Why are the Towers ruins not open' thread

BarryZola

TS Member
Remember this place in particular in the house?

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Yep, the area that was a pleasant place to relax in the house before the Sanctuary came along. Not only has it ruined this part of the house for the time-being, it seems over recent years it's leading to the rest of the Towers being closed more and more often. It's very likely that it's just up to AT how often they open the ruins but I've sent this email to English Heritage anyway just to find out if everything is above board.

"Hello there. I have a query that I hope you can give me some factual direction with. Alton Towers (theme park) is obviously a place where people have to pay to enter. I also understand that English Heritage has been, and is, involved in some restoration projects in conjunction with Alton Towers with regards to the ruins of the stately home and the gardens. My query is with regards to whether there is an expected period that the accessible parts of the stately home ruins should be open to the paying public during the theme park's open season?

To explain my point further, going back around 6 years, for example, the mansion's (accessible) ruins were open for the whole of the open season at Alton Towers from around April to November for visitors to explore and enjoy. However, several years ago, Alton Towers opened a new paid for Halloween attraction (The Sanctuary) that would take up part of a formerly accessible part of the house for a couple of months each year. However, this attraction also led to the rest of the house being closed to other visitors during this period who had no interest in the Halloween attraction. The worst thing generally is that the part of the house taken up by this attraction has now been permanently inaccessible since it opened and it is one of the nicer places in the house and had received some good restoration prior to the Halloween takeover. I genuinely wonder if there has been any damage to this part of the house during the last few years. Adding to this, now, year on year, the time that the ruins as a whole is open seems to be getting less and less. For example, they are currently closed and we are nowhere near Halloween.

As I say, my main query is whether there is an expectation for any parts of the ruins to be accessible for a reasonable amount of time each year. Or is it simply up to Alton Towers to decide that accessible and safe parts of the listed stately home can just be closed permanently to paying visitors?

I would welcome any feedback or further relevant contact information. Best Regards, Adam."


I'll share any info on here if I get a reply. There are enough attractions shut already without them closing off the house and parts of the gardens (havn't even started on that yet).
 
I'm glad you've done this.

I love the ruins, they're my favourite part of the whole park. Whenever I'm on park and they're actually open, I always venture inside and go up on the roof.

It annoys me so much how The Sanctuary has hogged the Music Room for three years now. Surely it's not that difficult for the park to put the themeing and props into storage when they're not needed so that part of the Towers can be open to the public again.

I hope the English Heritage does something about it, as it's something that Alton Towers should be proud to have and show off, not to close for a large majority of the year.
 
Those are exactly my sentiments too Stevie. I can fully understand if they want to run the Halloween event for a matter of a couple of months and make revenue from that, it's good for the park. However, I don't see why they can't store the props etc somewhere else for the next 8-9 months or whatever it is. Is it just laziness? Not enough man hours for people to move things? They definitely have storage elsewhere and not too far away. And as for closing off the rest of the Towers at times such as this in the season, it just seems absolutely ridiculous. As you say, are they not proud of what they've got there? Don't they see it?
 
So the Towers have been open for... 3 and a half months this year. Appalling.

Best of luck, Adam, hope you're successful! The Towers are one lf the main reasons I visit these days, now I've done every ride for the umpteenth time.
 
It is a shame that they don't have the whole Towers open, after doing the rides so often it gets quite fun to explore the ruins.
 
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So the Towers have been open for... 3 and a half months this year. Appalling.

Best of luck, Adam, hope you're successful! The Towers are one lf the main reasons I visit these days, now I've done every ride for the umpteenth time.
Has it been open? everytime Ive been this year its been closed :(
 
I've never been into the towers because I only get once a year:( but would like to have a look.

They need to replace the windows though the towers look quite dingy from close up with most of the windows out. It should be the centre piece of the park and look like it is. Not just something they can't get rid of.
 
The Gothic architecture is stunning and something to be marvelled at. In my opinion it's one of the best ruins in the UK but Alton Towers (or should I say merlin!) seem to have this "oh, nothing to see here!" sort of attitude.
It's called Alton towers for a reason for Christ's sake, this should be being marketed as one of its biggest attractions, not used as a set/store cupboard!
Ugh sorry rant over :mad:
 
Can someone put directions to the entrances that get you into the towers. So if people want to look around it when it is open knows where they are.
 
I'd easily substitute a day of charging around to rides for a stroll in the Gardens and around the Towers, yet sadly these days are gradually becoming rarer due to the increasing amount of time the ruins are closed.

Best of luck with a response, I look forward to reading it.

Plus the Towers are great for leading first time Hex riders round in circles looking for the exit.
 
Can someone put directions to the entrances that get you into the towers. So if people want to look around it when it is open knows where they are.

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Credit to 'Mi-Nigle' who I think shared this image along with others on TT some years back (or maybe on here?). I've added 3 red X's where the entrances are when the ruins are completely open.
 
Can someone put directions to the entrances that get you into the towers. So if people want to look around it when it is open knows where they are.

Just scrapped this up fairly quickly. Keep in mind you cannot access the main ruins from the Hex or Chapel doors, but they're still areas in my eyes.

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EDIT: Beaten to it. Damn :p
 
To be honest, I think mine needed a little more detail anyway! ;)

P.S - Havn't heard anything back off English Heritage yet. Will leave it a few days and if there's no reply I'll contact them through a different channel.
 
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Just thinking, shouldn't this thread be in general discussion as its the towers not open now?

Anyway, I hope you get a response. It could be interesting.
 
Probably closed due to the number of morons who visit the place these days and prefer to vandalise it and smoke weed in there rather than go there to respect its history. Same reason they had to lock up the conservatories in the gardens. They used to once be open to the public to walk through.
 
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