Description:A view of the gardens leading up to the Memorial to the 15th Earl of Shrewsbury at Alton Towers. The Memorial was erected in about 1830 by his nephew John, the 16th Earl. It is a copy of the Choragic Monument or Monument to Lysacrates in Athens (compare with the Lanthorn of Demosthenes at Shugborough) and is made of cast iron. It contains a marble bust of the 15th Earl by Peter Hollins of Birmingham, with the inscription 'he made the desert smile'.
The gardens were created by the 15th Earl of Shrewsbury between about 1810 and 1827.