Logic (from the Greek ''λογική'' logikē) is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science. Logic examines general forms which arguments may take, which forms are valid, and which are fallacies. In philosophy, the study of logic figures in most major areas: epistemology, ethics, metaphysics. In mathematics, it is the study of valid inferences within some formal language. Logic is also studied in argumentation theory.

Logic was studied in several ancient civilizations, including the Indian subcontinent, China and Greece. Logic was established as a discipline by Aristotle, who gave it a fundamental place in philosophy. The study of logic was part of the classical trivium, which also included grammar and rhetoric.

Logic is often divided into two parts, inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning.

The Study of Logic

The concept of logical form is central to logic, it being held that the validity of an argument is determined by its logical form, not by its content. Traditional Aristotelian syllogistic logic and modern symbolic logic are examples of formal logics.

Informal logic is the study of natural language arguments. The study of fallacies is an especially important branch of informal logic. The dialogues of Plato are good examples of informal logic. Formal logic is the study of inference with purely formal content. An inference possesses a ''purely formal content'' if it can be expressed as a particular application of a wholly abstract rule, that is, a rule that is not about any particular thing or property. The works of Aristotle contain the earliest known formal study of logic. Modern formal logic follows and expands on Aristotle. In many definitions of logic, logical inference and inference with purely formal content are the same. This does not render the notion of informal logic vacuous, because no formal logic captures all of the nuance of natural language. Symbolic logic is the study of symbolic abstractions that capture the formal features of logical inference. Symbolic logic is often divided into two branches: propositional logic and predicate logic.

Mathematical logic is an extension of symbolic logic into other areas, in particular to the study of model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory.

Logical form

Logic is generally accepted to be formal, in that it aims to analyze and represent the ''form'' (or logical form) of any valid argument type. The form of an argument is displayed by representing its sentences in the formal grammar and symbolism of a logical language to make its content usable in formal inference. If one considers the notion of form to be too philosophically loaded, one could say that formalizing is nothing else than translating English sentences into the language of logic.

This is known as showing the ''logical form'' of the argument. It is necessary because indicative sentences of ordinary language show a considerable variety of form and complexity that makes their use in inference impractical. It requires, first, ignoring those grammatical features which are irrelevant to logic (such as gender and declension if the argument is in Latin), replacing conjunctions which are not relevant to logic (such as 'but') with logical conjunctions like 'and' and replacing ambiguous or alternative logical expressions ('any', 'every', etc.) with expressions of a standard type (such as 'all', or the universal quantifier ∀).

Second, certain parts of the sentence must be replaced with schematic letters. Thus, for example, the expression 'all As are Bs' shows the logical form which is common to the sentences 'all men are mortals', 'all cats are carnivores', 'all Greeks are philosophers' and so on.

That the concept of form is fundamental to logic was already recognized in ancient times. Aristotle uses variable letters to represent valid inferences in ''Prior Analytics'', leading Jan Łukasiewicz to say that the introduction of variables was 'one of Aristotle's greatest inventions'. According to the followers of Aristotle (such as Ammonius), only the logical principles stated in schematic terms belong to logic, and not those given in concrete terms. The concrete terms 'man', 'mortal', etc., are analogous to the substitution values of the schematic placeholders 'A', 'B', 'C', which were called the 'matter' (Greek 'hyle') of the inference.

The fundamental difference between modern formal logic and traditional or Aristotelian logic lies in their differing analysis of the logical form of the sentences they treat.

In the traditional view, the form of the sentence consists of (1) a subject (e.g. 'man') plus a sign of quantity ('all' or 'some' or 'no'); (2) the copula which is of the form 'is' or 'is not'; (3) a predicate (e.g. 'mortal'). Thus: all men are mortal. The logical constants such as 'all', 'no' and so on, plus sentential connectives such as 'and' and 'or' were called 'syncategorematic' terms (from the Greek 'kategorei' – to predicate, and 'syn' – together with). This is a fixed scheme, where each judgement has an identified quantity and copula, determining the logical form of the sentence.

According to the modern view, the fundamental form of a simple sentence is given by a recursive schema, involving logical connectives, such as a quantifier with its bound variable, which are joined to by juxtaposition to other sentences, which in turn may have logical structure.

The modern view is more complex, since a single judgement of Aristotle's system will involve two or more logical connectives. For example, the sentence "All men are mortal" involves in term logic two non-logical terms "is a man" (here ''M'') and "is mortal" (here ''D''): the sentence is given by the judgement A(M,D). In predicate logic the sentence involves the same two non-logical concepts, here analyzed as $m(x)$ and $d(x)$, and the sentence is given by $\backslash forall\; x.\; (m(x)\; \backslash rightarrow\; d(x))$, involving the logical connectives for universal quantification and implication.

But equally, the modern view is more powerful: medieval logicians recognized the problem of multiple generality, where Aristotelean logic is unable to satisfactorily render such sentences as "Some guys have all the luck", because both quantities "all" and "some" may be relevant in an inference, but the fixed scheme that Aristotle used allows only one to govern the inference. Just as linguists recognize recursive structure in natural languages, it appears that logic needs recursive structure.

Deductive and inductive reasoning

Deductive reasoning concerns what follows necessarily from given premises (if a, then b). However, inductive reasoning—the process of deriving a reliable generalization from observations—has sometimes been included in the study of logic. Correspondingly, we must distinguish between deductive validity and inductive validity (called "cogency"). An inference is deductively valid if and only if there is no possible situation in which all the premises are true but the conclusion false. An inductive argument can be neither valid nor invalid; its premises give only some degree of probability, but not certainty, to its conclusion.

The notion of deductive validity can be rigorously stated for systems of formal logic in terms of the well-understood notions of semantics. Inductive validity on the other hand requires us to define a reliable generalization of some set of observations. The task of providing this definition may be approached in various ways, some less formal than others; some of these definitions may use mathematical models of probability. For the most part this discussion of logic deals only with deductive logic.

Consistency, validity, soundness, and completeness

Among the important properties that logical systems can have: Consistency, which means that no theorem of the system contradicts another. Validity, which means that the system's rules of proof will never allow a false inference from true premises. A logical system has the property of soundness when the logical system has the property of validity and only uses premises that prove true (or, in the case of axioms, are true by definition).

Rival conceptions of logic

Logic arose (see below) from a concern with correctness of argumentation. Modern logicians usually wish to ensure that logic studies just those arguments that arise from appropriately general forms of inference. For example, Thomas Hofweber writes in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy that logic "does not, however, cover good reasoning as a whole. That is the job of the theory of rationality. Rather it deals with inferences whose validity can be traced back to the formal features of the representations that are involved in that inference, be they linguistic, mental, or other representations".

By contrast, Immanuel Kant argued that logic should be conceived as the science of judgment, an idea taken up in Gottlob Frege's logical and philosophical work, where thought (German: ''Gedanke'') is substituted for judgment (German: ''Urteil''). On this conception, the valid inferences of logic follow from the structural features of judgments or thoughts.

History

The earliest sustained work on the subject of logic is that of Aristotle. Aristotelian logic became widely accepted in science and mathematics and remained in wide use in the West until the early 19th century. Aristotle's system of logic was responsible for the introduction of hypothetical syllogism, temporal modal logic, and inductive logic. In Europe during the later medieval period, major efforts were made to show that Aristotle's ideas were compatible with Christian faith. During the later period of the Middle Ages, logic became a main focus of philosophers, who would engage in critical logical analyses of philosophical arguments.

The Chinese logical philosopher Gongsun Long (ca. 325–250 BC) proposed the paradox "One and one cannot become two, since neither becomes two." In China, the tradition of scholarly investigation into logic, however, was repressed by the Qin dynasty following the legalist philosophy of Han Feizi.

Logic in Islamic philosophy, particularly Avicenna's logic, was heavily influenced by Aristotelian logic.

In India, innovations in the scholastic school, called Nyaya, continued from ancient times into the early 18th century with the Navya-Nyaya school. By the 16th century, it developed theories resembling modern logic, such as Gottlob Frege's "distinction between sense and reference of proper names" and his "definition of number," as well as the theory of "restrictive conditions for universals" anticipating some of the developments in modern set theory. Since 1824, Indian logic attracted the attention of many Western scholars, and has had an influence on important 19th-century logicians such as Charles Babbage, Augustus De Morgan, and George Boole. In the 20th century, Western philosophers like Stanislaw Schayer and Klaus Glashoff have explored Indian logic more extensively.

The syllogistic logic developed by Aristotle predominated in the West until the mid-19th century, when interest in the foundations of mathematics stimulated the development of symbolic logic (now called mathematical logic). In 1854, George Boole published ''An Investigation of the Laws of Thought on Which are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities'', introducing symbolic logic and the principles of what is now known as Boolean logic. In 1879, Gottlob Frege published ''Begriffsschrift'' which inaugurated modern logic with the invention of quantifier notation. From 1910 to 1913, Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell published ''Principia Mathematica'' on the foundations of mathematics, attempting to derive mathematical truths from axioms and inference rules in symbolic logic. In 1931, Gödel raised serious problems with the foundationalist program and logic ceased to focus on such issues.

The development of logic since Frege, Russell and Wittgenstein had a profound influence on the practice of philosophy and the perceived nature of philosophical problems (see Analytic philosophy), and Philosophy of mathematics. Logic, especially sentential logic, is implemented in computer logic circuits and is fundamental to computer science. Logic is commonly taught by university philosophy departments, often as a compulsory discipline.

Topics in logic

Syllogistic logic

The ''Organon'' was Aristotle's body of work on logic, with the ''Prior Analytics'' constituting the first explicit work in formal logic, introducing the syllogistic. The parts of syllogistic logic, also known by the name term logic, are the analysis of the judgements into propositions consisting of two terms that are related by one of a fixed number of relations, and the expression of inferences by means of syllogisms that consist of two propositions sharing a common term as premise, and a conclusion which is a proposition involving the two unrelated terms from the premises.

Aristotle's work was regarded in classical times and from medieval times in Europe and the Middle East as the very picture of a fully worked out system. However, it was not alone: the Stoics proposed a system of propositional logic that was studied by medieval logicians. Also, the problem of multiple generality was recognised in medieval times. Nonetheless, problems with syllogistic logic were not seen as being in need of revolutionary solutions.

Today, some academics claim that Aristotle's system is generally seen as having little more than historical value (though there is some current interest in extending term logics), regarded as made obsolete by the advent of propositional logic and the predicate calculus. Others use Aristotle in argumentation theory to help develop and critically question argumentation schemes that are used in artificial intelligence and legal arguments.

Propositional logic (sentential logic)

A propositional calculus or logic (also a sentential calculus) is a formal system in which formulae representing propositions can be formed by combining atomic propositions using logical connectives, and in which a system of formal proof rules allows certain formulae to be established as "theorems".

Predicate logic

Predicate logic is the generic term for symbolic formal systems such as first-order logic, second-order logic, many-sorted logic, and infinitary logic.

Predicate logic provides an account of quantifiers general enough to express a wide set of arguments occurring in natural language. Aristotelian syllogistic logic specifies a small number of forms that the relevant part of the involved judgements may take. Predicate logic allows sentences to be analysed into subject and argument in several additional ways, thus allowing predicate logic to solve the problem of multiple generality that had perplexed medieval logicians.

The development of predicate logic is usually attributed to Gottlob Frege, who is also credited as one of the founders of analytical philosophy, but the formulation of predicate logic most often used today is the first-order logic presented in Principles of Mathematical Logic by David Hilbert and Wilhelm Ackermann in 1928. The analytical generality of predicate logic allowed the formalisation of mathematics, drove the investigation of set theory, and allowed the development of Alfred Tarski's approach to model theory. It provides the foundation of modern mathematical logic.

Frege's original system of predicate logic was second-order, rather than first-order. Second-order logic is most prominently defended (against the criticism of Willard Van Orman Quine and others) by George Boolos and Stewart Shapiro.

Modal logic

In languages, modality deals with the phenomenon that sub-parts of a sentence may have their semantics modified by special verbs or modal particles. For example, "''We go to the games''" can be modified to give "''We should go to the games''", and "''We can go to the games''"" and perhaps "''We will go to the games''". More abstractly, we might say that modality affects the circumstances in which we take an assertion to be satisfied.

The logical study of modality dates back to Aristotle, who was concerned with the alethic modalities of necessity and possibility, which he observed to be dual in the sense of De Morgan duality. While the study of necessity and possibility remained important to philosophers, little logical innovation happened until the landmark investigations of Clarence Irving Lewis in 1918, who formulated a family of rival axiomatizations of the alethic modalities. His work unleashed a torrent of new work on the topic, expanding the kinds of modality treated to include deontic logic and epistemic logic. The seminal work of Arthur Prior applied the same formal language to treat temporal logic and paved the way for the marriage of the two subjects. Saul Kripke discovered (contemporaneously with rivals) his theory of frame semantics which revolutionised the formal technology available to modal logicians and gave a new graph-theoretic way of looking at modality that has driven many applications in computational linguistics and computer science, such as dynamic logic.

Informal reasoning

The motivation for the study of logic in ancient times was clear: it is so that one may learn to distinguish good from bad arguments, and so become more effective in argument and oratory, and perhaps also to become a better person. Half of the works of Aristotle's Organon treat inference as it occurs in an informal setting, side by side with the development of the syllogistic, and in the Aristotelian school, these informal works on logic were seen as complementary to Aristotle's treatment of rhetoric.

This ancient motivation is still alive, although it no longer takes centre stage in the picture of logic; typically dialectical logic will form the heart of a course in critical thinking, a compulsory course at many universities.

Argumentation theory is the study and research of informal logic, fallacies, and critical questions as they relate to every day and practical situations. Specific types of dialogue can be analyzed and questioned to reveal premises, conclusions, and fallacies. Argumentation theory is now applied in artificial intelligence and law.

Mathematical logic

Mathematical logic really refers to two distinct areas of research: the first is the application of the techniques of formal logic to mathematics and mathematical reasoning, and the second, in the other direction, the application of mathematical techniques to the representation and analysis of formal logic.

The earliest use of mathematics and geometry in relation to logic and philosophy goes back to the ancient Greeks such as Euclid, Plato, and Aristotle. Many other ancient and medieval philosophers applied mathematical ideas and methods to their philosophical claims.

One of the boldest attempts to apply logic to mathematics was undoubtedly the logicism pioneered by philosopher-logicians such as Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell: the idea was that mathematical theories were logical tautologies, and the programme was to show this by means to a reduction of mathematics to logic. The various attempts to carry this out met with a series of failures, from the crippling of Frege's project in his ''Grundgesetze'' by Russell's paradox, to the defeat of Hilbert's program by Gödel's incompleteness theorems.

Both the statement of Hilbert's program and its refutation by Gödel depended upon their work establishing the second area of mathematical logic, the application of mathematics to logic in the form of proof theory. Despite the negative nature of the incompleteness theorems, Gödel's completeness theorem, a result in model theory and another application of mathematics to logic, can be understood as showing how close logicism came to being true: every rigorously defined mathematical theory can be exactly captured by a first-order logical theory; Frege's proof calculus is enough to ''describe'' the whole of mathematics, though not ''equivalent'' to it. Thus we see how complementary the two areas of mathematical logic have been.

If proof theory and model theory have been the foundation of mathematical logic, they have been but two of the four pillars of the subject. Set theory originated in the study of the infinite by Georg Cantor, and it has been the source of many of the most challenging and important issues in mathematical logic, from Cantor's theorem, through the status of the Axiom of Choice and the question of the independence of the continuum hypothesis, to the modern debate on large cardinal axioms.

Recursion theory captures the idea of computation in logical and arithmetic terms; its most classical achievements are the undecidability of the Entscheidungsproblem by Alan Turing, and his presentation of the Church-Turing thesis. Today recursion theory is mostly concerned with the more refined problem of complexity classes — when is a problem efficiently solvable? — and the classification of degrees of unsolvability.

Philosophical logic

Philosophical logic deals with formal descriptions of natural language. Most philosophers assume that the bulk of "normal" proper reasoning can be captured by logic, if one can find the right method for translating ordinary language into that logic. Philosophical logic is essentially a continuation of the traditional discipline that was called "Logic" before the invention of mathematical logic. Philosophical logic has a much greater concern with the connection between natural language and logic. As a result, philosophical logicians have contributed a great deal to the development of non-standard logics (e.g., free logics, tense logics) as well as various extensions of classical logic (e.g., modal logics), and non-standard semantics for such logics (e.g., Kripke's technique of supervaluations in the semantics of logic).

Logic and the philosophy of language are closely related. Philosophy of language has to do with the study of how our language engages and interacts with our thinking. Logic has an immediate impact on other areas of study. Studying logic and the relationship between logic and ordinary speech can help a person better structure his own arguments and critique the arguments of others. Many popular arguments are filled with errors because so many people are untrained in logic and unaware of how to formulate an argument correctly.

Logic and computation

Logic cut to the heart of computer science as it emerged as a discipline: Alan Turing's work on the Entscheidungsproblem followed from Kurt Gödel's work on the incompleteness theorems, and the notion of general purpose computers that came from this work was of fundamental importance to the designers of the computer machinery in the 1940s.

In the 1950s and 1960s, researchers predicted that when human knowledge could be expressed using logic with mathematical notation, it would be possible to create a machine that reasons, or artificial intelligence. This turned out to be more difficult than expected because of the complexity of human reasoning. In logic programming, a program consists of a set of axioms and rules. Logic programming systems such as Prolog compute the consequences of the axioms and rules in order to answer a query.

Today, logic is extensively applied in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, and Computer Science, and these fields provide a rich source of problems in formal and informal logic. Argumentation theory is one good example of how logic is being applied to artificial intelligence. The ACM Computing Classification System in particular regards:

Section F.3 on Logics and meanings of programs and F.4 on Mathematical logic and formal languages as part of the theory of computer science: this work covers formal semantics of programming languages, as well as work of formal methods such as Hoare logic

Boolean logic as fundamental to computer hardware: particularly, the system's section B.2 on Arithmetic and logic structures, relating to operatives AND, NOT, and OR;

Many fundamental logical formalisms are essential to section I.2 on artificial intelligence, for example modal logic and default logic in Knowledge representation formalisms and methods, Horn clauses in logic programming, and description logic.

Furthermore, computers can be used as tools for logicians. For example, in symbolic logic and mathematical logic, proofs by humans can be computer-assisted. Using automated theorem proving the machines can find and check proofs, as well as work with proofs too lengthy to be written out by hand.

Controversies

Just as there is disagreement over what logic is about, so there is disagreement about what logical truths there are.

Bivalence and the law of the excluded middle

The logics discussed above are all "bivalent" or "two-valued"; that is, they are most naturally understood as dividing propositions into true and false propositions. Non-classical logics are those systems which reject bivalence.

Hegel developed his own dialectic logic that extended Kant's transcendental logic but also brought it back to ground by assuring us that "neither in heaven nor in earth, neither in the world of mind nor of nature, is there anywhere such an abstract 'either–or' as the understanding maintains. Whatever exists is concrete, with difference and opposition in itself".

In 1910 Nicolai A. Vasiliev rejected the law of excluded middle and the law of contradiction and proposed the law of excluded fourth and logic tolerant to contradiction. In the early 20th century Jan Łukasiewicz investigated the extension of the traditional true/false values to include a third value, "possible", so inventing ternary logic, the first multi-valued logic.

Logics such as fuzzy logic have since been devised with an infinite number of "degrees of truth", represented by a real number between 0 and 1.

Intuitionistic logic was proposed by L.E.J. Brouwer as the correct logic for reasoning about mathematics, based upon his rejection of the law of the excluded middle as part of his intuitionism. Brouwer rejected formalisation in mathematics, but his student Arend Heyting studied intuitionistic logic formally, as did Gerhard Gentzen. Intuitionistic logic has come to be of great interest to computer scientists, as it is a constructive logic, and is hence a logic of what computers can do.

Modal logic is not truth conditional, and so it has often been proposed as a non-classical logic. However, modal logic is normally formalised with the principle of the excluded middle, and its relational semantics is bivalent, so this inclusion is disputable.

"Is logic empirical?"

What is the epistemological status of the laws of logic? What sort of argument is appropriate for criticizing purported principles of logic? In an influential paper entitled "Is logic empirical?" Hilary Putnam, building on a suggestion of W.V. Quine, argued that in general the facts of propositional logic have a similar epistemological status as facts about the physical universe, for example as the laws of mechanics or of general relativity, and in particular that what physicists have learned about quantum mechanics provides a compelling case for abandoning certain familiar principles of classical logic: if we want to be realists about the physical phenomena described by quantum theory, then we should abandon the principle of distributivity, substituting for classical logic the quantum logic proposed by Garrett Birkhoff and John von Neumann.

Another paper by the same name by Sir Michael Dummett argues that Putnam's desire for realism mandates the law of distributivity. Distributivity of logic is essential for the realist's understanding of how propositions are true of the world in just the same way as he has argued the principle of bivalence is. In this way, the question, "Is logic empirical?" can be seen to lead naturally into the fundamental controversy in metaphysics on realism versus anti-realism.

Implication: strict or material?

It is obvious that the notion of implication formalised in classical logic does not comfortably translate into natural language by means of "if… then…", due to a number of problems called the ''paradoxes of material implication''.

The first class of paradoxes involves counterfactuals, such as "If the moon is made of green cheese, then 2+2=5", which are puzzling because natural language does not support the principle of explosion. Eliminating this class of paradoxes was the reason for C. I. Lewis's formulation of strict implication, which eventually led to more radically revisionist logics such as relevance logic.

The second class of paradoxes involves redundant premises, falsely suggesting that we know the succedent because of the antecedent: thus "if that man gets elected, granny will die" is materially true since granny is mortal, regardless of the man's election prospects. Such sentences violate the Gricean maxim of relevance, and can be modelled by logics that reject the principle of monotonicity of entailment, such as relevance logic.

Tolerating the impossible

Hegel was deeply critical of any simplified notion of the Law of Non-Contradiction. It was based on Leibniz's idea that this law of logic also requires a sufficient ground to specify from what point of view (or time) one says that something cannot contradict itself. A building, for example, both moves and does not move; the ground for the first is our solar system for the second the earth. In Hegelian dialectic, the law of non-contradiction, of identity, itself relies upon difference and so is not independently assertable.

Closely related to questions arising from the paradoxes of implication comes the suggestion that logic ought to tolerate inconsistency. Relevance logic and paraconsistent logic are the most important approaches here, though the concerns are different: a key consequence of classical logic and some of its rivals, such as intuitionistic logic, is that they respect the principle of explosion, which means that the logic collapses if it is capable of deriving a contradiction. Graham Priest, the main proponent of dialetheism, has argued for paraconsistency on the grounds that there are in fact, true contradictions.

Rejection of logical truth

The philosophical vein of various kinds of skepticism contains many kinds of doubt and rejection of the various bases upon which logic rests, such as the idea of logical form, correct inference, or meaning, typically leading to the conclusion that there are no logical truths. Observe that this is opposite to the usual views in philosophical skepticism, where logic directs skeptical enquiry to doubt received wisdoms, as in the work of Sextus Empiricus.

Friedrich Nietzsche provides a strong example of the rejection of the usual basis of logic: his radical rejection of idealisation led him to reject truth as a "mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, and anthropomorphisms—in short ... metaphors which are worn out and without sensuous power; coins which have lost their pictures and now matter only as metal, no longer as coins". His rejection of truth did not lead him to reject the idea of either inference or logic completely, but rather suggested that "logic [came] into existence in man's head [out] of illogic, whose realm originally must have been immense. Innumerable beings who made inferences in a way different from ours perished". Thus there is the idea that logical inference has a use as a tool for human survival, but that its existence does not support the existence of truth, nor does it have a reality beyond the instrumental: "Logic, too, also rests on assumptions that do not correspond to anything in the real world".

This position held by Nietzsche however, has come under extreme scrutiny for several reasons. He fails to demonstrate the validity of his claims and merely asserts them rhetorically. Furthermore, his position has been claimed to be self-refuting by philosophers, such as Jürgen Habermas, who have accused Nietszche of not even having a coherent perspective let alone a theory of knowledge. George Lukacs in his book ''The Destruction of Reason'' has asserted that "Were we to study Nietzsche’s statements in this area from a logico-philosophical angle, we would be confronted by a dizzy chaos of the most lurid assertions, arbitrary and violently incompatible". Extreme skepticism such as that displayed by Nietzsche has not been met with much seriousness by analytic philosophers in the 20th century. Bertrand Russell famously referred to Nietzsche's claims as "empty words" in his book ''A History of Western Philosophy''.

See also

Digital electronics (also known as ''digital logic'' or logic gates)

Fallacies

Logic puzzle

Logic symbols

Mathematics

* List of mathematics articles

* Outline of mathematics

Metalogic

Outline of logic

List of logic journals

Philosophy

* List of philosophy topics

* Outline of philosophy

Reason

Straight and Crooked Thinking (book)

Table of logic symbols

Truth

Notes

References

Nuel Belnap, (1977). "A useful four-valued logic". In Dunn & Eppstein, ''Modern uses of multiple-valued logic''. Reidel: Boston.

Józef Maria Bocheński (1959). ''A précis of mathematical logic''. Translated from the French and German editions by Otto Bird. D. Reidel, Dordrecht, South Holland.

Józef Maria Bocheński, (1970). ''A history of formal logic''. 2nd Edition. Translated and edited from the German edition by Ivo Thomas. Chelsea Publishing, New York.

Cohen, R.S, and Wartofsky, M.W. (1974). ''Logical and Epistemological Studies in Contemporary Physics''. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. D. Reidel Publishing Company: Dordrecht, Netherlands. ISBN 90-277-0377-9.

Finkelstein, D. (1969). "Matter, Space, and Logic". in R.S. Cohen and M.W. Wartofsky (eds. 1974).

Gabbay, D.M., and Guenthner, F. (eds., 2001–2005). ''Handbook of Philosophical Logic''. 13 vols., 2nd edition. Kluwer Publishers: Dordrecht.

Hilbert, D., and Ackermann, W, (1928). ''Grundzüge der theoretischen Logik'' (''Principles of Mathematical Logic''). Springer-Verlag. OCLC 2085765

Susan Haack, (1996).'' Deviant Logic, Fuzzy Logic: Beyond the Formalism'', University of Chicago Press.

Hodges, W., (2001). ''Logic. An introduction to Elementary Logic'', Penguin Books.

Hofweber, T., (2004), Logic and Ontology. ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''. Edward N. Zalta (ed.).

Hughes, R.I.G., (1993, ed.). ''A Philosophical Companion to First-Order Logic''. Hackett Publishing.

Kneale, William, and Kneale, Martha, (1962). ''The Development of Logic''. Oxford University Press, London, UK.

Mendelson, Elliott, (1964). ''Introduction to Mathematical Logic''. Wadsworth & Brooks/Cole Advanced Books & Software: Monterey, Calif. OCLC 13580200

Smith, B., (1989). "Logic and the Sachverhalt". ''The Monist'' 72(1):52–69.

Whitehead, Alfred North and Bertrand Russell, (1910). ''Principia Mathematica''. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, England. OCLC 1041146

External links and further readings

Introductions and tutorials

* An Introduction to Philosophical Logic, by Paul Newall, aimed at beginners.

* forall x: an introduction to formal logic, by P.D. Magnus, covers sentential and quantified logic.

* Logic Self-Taught: A Workbook (originally prepared for on-line logic instruction).

**Nicolas Rescher. (1964). ''Introduction to Logic'', St. Martin's Press.

Essays

* "Symbolic Logic" and "The Game of Logic", Lewis Carroll, 1896.

* Math & Logic: The history of formal mathematical, logical, linguistic and methodological ideas. In ''The Dictionary of the History of Ideas.''

Reference material

* Translation Tips, by Peter Suber, for translating from English into logical notation.

* Ontology and History of Logic. An Introduction with an annotated bibliography.

Reading lists

* The London Philosophy Study Guide offers many suggestions on what to read, depending on the student's familiarity with the subject:

**Logic & Metaphysics

**Set Theory and Further Logic

**Mathematical Logic

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Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
name	Alton Towers Resort
location	Alton
location2	Staffordshire
location3	England
homepage	www.altontowers.com
owner	Jackie Tian, leased to Merlin Entertainments
general manager	Sir Ian Crabbe
opening date	1860 (1980 as Theme Park)
season	March - November
area
rides	29
coasters	8
water rides	5
slogan	"Where The Magic Never Ends!" "Escape to Alton Towers Resort" "No Where Else Like it on Earth"
coordinates	}}

Alton Towers is a theme park and resort located in Staffordshire, England. It attracts around 2.7 million visitors per year making it one of the most visited theme parks in the United Kingdom, after Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Alton Towers is also the 9th most visited theme park in Europe. It is based north of the village of Alton in Staffordshire (approximately east of Stoke-on-Trent), in the grounds of a semi-ruined gothic revival country house of the same name, the former seat of the Earls of Shrewsbury. The resort also includes two hotels; ''The Alton Towers Hotel'' and ''Splash Landings Hotel'', ''The Alton Towers Waterpark (Cariba Creek)'', ''Extraordinary Golf'', ''Conference Centre'' and ''The Alton Towers Spa (Located in the Alton Towers Hotel)''. Alton Towers is the flagship attraction of Merlin Entertainments in the United Kingdom.

The major attractions at Alton Towers include:

''Nemesis'', Europe's first inverted roller coaster.

''Oblivion'', the world's first vertical drop roller coaster

''Air'', the world's first B&M; flying roller coaster.

''Rita'', a launched roller coaster which accelerates to 100 km/h (62 mph) in approximately 2.2 seconds.

''Th13teen'', the world's first vertical free fall drop roller coaster.

The park's promotional music is In the Hall of the Mountain King, written by Edvard Grieg which has been used in TV promotions and around the park since the early 1990s.

History

Early history of the grounds

The estate dates back to before 1000 BC, when an iron age fort was built in the area, known as Bunbury Hill. In circa 700 AD, the estate became the site of a fortress for the Saxon king Ceolred of Mercia. A castle was built soon after the Norman Conquest, but the date of its erection is unknown. In the 12th century, the estate passed to Bertram de Verdun, as a reward for his work in the Crusades. In 1318, the estate passed by marriage to Thomas de Furnival, when he married Joan de Verdun. It passed again in 1406, to Sir John Talbot, when he married Maud, the eldest daughter of Lord Furnival. He became the Earl of Shrewsbury in 1442, a title that had been resurrected after being forfeited by the third earl in 1102. The old castle was destroyed during the English Civil War.

The early Alton Towers was a hunting lodge, known as ''Alveton Lodge'' (or ''Alverton''), which is the ancient name for ''Alton''. It had three floors; one of the towers was from an earlier building, which is part of the present-day building. It was split into two properties, one of which was rented by a tenant. The other property was used by the Talbots as a summer residence, their main residence being at Heythrop in Oxfordshire.

Charles Talbot, the 15th Earl, began improvements on the house and initiated the creation of the Gardens, at the turn of the 19th century. Through the early 19th century, 13,000 trees were planted in the grounds. In 1811, major work began on the house. Over the next ten years, several new rooms were built: a drawing room, dining room, chapel, library, long gallery, banqueting hall, conservatory and entrance hall were all added. As a result of the work done, the house doubled in size. The entire building was renovated in a Gothic style, and the foundations of the Flag Tower were also laid. The house was renamed to ''Alton Abbey'', despite there not being any particular religious connection. Some of the architects that worked on the house were Thomas Allason, William Hollins and Thomas Hopper.

In 1814 Charles and his wife moved into Alton permanently, and began the creation of extensive gardens. Prior to his work on the gardens, the land around Alton was farmland. Charles transformed the land into one of the largest gardens in Britain. Set in a valley that leads down to the River Churnet, a variety of features were created. A Pagoda fountain was built as an exact copy of the To Ho Pagoda in Canton, which used water from a spring at Ramshorn that passed through various lakes and pools. The Garden Conservatories, designed by Robert Abrahams were built of cast iron, and today are filled with various plants. A building known as the Swiss Cottage housed a Welsh harpist, and is now a restaurant. A building known as Stonehenge was constructed, and a copy of Lysicrates' Choragic Monument from Athens was built. Several gardens were planted, including a Dutch garden, located to the left of the conservatories, and a rock garden.

Following the earl's death in 1827, his nephew John succeeded him, who completed the gardens and house. In 1831, the earl's principal residence in Heythrop burned down. Everything that was saved was moved to Alton, and the earl came to live there permanently. Augustus Pugin designed a new entrance hall, banqueting hall and various other rooms, extending the house further, and it was renamed to Alton Towers. The grounds were opened to the public at various times of the year from 1839.

The 16th Earl died in 1852. He was succeeded briefly by his cousin, Bertram, who died at the age of 24. The house was finished by 1856, with no further alterations being made to the house again.

Because there was no direct heir to the estate, Bertram left the earldom and the estate to a younger son of the Duke of Norfolk. Henry Chetwynd-Talbot, a distant cousin of the late earl, contested the will and a lawsuit was initiated to determine who would get ownership. After some time it was granted to Henry Chetwynd Talbot of Ingestre Hall, Staffordshire. The ownership of the contents of the house was never contested, and so everything in Alton Towers was auctioned, with 4000 lots being sold over a period of 29 days. The new earl gained his title in 1858, and the estate in 1860. To celebrate, the earl held a procession on 13 April 1860. Beginning in Uttoxeter, it stretched over a mile and in the end over 40,000 people were said to be in the grounds. The earl continued to open the grounds to the public throughout the year at certain times, to help raise money to refurbish parts of the house.

During the 1890s, the 20th earl, Charles Talbot started the tradition of summer fetes at Alton. As well as the Gardens, people were attracted with fireworks displays, balloon festivals, clowns, and exhibitions of instruments of torture. In 1896, the earl and countess separated. The earl went to live at Ingestre, where he founded the Talbot Car Company in the 20th century, and the countess stayed at Alton. However, the house was left to decay because the earl did not pay much for the up keep, and the estate was neglected.

In November 1918, the Earl decided to sell the majority of the estate by auction, due to his absence. After the earl died in 1921, the countess continued to live in the estate for another two years. In 1924 the rest of the estate was sold to a group of local businessmen, who formed Alton Towers Limited. While the contents of the house was sold off, the grounds were restored and remained open to the public. Some of the rooms of the house were converted into cafés and toilets for public use. The house was requisitioned during World War II as an officer training unit and the gardens were closed until 1951, it is a common misconception that the army's time at the towers caused a lot of damage to the building. However despite some minor damage the army did not cause too much destruction to the towers complex, as much of the building was boarded up and unused in the war effort. It is now commonly understood that the majority of the decay was initiated by the Bagshaw family who sold the interior wood and plaster fixtures as well as the lead roofing allowing water to invade and rot the remaining fixtures. In the 1970s, concrete floors were added so that it could be opened to the public, and the building was listed as Grade II.

History of theme park

Alton Towers began its evolution into a theme park in 1980 with the installation of The Corkscrew rollercoaster, Pirate Ship and the Alpine Bob sled ride. A year later the Log Flume opened and in 1984 the park's second roller-coaster, The Black Hole opened. The themepark continued to be heavily invested in, year-on-year.

The park was purchased by The Tussauds Group in 1990. In 2005, Alton Towers was bought by the investment group Dubai International Capital (DIC) when it purchased Tussauds for £800million. The Tussauds Group was bought by Merlin Entertainments in March 2007 for over £1billion from DIC, placing Alton Towers under their control. In July 2007, the resort and park was sold to Nick Leslau and his investment firm Prestbury who now lease the park back to Merlin Entertainments to operate on a 35-year lease.

Monorail

The Von Roll monorail transports visitors from the further away car parks to the main entrance and ticket booths. The monorail system was acquired from Expo 86 which was held in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was installed in 1987, a year after Towers Street, and was opened by Star Trek actor William Shatner.

In 2008, Sarner, a UK based theme park design company, was commissioned to revamp the nine monorail trains. This included exterior decoration and new bench seating. Each train has a personalised soundtrack to fit with its own theme, such as 'pirates'.

The monorail moves visitors from the Alton Towers Hotel, Splash Landings Hotel, Cariba Creek Waterpark and Extraordinary Golf to the Alton Towers Theme Park .

Skyride

The Skyride is a cable car system which visitors can use to travel between Towers Street, Forbidden Valley, and Cloud Cuckoo Land.

The Skyride has operated since 1987 and replaced an earlier chairlift, which had opened in 1963. The central station in Forbidden Valley was burned on the evening of 28 October 2007, due to a faulty halogen lamp. The incident caused a power cut, which led to some guests being stranded on the park's monorail. Luckily, this incident was reported quickly by a Towers employee as to not cause as much massive damage, and the park says that the damage caused to the station was mainly cosmetic. The Skyride re-opened 19 April 2008 after major work had been carried out on the station's roof. At the end of 2008 season the original Skyride gondolas were replaced with smaller and more colourful gondolas.

At approximately 22:30 on 21 July 2009, a fire broke out in the Cloud Cuckoo Land station. It remained closed for the rest of the 2009 season.

Theme park areas

The park is split into many themed areas, which are located in a horseshoe shape around The Towers ruins and 19th century gardens. Guests have the option of using the Skyride to navigate around the park; there are stations in proximity to Towers Street, Forbidden Valley, Dark Forest and Cloud Cuckoo Land.

Timeline of Theme park areas

! Original Areas	! Areas in 1984	! Areas in 1986	! Areas in 1992	! Areas in 1994	! Areas in 1995	! Areas in 1997	! Areas in 1998	! Areas in 1999	! Areas in 2008	! Areas in 2009	! Current Areas
Talbot Centre			Dark Forest
	Britannia Farm
Springfield Centre

Towers Street

Opened in 1986, Towers Street is the first area that visitors to the park encounter. Themed loosely as a town street, it leads to views of the gardens and the Towers across the lake in the distance. Along the pathway are the park's famous jumping frog fountains and a lawn where seasonal events usually take place. The street contains several shops, including the Towers Trading Co., which sells official park merchandise. The first ''Skyride'' station is located nearby. A ticket shop called ''Resort Box Office'' is based in a building at the end of Towers Street and sells products such as Fastrack, Annual Passes and Hotel Breaks. Also located in Towers Street is Corner Coffee, Towers Family Restaurant and Guest Services.

Navigation:

Skyride (opened 1987; refurbished 2009)

Monorail (opened 1987; refurbished 2008)

Food, drink and shops:

Coca Cola Refill Station

Corner Coffee

The Towers Hot Dogs

The Towers Family Restaurant

Towers Trading

Resort Box Office

Mutiny Bay

Mutiny Bay is a pirate-themed land, which re-themed Merrie England in 2008, is aimed primarily at families. Attractions in Mutiny Bay include: ''Battle Galleons'', a large interactive "Splash Battle" water ride where guests sit in pirate boats that travel through a water channel, while soaking other riders with water cannons; and a rocking boat ride, ''Heave Ho''. The teacups ride was re-themed to become ''Marauders Mayhem'', where rotating gunbarrels replaced the tea cups. The area also has a Burger King take-away and live entertainment. Since the opening of the area, many live actors roam around the area dressed as pirates.

In 2009, a new Sea Life centre, Sharkbait Reef, opened in the location previously home to the 3-D Cinema. This includes designated "touch pools" where guests can interact with various underwater species and a 10-metre ocean tunnel. The attraction is one of the most heavily themed Sea Life centres to open worldwide. In April 2010, a live webcam was installed to allow internet users to watch one of the tanks, which can be accessed via the official website.

Attractions:

Battle Galleons (opened 2008, replaces the Splash Karts)

Heave Ho (opened 2008)

Marauder's Mayhem (opened 2008, rethemed Teacups ride)

Sharkbait Reef by SEA LIFE (opened 2009, replaces 3D Cinema, closed since 2004)

Live Shows and Entertainment:

The Pirates of Mutiny Bay: Quest for the Golden Parrot - Live Show (Opened 2011)

Shark Tooth Jack's Pirate Training Camp (Opened 2011)

Pirate Walkabout Characters

Meet and Greets with Fin the Shark (Since 2010)

Food, drink and shops:

Pirate's Galley - Burger King

Courtyard Tavern and BBQ

Eastern Express

Mexican Cantina

Mutiny Bay Donuts

Mutiny Bay Hot Dogs

Mutiny Bay Shoppe

Pirates Pasty Co.

Ben & Jerry's

Previous names/themes:

Ingestre Centre

Aqualand

Merrie England

Katanga Canyon

Themed as an African village; created in 1992 and incorporated existing rapids ride. Rides include the ''Runaway Mine Train'' a wild speeding mine train rollercoaster and the ''Congo River Rapids''. Both are well-established rides in the park whose ride tracks share a tunnel. The area has a new 'Explorer's' restaurant for 2009, with a shared indoor seating area (£8.25 per head for all you can eat buffet). There is a shop located at the exits of the two rides called ''Katanga Cargo'', hosting "ancient" tribal themed merchandise. Slightly outside the area (but still part of Katanga Canyon) is the popular 'Flume' ride, a log flume with boats themed as bath tubs and many ducks quacking around the station area. The Flume opened in 2004 after being re-themed from a traditional log flume ride. The ride was sponsored by imperial toiletries until 2011. The ride has two other attractions at the park based on it, the Master Blaster water slide and the Imperial Room at the hotel. Attractions:

Congo River Rapids (opened 1986; refurbished 1992)

Runaway Mine Train (opened 1992)

The Flume Unplugged (opened 1981; refurbished 2004)

Food, drink and shops:

Katanga Kabin

Explorers Pizza-Pasta Buffet Restaurant (Replaced KFC/Pizza Hut in 2009)

The Katanga Cargo Company

Previous names/themes:

Aqualand (Congo River Rapids/Grand Canyon Rapids only)

Gloomy Wood

The Gloomy Wood is a small, haunted house themed area containing the ride ''Duel: The Haunted House Strikes Back!''. The ride was originally a spooky non-interactive ride named ''The Haunted House'', but was upgraded in 2003 with laser-based plastic guns to shoot LED lights scattered around the rooms and monsters to deactivate some scares, with each player's score displayed on a digital display in the ride car to encourage competitive play. In 2007, an outdoor walk-through was added, named "Haunted Hollow". The pathway follows part of the route formerly used by the old scenic railway, linking from Mutiny Bay to Gloomy Wood. Haunted Hollow includes various tombstones, statues and other features, some of which interact with guests using sound effects.

Attractions:

Duel: The Haunted House Strikes Back! (opened 1992; refurbished in 2003)

Haunted Hollow (opened 2007)

Food, drink and shops:

Gloomy Wood Kiosk

Waffles and Ices

Spooks 'R' Us

Forbidden Valley

Themed around a frightening post-apocalyptic landscape, with large rocks and rusty pieces of metal and machinery scattering the area and also waterfalls coloured red to look like blood. One of the major rides is ''Nemesis'', an inverted roller coaster, based around the fictional tale of a giant ancient malevolent alien creature. Nemesis is consistently regarded as one of the greatest designed rollercoasters in the world in major, global rollercoaster polls. Also in the area, and continuing the apocalytic theme, are the ''Ripsaw'' and ''The Blade'' thrill rides. ''Ripsaw'' is a Huss Top Spin ride which opened in 1997 themed around a piece of shrapnel thrown from the alien creature's pit, while ''The Blade'' is an older Huss Pirate Boat themed around a pendulum blade. At the end of the valley is an "oasis", with calmer colours and plants, where the spectacular ride ''Air'', the world's first B&M; flying coaster, can be found. A ''Skyride'' station also services this area of the park.

Attractions:

Air (opened 2002, originally sponsored by Cadbury's Heroes)

The Blade (opened 1980; relocated 1997 from Fantasy World before retheme to X-Sector)

Lava Lump (climbing wall)

Nemesis (opened 1994)

Ripsaw (opened 1997)

Skyride (opened 1987; damaged by fire 2007; refurbished 2009; damaged by fire 21 July 2009; Rebuilt for the 2010 season.)

The Edge: Video Arcade

Previous attractions:

Thunder Looper (closed 1996, replaced by The Blade in 1997)

The Beastie (relocated to Adventure Land in 1997)

The Beast (closed 1997, replaced by Air in 2002)

Dynamo (moved to Forbidden Valley in 2002, removed 2004 and sold on in 2005)

Food, drink and shops:

Forbidden Treats

Fresh Fish and Chips (Take-Away)

The Generator - Burger King

Nemices Donuts

Refresh@Ripsaw

Air Shop

Previous names/themes:

Thunder Valley

Dark Forest

Dark Forest opened on 20 March 2010, replacing Ug Land which opened in 1999 which itself replaced Festival Park. The park's first major rollercoaster, Corkscrew, which inhabited Festival Park/Ug Land for almost twenty years, and on that site for nearly thirty years, was replaced by Thirteen, a multi-million pound project involving the world's first horizontal freefall rollercoaster and dubbed as the first ever psycoaster.

The new ride for 2010 was unveiled as 'Thirteen' (often stylised as 'TH13TEEN') in late 2009, after much marketing hype over the development in that area. During construction, the rollercoaster was referred to as 'Secret Weapon 6' or SW6, following the tradition of the park's other main thrill coasters. Along with Thirteen's opening, the surrounding land was rethemed into a haunted crypt in a Dark Forest with refurbished outlets and game stalls. Rita was also altered, with new station and train designs to look 'engulfed' by the supernatural forest.

Attractions:

Th13teen (Opened March 2010, Replaced Corkscrew)

Rita (Opened 2005, re-themed 2010)

Live Shows and Entertainment:

Wraiths of the Dark Forest - at select times of the year (Since 2010)

Previous Attractions:

Bone Shaker (SBNO in 2004, removed 2005)

Corkscrew (closed 2008, re-placed by Th13teen in 2010)

Ug Swinger (moved to Cloud Cuckoo Land in 2009 as Twirling Toadstool)

1001 Arabian Nights

Game stalls:

Galloping Gargoyles

Creeper's Challenge

Food, drink and shops:

Forest Feast

Tormented Treats

Rita Shop

Thirteen Shop

Woodcutter's Bar & Grill

Previous names/themes:

Talbot Centre

Festival Park

Ug Land

Cloud Cuckoo Land

Cloud Cuckoo Land is aimed at the younger audience of Alton Towers, and is themed with bright colours incorporating oversized flowers and toadstools, as if in a fantasy garden. Among the attractions are a bouncy castle play area called Wobble World, regular shows in the Theatre, and a Wave Swinger ride called the Twirling Toadstools. There are several other rides in the area especially suitable for younger children: ''Frog Hopper'', ''Galloper's Carousel'' and ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory : The Ride'', based on the Roald Dahl novel. ''The Peugeot Driving School'' gives children the opportunity to ride their own miniature car around a British style road network.

After a fire which destroyed the previous Skyride station in this area took place last year, the Skyride was made nonoperational for the rest of 2009. A new building was built with a brighter appearance. The ride reopened at the start of 2010.

Attractions:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Ride (opened 2006, replaced Toyland Tours which in turn replaced the original boat ride Around the World in eighty days)

Frog Hopper (opened 1999)

Galloper's Carousel (opened 1991; refurbished 2009)

Peugeot 207 Driving School (opened 2006)

Wobble World indoor-play area (opened 2009)

Twirling Toadstool (opened 2009-originally located in Ug Land)

Live Shows and Entertainment:

The Go!Go!Go! Show (Opened 2011)

Meet and Greets with Peugeot's Rory the Tiger (Since 2010)

Food, drink and shops:

Cuckoo Diner - Burger King

Caffe Express

Wobble World Cafe

Cuckoo Toys

Navigation:

Skyride (Opened 1988, refurbished 2009. The new station was opened in 2010.)

Previous names/themes:

Talbot Street (unknown date-1992)

Land of Make Believe (1993–1997)

Cred Street (1997–2008)

X-Sector

X-Sector is themed as if it were a sinister futuristic government facility. The area contains the innovative ''Oblivion'' ride, the world's first roller coaster with a vertical (89.8°) drop. The extra-wide roller coaster cars are held suspended over the edge for a maximum of three seconds before dropping downwards into a large hole amid mist and sirens thrown a pitch-black tunnel, and then re-emerging into a heavily banked turn leading back into the station. From the start of the 2011 season, it is sponsored by Fanta

Two thrill rides are located in the X Sector: ''Submission'', which opened in 2001 and is a double swing inverter; ''Enterprise'' which has been at the park since 1984, originally located where the Dark Forest is today, and is a HUSS enterprise. A giant blue building, which once held the ''Black Hole'' roller coaster, lies disused to one side of the area. A game arcade next to ''Oblivion's'' gift shop and the 'Meltdown' restaurant, selling KFC fast food, can also be found here.

Attractions:

Enterprise (opened 1984)

Oblivion (opened 1998)

Submission (opened 2001)

Previous attractions:

Black Hole (closed 2005)

Energizer (relocated to former home in Ug Land 2001, until closure in 2004)

Food, drink and shops:

Meltdown - KFC (and Pizza Hut until 2009)

Rehydrator

X-Sell

Previous names/themes:

Springfield Centre

Fantasy World

Adventure Land

Adventure Land is aimed at visitors between the ages of 5 and 11, and consists mainly of climbing frames, slides, swings and similar equipment. The main ride is the Sonic Spinball, based on the hit SEGA video game franchise Sonic the Hedgehog. It's a Maure Sohne spinning roller coaster, in which riders sit in seats that can spin on its base whilst travelling fast around the twisted track. There is one other attraction, 'Space Adventures' playground. The area also contains a food outlet. ''Beastie'', a small kiddie roller coaster is standing but not operating (SBNO) in the area.

Attractions:

The Beastie SBNO (opened 1983, Closed late 2010)

Sonic Spinball (opened 2004, rethemed 2010)

Live Shows and Entertainment:

Meet and Greets with Sonic the Hedgehog (Since 2010)

Food and drink:

Refresh @ Spinball

Previous names/themes:

Kiddies Kingdom

Storybook Land

Storybook Land is the park's smallest area and only contains one attraction: the 'Squirrel Nutty Ride' where riders travel around the area in acorn-shaped, powered cars that go around most of the way around the area. Storybook Land was created in 1996 when Kiddies Kingdom was split into this area and Adventure Land. The area contains no food outlets.

Attractions:

Squirrel Nutty Ride (opened 1996)

Live Shows and Entertainment:

Meet and Greets with Squirrel Nutty (Since 2010)

Farm Animal Talks

Previous names/themes

Kiddies Kingdom

Old MacDonald's Farmyard

Themed around a traditional farm, this area contains a small petting zoo as well as a few rides for younger visitors, which include ''Doodle Doo Derby'', a farm-themed carousel, and ''Riverbank Eye Spy'', a recently re-themed boat ride. In 2003, the old barn that used to hold the farm animals before the Foot and Mouth crisis of 2001, was converted to a play barn called ''Ribena Berry Bish Bash'', that contains thousands of small foam balls that are propelled, raised, thrown, dropped and shot from air cannons, now called Berry Bish Bash. In 2007, a new themed playarea opened called ''There's Something in the Dungheap'', especially for youngsters, with a maze, a playground and a picnic area. The main feature is a large pile of dung in which visitors can enter to find interactive insects crawling the floor, made possible by a projector and sensor.

Attractions:

Berry Bish Bash (opened 2003, originally sponsored by Ribena)

Doodle Doo Derby (opened 1995)

There's Something in the Dung Heap (opened 2007)

Old MacDonald's Singing Barn (opened 1995)

Old MacDonald's Tractor Ride (opened 1995)

Riverbank Eye-Spy (opened 1999)

Previous names/themes:

Britannia Building Society Farm

Safeway Farm

Historic areas

The Gardens

As an example of the mixed style of Humphry Repton's gardens, Alton Towers' garden was begun, ''circa'' 1814 by the eccentric 15th Earl of Shrewsbury, of whom J. C. Loudon (who was consulted on design features of which there were many) relates that he consulted every artist, only to avoid 'whatever an artist might recommend'.

Alton Towers grew into a collection of gardens: a Swiss Cottage, a Stonehenge, a Dutch garden, a Pagoda Fountain, said to be based on the To Ho pagoda in Canton, Lysicrates' Choragic Monument from Athens (a feature in English gardens since the 1760s), domed glasshouses (originally gilded), even a fairly large Matterhorn as a backing to one of England's earliest Alpine gardens. Near the garden entrance is a cenotaph of the 15th earl, a marble bust with an inscription reading "He made the desert smile".

Landmarks include:

Chinese Pagoda Fountain

The Swiss Cottage

Miniature 'Stonehenge'

A Greek Choragic Monument

Orangeries

The Towers

The Towers ruins are the source of the park's name. They belonged to the Talbot family as a stately home. The ruins are open to the public during most of the open season. However, some areas are closed off as part of a £1.1 million project in place to restore the oldest parts of the Towers.

''Hex - the Legend of the Towers'', a walk-through dark ride based within the ruins themselves, opened in 2000. The finale to the ride is a Vekoma Madhouse located away from the real Towers but themed as a secret vault. The storyline is based on Staffordshire's true legend about the chained oak tree, located in a nearby forest, and makes use of the history of the Towers.

In addition, a temporary scare maze, ''Terror of the Towers'', operates during the park's Halloween 'Scarefest' event and has done yearly since 2002. It takes guests through a tour of the ruins and uses live actors, lighting, mist and sound effects to add atmosphere. The attraction won the 2009 London Screamie Awards for 'Best Seasonal Attraction/Maze'.

Key areas:

Hex - The Legend of the Towers (dark ride) (opened 2000)

Terror of the Towers: What Lies Within (seasonal attraction)

The Banqueting Hall

The Chapel

Conservatories

Her Ladyship's Gardens

Other facilities

Hotels

The resort features two hotels, ''The Splash Landings Hotel'' and ''The Alton Towers Hotel''. ''The Splash Landings Hotel'' is a combination hotel and waterpark.

Alton Towers Hotel

The Alton Towers Hotel opened in 1996 and is themed to the eccentric fictional character Sir Algernon Alton. The rooms are decorated in a classically English style with pictures of Sir Algernon's inventions including the coasting roller adorning the walls.

The hotel features the Secret Garden restaurant serving a buffet breakfast and à la carte dinner, there is also the Captain and Dragon bars, the latter having a Chinese theme along with the small event/conference rooms in the hotel. The bars and restaurant surround the "ship" centrepiece of the hotel featuring a hot air balloon shape and rotating propellers.

The ship is also used as a stage for the evening entertainment including:

Pirate Bill's Magic Show

Live Bands and Singers

Character Photoshoots with Darwin the Dodo and Alton Bear.

Splash Landings Hotel

The Splash Landings Hotel is the newer of the two hotels, opening in 2003, it has a colourful exotic Caribbean theme and the main feature is the Cariba Creek Waterpark. The hotel features Flambo's Exotic Feast, a buffet restaurant with a wide selection of food including roast dinner and a chocolate fountain, also serving a buffet breakfast. Above Flambo's Feast is the Ma Garrita's Bar. Both the bar and restaurant have windows looking out over the indoor waterpark. The hotel rooms are in a wing to the side of the hotel and some rooms have views over the outdoor sections of the waterpark. The hotel also contains two shops, one selling general snacks, sweets and souvenirs and the other offering swimming costumes and other waterpark related sundries. There is also an arcade near Flambo's restaurant. In all the public elevators in the hotel, when they are in motion, the theme tune to Captain Pugwash is played, and stops as soon as the doors start opening. Splash Landings also plays host to "Ringo's Kids Club," new for 2011. Activities include:

Ringo's Pirate Workshop

Facepainting

Ringo's Dance Workshops

Pirate Bill's Magic Show

Party Time with Ringo!

Ringo's Bed Time Story

Ringo's Fish Tank Talk

Character Photoshoots with Ringo the Lemur and Alton Bear

Conference centre

Between the hotels sits the Alton Towers Conference Centre, Winner of meeting & Incentive Travel Magazine's Best UK Unusual Venue Award 2007. The Conference Centre opened shortly after the Splash Landings Hotel and is linked to both hotels via a walkway running from the side of the Alton Towers Hotel to the Conference Centre and through the Cariba Creek waterpark to the Splash Landings Hotel.

Waterpark (Cariba Creek)

The Alton Towers Waterpark, previously known as Cariba Creek, opened in 2003. It is a large, part indoor and part outdoor waterpark themed as a tropical lagoon. It is located within ''The Splash Landings Hotel'' and is available for both guests at the hotel and members of the public. The park features several fast slides, a lazy river, a giant tipping bucket and many other water features. Also located here is Quencher's bar, which was previously themed as a shipwreck until 2007 when it was extended.

Extraordinary Golf

In 2007, Alton Towers opened ''Extraordinary Golf'', 2 nine hole themed ''crazy golf'' courses, located near ''The Splash Landings Hotel''. Each of the holes have themes based on attractions within the themepark e.g. Nemesis. As with Cariba Creek, this facility is aimed at the general public as well as park and hotel guests. The standard price is £5 to play one 9 hole course or £6 to play all 18 holes.

Music

The music played at Alton Towers is a combination of commercial tracks, library music and commissioned music. The following composers have had their music played at the park: Graham Smart Ian Habgood David Buckley Crispin Merrell John Sanderson

In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg is the theme park's theme tune used in adverts, and played throughout the park.

Past rides

A single-loop roller coaster called Thunder Looper, manufactured by Schwarzkopf was constructed in 1990 but was closed only 6 years later. The ride propelled guests in cars along a track, through a loop, up a steep hill and then let gravity pull the car back through the loop again and back into the station. It was removed mainly because Alton Towers only obtained a temporary planning agreement and later height restrictions placed on the park and problems with the high level of sound the ride produced made it certain permanent planning permission would not be granted. Thunder Looper stood in the area Thunder Valley, which is now Forbidden Valley. The large ditch in which the track was situated is now partially taken up by the Blade ride.

The ''Black Hole'' featured a spiral lift and was contained entirely within a permanent tent structure that made some sections of the ride completely dark. This ride was closed in March 2005 and was sold and shipped out to an undisclosed theme park in Brazil in 2008. The sale was attributed to rising maintenance costs and new health and safety requirements requiring evacuation stairs on the spiral lift that could not be accommodated within the tent structure. As of April 2011 the tent structure which used to hold The Black Hole is still in place in its original location in the X-Sector area.

In common with most major parks, there was also a miniature railway line. It ran through the forest, and was one of the first attractions built after World War II. It was a 2-foot (610 mm) gauge line equipped with Baguley locomotives, which although steam-outline in appearance were in fact powered by diesel engines. It closed in 1996, by which time this once-popular ride had been displaced by the Skyride cable-cars. It was gradually removed afterwards, and is now covered in part by the Haunted Hollow walk-through, some remnants of the railway can still be seen at various points in the forest.

List of past rides

New and proposed attractions

2010

Thirteen, a £15million rollercoaster opened on 20 March 2010. The ride is built on the site of the removed Corkscrew rollercoaster. The new ride features the world's first vertical freefall drop, and was manufactured by Intamin AG. A new area, the Dark Forest, opened up with Thirteen and has a spooky/gothic theme based in a haunted forest. The nearby Rita coaster was given a retheme to allow continuity with the rest of the area.

Alton Towers made a deal with Sega at the end of 2009 to give Spinball Whizzer a sponsorship. The ride was partly rethemed with Sega's famous mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog for February Half Term of the 2010 season. The ride's name was changed to Sonic Spinball, named after the 1993 video game by Sega.

The Skyride station in the Cloud Cuckoo Land area of the park was rebuilt and the ride attraction is now operational again. The new building replaced the original 1980s station, which was destroyed by a fire in July 2009.

2011

The main new installation for the 2011 season will be the Go!Go!Go! Show; a pop musical show aimed at children. The show will perform regularly throughout the season in the Cloud Cuckoo Land area of the park.

Originally, it was rumoured, there were plans for a Shrek 4D attraction in the disused ice tent based in Storybook Land; along with a retheme of Storybook Land/Old MacDonalds Farmyard to Far Far Away from the films. However, these plans were scrapped by DreamWorks.

2012 onwards

It was mentioned at the one-off TH13TEEN Event on 19 June 2010 that the Black Hole tent, unused since the former ride's closure in 2005, could be the site of a new development for the 2012 season. Morwenna Angove, former Head of Marketing at the Resort, stated that work on 'SW7' (see below) may postpone the project, in which case it is likely to take place after 2014 instead.

A planning aplication for an indoor ride for the 2012 season has been submitted to the district council

The next major rollercoaster at the park was also announced at the TH13TEEN Event in June. It was described by Mowenna Angove, as the next "white-knuckle thrill ride". John Wardley, Ride Consultant for Merlin Entertainments, stated that the ride will also include a world's first feature. It will be codenamed "Secret Weapon 7" or "SW7" for short. SW7 will be the next attraction in the 'Secret Weapon' line-up. The ride has been announced for a 2013 opening. There is speculation that it will be a wooden rollercoaster but that is unlikely because of noise and height restriction on the park. John Wardley, the rollercoaster designer for the park, has been spotted surveying around 'The Flume' area and the X-Sector area with height balloons which see if rollercoasters go above tree height. Teaser posters have gone up around the Mutiny Bay toll booths. The poster suggests the Flume might be replaced with a "secret weapon" from Switzerland, although seems to be sketchy about the time frame of its arrival or if this will result in the flumes removal. Also notable is the description of "awesome might", which seems reflective of a comment Merlin Entertainments CEO Nick Varney made.

Alton Towers currently have an competition as part of the there "All time greats" marketing campaign, in which the public can become part of the design team for the new coaster that is due in 2013.Official Website Page

Development plan

In July 2009, the park outlined a 10-year development plan for the park (2010–19), the aim being to increase visitor numbers, in particular multi-day guests. The plan showed an option for a third hotel or new accommodation of some sort over the coming years. The plan also highlighted areas for development, as well as suggesting the possibility of a new park entrance nearer to the hotels, which could act as a second entrance or replacement to the existing one in Towers Street.

Events

Live concerts

The theme park and backlot car park areas host occasional concerts during the year, these have included Tina Turner, James & Chris de Burgh, among others. Alton Towers celebrated their 30th birthday with an 80's concert held on 23 May 2010. On 27 June 2010, the park played host to its first full live date within the theme park itself, when P!nk performed during her Funhouse Summer Carnival Tour.

''Alton Towers Live'' was a past event, which was hosted on 19 June 2011 and saw pop artists such as ; JLS, McFly, The Saturdays and Eliza Doolittle perform at the theme park.

Another concert was held at Alton Towers on 6th July 2011 which featured The Black Eyed Peas as the main act and had supported acts such as LMFAO, Labrinth and Parade. The Black Eyed Peas announced that this would be there last U.K performance as they would be taking indefinite break.

February Half Term

The theme park traditionally opens selected attractions during February half-term in the closed season, prior to the main opening in March. This year's event ran from 19–27 February 2011 and opened a selection of thrill and family rides at a discounted rate. Ride list

Scarefest

The park's major annual event is 'Scarefest' which celebrates Halloween with a number of temporary scare maze attractions, costumed characters and extended opening hours to 9:00PM. Many rides and areas are lit with coloured lighting at night, with rides operating in the darkness after dusk. The Scarefest event has been running since 2007, although the park started celebrating Halloween with decoration several years before. This year's Scarefest will run from 15–31 October 2011.

Current seasonal attractions

''Terror of the Towers - What Lies Within'', a long scare maze situated inside the Towers themselves, first introduced in 2002. This attraction has seen several different incarnations since its debut. A new format was introduced in the 2009 Scarefest event, along with the new tagline "What Lies Within" replacing "Bloodfest Banquet". Visitors queue outside in Her Ladyship's Gardens, and the attraction itself starts in the derelict Conservatories. Batches of guests watch a short pre show video showing two men exploring inside the Towers in search of ghosts. The video then unexpectedly cuts short, and guests enter the Towers in order to find them. At certain points in the maze, the bodies of the two men are each seen hanging from a noose. Visitors become lost in the lengthy corridors and themed scenes in the Towers, with live actors pursuing them in every room. The finale to the attraction is a maze-like walkway that winds around actors in cages, with intense strobe effects.

''The Boiler House'' is a scare maze first introduced in 2008, and is situated next to the Alton Towers Hotel. Originally, the scare maze was based around an abandoned industrial facility and featured live actors in make up. This was changed in 2009, when a new storyline was added. The scare maze is now based around the fictional "Hamble Twins" serial killers hiding in the industrial building, and visitors have to escape them as they are chased through the scenes. Visitors queue outside, past a van labelled "Alton News 24", from which television screens play news reports on the activity of the serial killers. Guests then walk through a covered walkway, which hides the marquee that the maze is contained in from view. Once inside, a man appears and warns guests about the dangers of coming inside. The murderers then appear and kill him, before chasing visitors away. Each of the Twins are played by two different actors wearing the same grotesque, latex mask. They appear at different points in the maze, creating the illusion that one character is in several places at once. Dim lighting and scent effects are heavily used. As of 2010, both the Boiler House and Carnival of Screams are located in the same large, temporary building, separated from each other.

''Carnival of Screams'' is a scare maze that opened for the first time during the 2010 scarefest event, during the 2010 event the carnival shared the same temporary building as the boiler house. The attraction is entered through a large clown face with enhanced horrific features. The maze is a mixture of funny "laugh out loud" moments and serious scares. of interest is the use of Toy Land Tours music that has been slightly warped for dramatic effect (Toyland tours been a now defunct ride at the resort). John Wardley is known to have contributed heavily to the development of this scarefest attraction.

''Skelvin's Haunted Adventure'' is a new version of Duel Live, first introduced in 2010, and takes over Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back! throughout Scarefest. As in previous years, the attraction will include live actors situated at different points around the ride. The laser guns and LED targets are switched off during this time. The ride is based around the Scarefest mascots, notably the character of "Skelvin".

Past seasonal attractions

''Terror of the Towers''. The first incarnation of this long-running annual scare maze was introduced in 2002, and was located in the Towers ruins themselves. Many scenes from the original maze are still used every year. Visitors walked through the long, winding corridors of the Towers, through many different themed scenes, whilst being pursued by live actors. The finale featured a winding pathway around actors behind fences, who lunged towards visitors, accompanies with heavy strobe effects. Terror of the Towers returned for the 2003 season, but was completely restructured and gained the new tagline and theme "Bloodfest Banquet".

''Terror of the Towers - Bloodfest Banquet'' was a new version of the successful Terror of the Towers scare maze, running from to 2008. It retained much of the original version, but featured new scenes that included scripted dialogue from the several characters, and a new storyline was added. The strobe maze finale was moved to another point in the maze and replaced by a new ending, in which visitors become trapped in a small room with cages on every side, as actors reach for them through the metal bars for almost a minute. Every year, Terror of the Towers kept changing slightly with revised scenes and new scares. However, for the 2009 Scarefest event, Terror of the Towers was once again completely rethought, with the tagline "What Lies Within". The new incarnation drops the scripted scenes and characters, meaning it is similar to the original Terror of Towers of 2002. The whole layout for the maze was also reversed, with what was previously the entrance becoming the exit.

''Room 13'' was first introduced in 2006 and was located in the conference room of the Alton Towers Hotel. It was only available to guests of the hotel, who were lead around the maze as many live actors appeared to scare them. Room 13 had positive reviews and returned in 2007, but was replaced by The Boiler House in 2008.

''Field of 1000 Screams'' was first introduced in the 2007 Scarefest event and was the first maze at Alton Towers not situated inside a pre-existing building. The Field was located entirely outdoors in a moderately sized field of maize, which had to be planted especially for the event several months earlier. It was based around the fictional village of Altonville, that had supposedly become overrun by zombies. Visitors walked down a long pathway cut through the corn, and encountered various characters and scares along the way, before the finale took place. Each year the maze developed slightly with different scenes, with the storyline continuing on from the previous year's backstory. The Field of 1000 Screams was received with positive reviews in its first few seasons, but did not return for the 2010 event.

''Haunted Hollow Live'' was first seen in 2007 and consisted of several sinister, costumed actors performing along the Haunted Hollow walkway in Gloomy Wood. The attraction was similar to Duel Live, which was introduced the year later. Haunted Hollow Live returned for the 2008 Scarefest event, but was cancelled for 2009 because of incidents involving actors being attacked.

''Duel Live'' was first introduced in the 2008 Scarefest event. Throughout this period, the park's haunted house dark ride, Duel, became host to this attraction, which included several live actors situated around the ride circuit. Duel was available to ride normally until 12PM, when the laser guns and LED targets were switched and the actors took their positions. This was changed in 2009, when Duel Live took place throughout the whole day and many more actors than the previous year were present. Duel Live was aimed at the family audience, and included such features as new music playing throughout the ride (instead of the usual Duel theme music), as well as a butler or maid who would welcome you inside the house. The attraction was changed slightly for the 2010 season and is now based around the park's Scarefest mascots.

Adrenalin Week

Adrenalin Week has run since the 2005 season, but had a break in 2008 after low attendance during the 2007 event. From 2–7 November 2009, the park's ten biggest thrill rides (including Air, Nemesis, Oblivion, Rita-Queen Of Speed and Enterprise) were in operation for the last time in 2009, with admission to the park costing just £10 in advance or £15 on the day.

Winter

The Splash Landings and Alton Towers hotels are open throughout Winter. Visitors can still enjoy Cariba Creek water park, Extraordinary Golf and Spa while most of the theme park is closed. Selected areas are open in Winter for the Christmas event, in which the Old McDonald's Farmyard area of the park is decorated for the special occasion and home to real reindeer.

Fireworks

From the 1990s, Alton Towers hosted an annual fireworks event on the Great Lawns, which often attracted tens of thousands of visitors. The displays although stunning, were considered disruptive by some, which led to complaints from local residents. Two local residents, Suzanne and Stephen Roper, decided to take the theme park to court regarding this issue. The court issued Alton Towers with a noise abatement order in October 2005, this restricted the theme park to three shows a year, previously five, with noise readings not exceeding 40 decibels outside the park. This led to the park temporarily abandoning the fireworks, however, the 2010 season saw an impressive fireworks and laser show which ran from 5–7 November to celebrate the new Th13teen (thirteen) ride and 30 years since the opening of the park in 1980. The park was open until 9pm with most major rides open.

It is also of note that the Earl of Shrewsbury made use of fireworks as part of the Grand Fetes held at Alton Towers in the 1890s, when Alton Towers was still a stately home.

The Ultimate Event

Every year, usually in May, Alton Towers plays host to ''The Ultimate Event''. It consists of "a day of fun and contemporary Christian Music." People can spend the day in the park before going to a concert at the end.

80s Disco

On 23 May 2010 Alton Towers Resort had an 80s Disco to celebrate thirty years of the park. Featuring a concert with 1980s pop stars including 'Kim Wilde', 'Midge Ure', 'Bananarama' and 'Rick Astley'.

Alton Towers Resort DVD

The Alton Towers Resort DVD system enables visitors to have footage captured of them as they visit eight of the main rides and other various locations around the park, by wearing optional RFID wristbands during their stay. The wristbands can later be returned to the shop (located on Towers Street); where the personalized footage is collected and compiled alongside stock footage of the rides, to produce a DVD souvenir of the visitor's day.

The system features personalised footage on Nemesis, Rita, Sonic Spinball, Oblivion, Air, The Flume and Congo River Rapids. Customers can preview their footage before they buy the DVD.

The system was originally known as "YourDay" and was run by a separate business to Alton Towers. It was first installed in the 2007 season. YourDay officially went into administration on 31 March 2009, and failed to open at the start of the 2009 season. However, the shop reopened for business in October 2009 for the final weeks of the season after Alton Towers decided to take over the concept and run the system themselves. YourDay remained closed again throughout the first few months of the 2010 season, before being rebranded as the "Alton Towers Resort DVD" and reopened again. The shop, system and footage used remains much the same.This has since been closed down for the 2011 season.

Controversy

A marketing strategy encouraging workers to call in absent in order to visit the theme park was heavily criticised by business groups.

Relations with the local community were harmed when Alton Towers significantly reduced the amount of free tickets it provides to local residents as compensation for the heavy traffic the theme park attracts to the small local village roads.

On 20 July 2006, an accident involving the ''Runaway Mine Train'' occurred near the tunnel area of the ride. The train separated into two, with the two sections colliding after the first section rolled back (or "valleyed"). Three people were taken to hospital while another 26 were treated for minor injuries. The ride remained closed until 2007. See Incidents at European parks for more information on accidents that occurred at Alton Towers

The park was subject to media coverage over its decision to slaughter its livestock from the Old McDonald's Farmyard area due to the Foot and Mouth disease outbreak in 2001. The slaughter was deemed necessary as the park would have been unable to open to the public if the animals remained, and livestock movement restrictions prevented them from being removed from the theme park itself. The RSPCA criticised the action, saying other options should have been examined.

In July 2006 a story broke that Alton Towers had been hired out for the day by a Muslim group, so people of Muslim faith could attend the resort for the whole day and perform prayers and other Islamic activities. It was, however, attacked by critics as an example of political correctness. It was discovered that the same day had already been booked for a wedding for a non-Muslim couple and their 60 invited guests. The couple were told they were allowed to attend the day, but had to respect the Muslim rules. The event was eventually cancelled due to lack of interest.

In October 2006, 15 out of 19 fast food outlets, and an independently run KFC failed local council health inspections.

In August 2009, Alton Towers hit the press with its decision to ban men from wearing Speedo style swimming briefs.

The Sun published an article on 29 Jul 2010 stating that the resort had banned sexual intercourse in certain sections of the hotels, because "a string of families moaned to staff that they were kept awake by noises from neighbouring rooms".

Restrictions

Alton Towers is set in the Staffordshire countryside, which put restriction on height of any ride or building and noise in the park. All buildings and rides must be below the tree line or disguised to fit the landscape. This can be seen on the ride Rita, where part of the track is painted dark green to fit in with the trees.

Noise pollution is also a problem for the park, due to the local villages that surround Alton Towers. There have been many times where Alton Towers has been taken to court for the noise that is made in the park.

See also

List of theme parks in the United Kingdom

Merlin Entertainments (Alton Towers parent company)

Incidents at European parks

References

External links

Lost Heritage: full architectural history of the house

Description of Theme Areas

1930 film of Alton Towers

Heraldry at Alton Towers

Category:Merlin Entertainments Category:Gardens in Staffordshire Category:Visitor attractions in Staffordshire Category:Gothic Revival architecture in Staffordshire Category:Von Roll people movers Category:Monorails Category:Amusement parks in England Category:Country houses in Staffordshire

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