Halghton is a dispersed settlement and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the

east East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

Wrexham County Borough Wrexham County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Wrecsam) is a county borough, with city status, in the north-east of Wales. It borders England to the east and south-east, Powys to the south-west, Denbighshire to the west and Flintshire to the nort ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. It is part of the

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

of Hanmer.

History

Halghton is probably identifiable with the

vill Vill is a term used in English history to describe the basic rural land unit, roughly comparable to that of a parish, manor, village or tithing. Medieval developments The vill was the smallest territorial and administrative unit—a geographical ...

of "Hulhtune" noted in a 1043 charter of

Leofric, Earl of Mercia Leofric (died 31 August or 30 September 1057) was an Earl of Mercia. He founded monasteries at Coventry and Much Wenlock. Leofric is most remembered as the husband of Lady Godiva. Life Leofric was the son of Leofwine, Ealdorman of the Hwicce, w ...

, in which he bestowed a number of vills around Hanmer on his newly created monastery at

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

.St Chad Church and Well
Parish of Hanmer and Tallrn Green The placename was again recorded in 1295 as "Halcton", and as "Halghton" as early as 1334.Davies, E. (1959) ''Flintshire Place-names'', UWP, p.83 The name is of

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

origin, and means "farm (''tun'') in a corner of land (''healh'')".Halghton
Wrexham Sites and Monuments Record, accessed 15-05-18 From medieval times up until the 19th century Halghton was a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

of the old parish of Hanmer, in the area of

Flintshire , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms of Flint ...

known as the

Maelor Saesneg English Maelor ( cy, Maelor Saesneg) comprises one half of the Maelor region on the Welsh side of the Wales-England border, being the area of the Maelor east of the River Dee. The region has changed counties several times, previously being part ...

.History of Halghton, in Wrexham and Flintshire
Vision of Britain, accessed 15-05-18 The settlement never gained a church or point of focus, remaining dispersed across several kilometres. Despite this it shows a long settlement history, including four moated sites, the site of a

fulling mill Fulling, also known as felting, tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelled waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven or knitted cloth (particularly wool) to elimin ...

recorded in the 15th century, and tracts of medieval

ridge and furrow Ridge and furrow is an archaeological pattern of ridges (Medieval Latin: ''sliones'') and troughs created by a system of ploughing used in Europe during the Middle Ages, typical of the open-field system. It is also known as rig (or rigg) and fu ...

. Under the 1866 Poor Law Amendment Act, the township of Halghton became a civil parish, while subsequent to an 1894 Act the civil parish became part of the

Overton Rural District Overton Rural District was formed by the Local Government Act 1894 which created numerous administrative areas around the country. The district was located in an exclave of Flintshire known as English Maelor, surrounded by Cheshire, Denbighsh ...

. When the latter along with Flintshire was abolished in 1974 Halghton became a ward of the

of Hanmer.

Notable buildings

The

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Halghton Hall is a small brick-built gentry house of 1662, with evidence of an earlier medieval core.Halghton Hall
RCAHMW , accessed 15-04-18Halghton Hall
British Listed Buildings Halghton Mill is a former corn mill, built in around 1802 and supplied with water through a

leat A leat (; also lete or leet, or millstream) is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond. Other ...

from the Emral Brook.Halghton Mill
RCAHMW, accessed 15-05-18 Nearby are an early 18th century house and a former smithy, also of historic interest.

Notable residents

*John Hanmer, a patron of the poet

Guto'r Glyn Guto'r Glyn (c. 1412 – c. 1493) was a Welsh language poet and soldier of the era of the ''Beirdd yr Uchelwyr'' ("Poets of the Nobility") or ''Cywyddwyr'' ("cywydd-men"), the itinerant professional poets of the later Middle Ages. He is consid ...

and one of the main Lancastrian supporters in North Wales during the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...

: his house at Halghton was said to have been burned in 1463 by the Yorkist

Duke of Norfolk Duke of Norfolk is a title in the peerage of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the county of Norfolk. The current duke is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk. The dukes ...

and Lord Powis. *

Roger Brereton Roger Brereton was a Welsh politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1604 to 1611 Brereton the third son of Owen Brereton of Borras near Gresford, Denbighshire. He sat on the bench as Justice of the Peace for Flintshire from 1582 to 161 ...

Member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Flint Boroughs between 1604 and 1611.Flint Boroughs
History of Parliament Online * Sir Thomas Hanmer, 2nd Baronet, who lived for a time at Halghton in his mother's

dower house A dower house is usually a moderately large house available for use by the widow of the previous owner of an English, Scottish or Welsh estate. The widow, often known as the "dowager", usually moves into the dower house from the larger family h ...

References

{{Wrexham Populated places in Wrexham County Borough