Halton is a small village and

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 authorit ...

in the Buckinghamshire district of the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire, England, located about two miles north of

Wendover Wendover is a market town and civil parish at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury intersects with the once important road a ...

and five miles southeast of Aylesbury.

Geography

Halton lies just outside the

Metropolitan Green Belt The Metropolitan Green Belt is a statutory green belt around London, England. It comprises parts of Greater London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey, parts of two of the three districts of Bedfordshire and a s ...

so it has not been protected from postwar housing development. At its southern end it is contiguous with

, but it retains a separate, older village centre anchored by St Michael & All Angels Church and a community hall. There is a separate, modern Catholic Church. The Parish also includes RAF Halton, a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

(RAF) training station with a grass airfield used for glider training. Most modern housing in the village was built for RAF personnel, but some is now in private hands. A small shop mainly serves the RAF community. The base had a large

military hospital A military hospital is a hospital owned and operated by a military. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well. They may or may not be located on a ...

employing hundreds of people, which was closed in 1995. The buildings remained until 2007/8 when they were demolished for the Princess Mary Gate housing scheme on land between Halton and Wendover. In the Chiltern Hills above Halton is

Halton House 300px, Halton House, Buckinghamshire Halton House is a country house in the Chiltern Hills above the village of Halton in Buckinghamshire, England. It was built for Alfred ''Freiherr'' de Rothschild between 1880 and 1883. It is used as the main ...

, a country house in the style of a French chateau, which is currently used as the main Officers' Mess for RAF Halton. It was originally built for

Alfred de Rothschild Alfred Charles ''Freiherr'' de Rothschild, CVO (20 July 1842 – 31 January 1918), was the second son of Lionel ''Freiherr'' de Rothschild and Charlotte ''Freifrau'' von Rothschild of the Rothschild family. Education As a young man, Alfred a ...

in 1880. The RAF demolished its domed winter garden to build an accommodation block.

Facilities

Halton Community Combined School is a mixed

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

, which takes children from the age of four through to the age of eleven. The school has 91 pupils and was recently (Mar 2011
judged 'excellent'
by OFSTED, despite having 70% of its pupils from Forces backgrounds who move frequently. The Halton Tennis Centre has a small number of future athletes combining competitive tennis training with home schooling. The Centre was formerly run by the RAF, who still train there. The school also contains Halton Preschool, which is a mixed

preschool A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary sch ...

, which takes children from 2 to 4 in classes of 15 to 30

Transport

The nearest railway station is

, on the Chiltern Railways line between Aylesbury and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it me ...

(via Amersham). Journey times to London are under an hour. A single track railway line used to run from Halton, crossing the A413 by way of a level crossing, to a bay platform at the north end of Wendover station. Route 8 is served by

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Wendover arm of the

Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter ...

flows through Halton on its course from Wendover to join the Grand Union beside

Marsworth Marsworth is a village and a civil parish within the unitary authority area of Buckinghamshire, England. It is about north of Tring, Hertfordshire and east of Aylesbury. Early history The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, ''Mæssanw ...

lock near

Tring Tring is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England. It is situated in a gap passing through the Chiltern Hills, classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, from Central London. Tring is linked to ...

Popular culture

Halton gave its name to the

Handley Page Halton The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester. The Halifax has its orig ...

, a cargo version of the Halifax bomber. File:Haltonhouse-northface.jpg, Halton House Image:RAF Halton-Geograph-135448-by-Jarvis-Docherty.jpg, RAF Halton Image:Halton Airfield.jpg, Halton Airfield Image:RAF Halton Airfield - geograph.org.uk - 198188.jpg, The airfield at RAF Halton, taken from the air

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Buckinghamshire Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire Aylesbury Vale