Halton, formerly a separate village, is now part of the town of

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England. The name ''Halton'' has been assumed by the

Borough of Halton The Borough of Halton () is a local authority district with borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, North West England. It is administered by Halton Borough Council, a unitary authority since 1998. The borough contains the towns ...

, which includes Runcorn,

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

, and some outlying parishes.

History

There is evidence of human occupation in the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

and during the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

era. The village is recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

(1086) in the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

of Tunendune. Towards the end of the 11th century, the first castle, which became the seat of the

Barons of Halton The Barony of Halton, in Cheshire, England, comprised a succession of 15 barons and hereditary Constable of Chester, Constables of Chester under the overlordship of the Earl of Chester. It was not an English feudal barony granted by the king but ...

, was built on the hill. The Tunendune hundred court was absorbed into

Bucklow hundred The hundred of Bucklow was an ancient division of the historic county of Cheshire, in northern England. It was known to have been in existence at least as early as 1260, and it was formed from the earlier Domesday hundreds of Bochelau and Tun ...

by 1260 so government statistics for Halton over many later centuries are indexed by Bucklow hundred. During the medieval period, a deer park measuring lay to the south and the west of the village. At this time, Halton had a weekly market and annual fair. The village held a

court leet The court leet was a historical court baron (a type of manorial court) of England and Wales and Ireland that exercised the "view of frankpledge" and its attendant police jurisdiction, which was normally restricted to the hundred courts. Etymo ...

and the castle was used as a prison. During the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, the castle was held by the

Royalists A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gover ...

and twice besieged by

Parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

forces. Following this the castle fell into ruin. The importance of Halton declined with the coming of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

and the development of the chemical and other industries in Runcorn. Halton was formerly a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

and

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

in the parish of Runcorn. In 1866, Halton became a separate

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

. On 1 April 1967, the parish was abolished and merged with Runcorn.

Geography

The village stands in an elevated position at compared with the surrounding area which lies at about . At its centre is an outcrop of

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

which rises to a height of . On the summit of the outcrop are the ruins of

Halton Castle Halton Castle is a castle in the village of Halton, part of the town of Runcorn, Cheshire, England. The castle is on the top of Halton Hill, a sandstone prominence overlooking the village. The original building, a motte-and-bailey castle beg ...

. The major road, Main Street, passes below the castle, to its west and south, and Castle Road leads up to the castle.

Demography

Population statistics were recorded separately for the parish of Halton until the village was incorporated into its larger neighbour under the Runcorn New Town (Designation) Order 1964. The population of Halton Village in 1664 has been estimated as 375. In 1961, the parish had a population of 1,467.

Today

Halton Trinity Methodist Church - geograph

The village is now entirely residential, surrounded to the west and north by the estates of Runcorn New Town. To the south is Halton Lea, a shopping mall, and other retail and entertainment outlets. To the east is Town Park. The castle is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

and a

scheduled ancient monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

, and there are a number of other listed buildings in the village. There are two public houses, the Castle Hotel, which is incorporated into the structure of the castle and which contains the former courthouse, and the Norton Arms. In the village are two active churches, the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Church of St Mary and Trinity Methodist Church. The Village has a

Millennium Green Millennium Greens are areas of green space for the benefit of local communities in England. 245 were created in cities, towns and villages to celebrate the turn of the millennium. Their creation was funded in part by the National Lottery via the ...

, one of a series of 245 charity-run public green spaces created at the turn of the millennium.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* {{authority control Villages in Cheshire Former civil parishes in Cheshire Runcorn