Norton is an area in the eastern 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 ...

, in the Halton district, in the ceremonial county of

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. It was originally a separate village to the east of Runcorn, but in the 1970s and 1980s became absorbed within Runcorn by the expansion of its new town.

History

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 ...

of 1086, Norton (spelt as Nortune) was held as two manors. The major event in the early history of the settlement came in 1134 when William fitz William, the third Baron of Halton, moved a community of canons from a site near Runcorn Gap to a site near the village to found Norton Priory. In 1888–92 Norton Water Tower was built to the south of the village as a balancing reservoir on the water pipeline between

Lake Vyrnwy Lake Vyrnwy (, or ') is a reservoir in Powys, Wales, built in the 1880s for Liverpool Corporation Waterworks to supply Liverpool with fresh water. It flooded the head of the River Vyrnwy, Vyrnwy () valley and submerged the village of Llanwddyn ...

in North Wales and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. Norton remained a small community until the growth of the new town. Norton 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 ...

in the parish of Runcorn, in 1866 Norton 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 and

Daresbury Daresbury is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 246. History The name means "Deor's fortification", derived from an Old English personal name and the word ''burh' ...

. In 1961 the parish had a population of 126.

Present day

The area is currently residential and is divided into two

electoral wards The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ''ward (subnational entity), ward'' is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil pa ...

. Norton North has a population of 6,494, and Norton South of 7,227.

References

;Sources * Former civil parishes in Cheshire Runcorn {{Cheshire-geo-stub

History

Present day

See also

References