Norval is an unincorporated community in the town of Halton Hills, Ontario, Canada, within the

Regional Municipality of Halton The Regional Municipality of Halton, or Halton Region, is a regional municipality in Ontario, Canada, located in the Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario. It comprises the city of Burlington and the towns of Oakville, Milton, and Halton H ...

. Situated on the

Credit River The Credit River is a river in southern Ontario, which flows from headwaters above the Niagara Escarpment near Orangeville and Caledon East to empty into Lake Ontario at Port Credit, Mississauga. It drains an area of approximately . The total l ...

at the intersection of Highway 7 and Winston Churchill Boulevard (locally named Adamson Street), it is located immediately east of Georgetown and approximately west of the current urban boundary of

Brampton Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...

. Norval is believed to take its name from the Scottish play ''Douglas'' by poet

John Home Rev John Home (2 September 1722 – 4 September 1808) was a Scottish minister, soldier and author. His play '' Douglas'' was a standard Scottish school text until the Second World War, but his work is now largely neglected. In 1783, he was ...

History

Around 1820 James McNab and his family arrived; McNab was a

United Empire Loyalist United Empire Loyalist (UEL; or simply Loyalist) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the governor of Quebec and governor general of the Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North Ameri ...

and had fought in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. The family raised sheep and built a grist and a saw mill on the Credit River. Some of their wood was shipped to England for use as masts on naval ships. Flour mills also opened in this area; the largest one operated until 1930 when it was destroyed in a fire. In 1836 the post office was established. Previously, the settlement had been called McNabsville and McNab's Mill. In 1838, the mills were sold to Peter Adamson. In 1851, the Guelph Plank Road passed through this area and by 1856 the

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; ) was a Rail transport, railway system that operated in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the List of states and territories of the United States, American sta ...

had arrived. The latter was useful for shipping goods from this area. In 1846, the settlement had a population of about 200 inhabitants, served by two churches, various tradesmen, a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

, an oatmeal mill, a distillery, two stores and a tavern. Norval became a thriving village, complete with a

broom A broom (also known as a broomstick) is a cleaning tool, consisting of usually stiff fibers (often made of materials such as plastic, hair, or corn husks) attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. It is thus a ...

factory, ashery, bakery, woollen and flax mills,

carriage A carriage is a two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for passengers. In Europe they were a common mode of transport for the wealthy during the Roman Empire, and then again from around 1600 until they were replaced by the motor car around 1 ...

works, a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

and harness shops, brass

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

s, several hotels, a

Mechanics' Institute Mechanics' institutes, also known as mechanics' institutions, sometimes simply known as institutes, and also called schools of arts (especially in the Australian colonies), were educational establishments originally formed to provide adult edu ...

and an Orange Lodge. It was a main stop on the stagecoach ride from

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Upper Canada College Upper Canada College (UCC) is an independent day and boarding school for boys in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as Canada's most prestigious preparatory school, and ha ...

's Norval Outdoor School is located nearby at 10444 Winston Churchill Boulevard. Acquired in 1913, it was established in the property after 1935. Author

Lucy Maud Montgomery Lucy Maud Montgomery (November 30, 1874 – April 24, 1942), published as L. M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a collection of novels, essays, short stories, and poetry beginning in 1908 with '' Anne of Green Gables''. Sh ...

, who wrote the

Anne of Green Gables ''Anne of Green Gables'' is a 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery (published as L. M. Montgomery). Written for all ages, it has been considered a classic children's novel since the mid-20th century. Set in the late 19th century, t ...

series, lived in Norval from 1926 to 1935 as her husband Reverend Ewan MacDonald was minister of the Norval

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

Church (1851-2024). In her journal, Montgomery expressed her appreciation for the village’s natural beauty, and declared, “I love Norval as I have never loved any place save Cavendish, PEI. It is as if I had known it all my life". In 1954 the grist mill was destroyed by

Hurricane Hazel Hurricane Hazel was the deadliest, second-costliest, and most intense hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed at least 469 people in Haiti before it struck the United States near the border between North and Sou ...

. In 1972 the remaining structures were removed to expand Highway 7. Many historic buildings still stand in Norval.Norval On The Credit - Norval, Ontario, Canada
/ref>

Annual festivals and events

*Earth Week Celebrations - Third week in April *Heritage Perennial Plant Sale - early May *Montgomery Christmas - the weekend of November closest to her birthday (November 30) *Lucy Maud Montgomery Seminars and Readings - various times during the year

Recreation and parks

*Willow Park Ecology Centre *Lucy Maud Montgomery Garden *Interpretive Gazebo & Signature Walk *Norval Park *Pioneer Cemeteries & McNab Park

Notable residents

* A.J. Casson, Group of Seven, painted Norval in the 1920s and 30's * John Watkins, born in Norval, a former Ambassador to Russia. The book and movie ''Agent of Influence'' were inspired by events in his life. *

John Wycliffe Lowes Forster J. W. L. Forster or, more formally, John Wycliffe Lowes Forster (31 December 1850 – 24 April 1938) was a Canadians, Canadian artist specializing in portrait painting, portraits. Many of his works can be found at the National Gallery of Cana ...

, born in Norval, portrait painter. Many of his works hang in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Toronto, and Ottawa Parliament Buildings. * Shannon Crawford, Olympic Gold Medallist, rowed to victory as a member of the Women's Eight 1992 crew in Barcelona Spain. Now retired from the sport. *

, author of ''

'', lived in Norval for nine years. * Terry Evans, born in Norval, Olympic Gold Medalist, Middle Weight Wrestling, British Empire Games, London, England, 1934.

References

* Mike Filey. ''Toronto Sketches 5: The Way we Were''. *Halton County Railway Museum *Guelph Radial Line *Statistics Canada 2006 Census Data * F.A.I. 1976 World Speed Records *Ontario Decoys, R.B. Gates 1982 ;Notes

External links

Town of Halton Hills
{{Halton region Neighbourhoods in Halton Hills Populated places on the Credit River