Halton, Cheshire

Description
Halton, a village, a township, and an ecclesiastical parish in Runcom parish, Cheshire. The village stands on an eminence near the rivers Mersey and Weaver, 1 1/2 mile SE of Runcorn, and 3 miles NNE of Frodsham, commands an extensive view along the Mersey, was once a market-town, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Runcom, and a station on the Birkenhead railway. The township comprises 1870 acres; population, 1555. An ancient barony of Halton, having its seat at the village, was, with the con-stableship of Chester, given by Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, to his cousin Nigel, continued for several centuries to be held by Nigel's descendants, and passed through John of Gaunt to the duchy of Lancaster. A castle here, on the brow of a hill, was built about the time of the Conquest, was a favourite hunting-seat of John of Gaunt, was dismantled in the Civil War of Charles I., and is now represented by inconsiderable ruins. The manor now belongs to the Brooke family. Stone is quarried. The ecclesiastical parish includes also the townships of Norton, Stockham, and Clifton or Bock Savage, and was constituted in 1860. Population, 2647. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Chester; net value, £200 with residence. The church is an edifice of red stone with a turret. There are a Wesleyan chapel, a cemetery, and an endowed grammar school.