Norton, Cheshire

Description
Norton, a village and a township in Runcorn civil and in Halton ecclesiastical parish, Cheshire. The village stands near the Bridgwater Canal, 1 1/4 mile S of the river Mersey, 3 miles E of Runcorn, and 3 1/2 NE of Frodsham, and has a station on the Birkenhead railway. Post town, Runcorn. The township extends to the river Mersey, and comprises 2208 acres of land and 27 of water, with 33 of adjacent tidal water and 64 of foreshore; population, 430. A water tower, 113 feet high, was erected in this township by the Corporation of Liverpool in connection with the supply of water to that city from Lake Vyrnwy. An Augustinian canonry, founded at Runcorn in 1133 by William Fitz Nigell, was removed in 1210 to Norton by his son; had land endowments in the counties of Nottingham, Leicester, and Oxford, and received large benefactions from Edward the Black Prince. Norton Priory, the seat of the baronet family of Brooke, occupies the site of the canonry; is an old quadrangular edifice, was besieged in 1643, and stands in a park of about 115 acres.