Halton.
THis Town in common Pronunciation is called Hauton, and is as much as A Town upon a Hill; for Hawe and Howe is an old English word for A Hill: Howbeit, in our Norman way of Writing, it is usually written Halton; in Doomsday-book it is written Heletune.
Here is yearly a Fair kept on the Feast of the Nativity of St. Mary, which is the eighth day of September, and hath been very anciently; for I find it mentioned in an Old Deed made towards the latter end of the Reign of Henry the Third: Lib. C. fol. 164. b.
It is now a poor Town or Village; and the Inhabitants, that have any Lands of Inheritance there, are all Copy-holders to the King, as Baron of Halton; save two small Cottages now, 1666. in possession of John Jackson and Richard Jennings, which are of the Fee of St. John of Hierusalem.
The Castle was built by the Barons of Halton presently after the Norman Conquest, and by degrees Repaired and Enlarged; who being Seated here, flourished for a long time, and were Constables of Cheshire in Fee, that is, to them and their Heirs by Descent; as it were, after the manner of Lord High Constables of England, so were the Barons of Halton to the Earls of Chester; and in their Ancient Charters did al∣ways stile themselves by the Title of [Constabularius Cestriae] Constables of Cheshire; and were the Highest in Place and Dignity next to the Earl himself, and above all the other Barons of Cheshire.
In the Reign of Henry the Third their Posterity became Earls of Lincoln: And upon the Death of Henry Lacy Earl of Lincoln, 1310. all his Lands and Honors came to the Earl of Lancaster with Alice his Daughter and Heir in Marriage: And at last Henry of Bolingbroke, Son of John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster, was so Great a Sub∣ject, and so Popular, that he drew unto his Part most of the Nobility of England, and thereby most Traiterously and Rebelliously Deposed Richard the Second, and made himself King of England by the Name of Henry the Fourth.
So was the Barony of Halton annexed to the Crown.