Halton
Halton maps (2 available)
Map of Cheshire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Halton books (14 available)
Macclesfield Town and City Memories
Hardback
Macclesfield Town and City Memories
Paperback
- 4 photos on Halton appear in 2 Frith books - View photos of Halton
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Halton and Cheshire
Halton memories
Read and share memories of Halton and Cheshire inspired by Frith photos
Going to school
This path was a lifeline to me when I was going to school on my bike. As you look at this picture there was houses to the left and corn fields to the right, I came down this path on my bike and up Boston Avenue to Grange Sec Mod, the downside was going back up it, it was very steep in those days, the opening in the village was easily missed if you didn't know it, a very small entry between to buildings, a well kept secret to the villagers in those days.
Contributed by Clive Bisby
Summer Home
The house behind the telephone pole is number 73, my grandparents, Jim and Annie McQuillan lived there from the 30s until the late 60s or early 70s. I used to spend all summer there travelling from Middlesbrough on the bus via Warrington, on my own from age 6. Can you imagine the reaction these days to such an adventure? The shop on the left was Dicky Dones newsagents - the local bookie before betting shops were legalised. I was known as "that kid from Yorkshire". This was before the shopping city and the conversion of Halton to a Liverpool overspill. Happy days.
Contributed by Jim Smith
The under road
The space between the houses and shed was the beginning or the end of the Under Road, it went round to the other side of the village, and finished opposite the chapel on Main Street, a nice walk or bike ride in the summer, or a short cut to the common, or the steps that went up to the castle. The old smithy was on the right if you went from this end, I suppose it was named the Under Road because the castle loomed over the top of you as you walked along, a nice quiet road in those days.
Contributed by Clive Bisby
Cheshire memories
Going to school
This path was a lifeline to me when I was going to school on my bike. As you look at this picture there was houses to the left and corn fields to the right, I came down this path on my bike and up Boston Avenue to Grange Sec Mod, the downside was going back up it, it was very steep in those days, the opening in the village was easily missed if you didn't know it, a very small entry between to buildings, a well kept secret to the villagers in those days.
A memory of Halton contributed by Clive Bisby
Extracts From Halton & Cheshire books
During the Civil War in the 1600s Halton Castle was besieged and subsequently ‘slighted’ - in other words it was damaged to
such an extent that it could not be refortified. The gatehouse survived, however, and was still being used as a prison in the
1700s. Today there is a pub called the Castle that sits on the site.
An extract from from"Widnes and Runcorn Photographic Memories".
Built on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Mersey, Halton passed by marriage in 1311 to the House of Lancaster, and was later a favourite hunting lodge of John of Gaunt. When John’s son was crowned Henry V, Halton was a part of his Lancastrian inheritance and therefore not Crown property. The castle was remodelled between 1450-57 when a twin-towered gatehouse was added. In 1644 it fell into Parliamentarian hands and was demolished.
An extract from from"English Castles".
It’s amazing to think that Halton is now the centre of
the modern town once more; history has turned full
circle. If only as an important viewpoint, the site was
bound to have been used by the Romans and Saxons.
It was certainly used by the Normans who built a castle
from where the Baron of Halton could control the
Mersey estuary and surrounding lands.
An extract from from"Widnes and Runcorn Photographic Memories".
With so many workers
arriving here in the 1800s
from Ireland there was a
strong Roman Catholic
presence and this
enormous church was
built in the 1870s to serve
that congregation. For
the first 23 years it was
also a collegiate church
for Jesuits with, at one time, 32 priests, 22 scholastics and 17 lay brothers.
An extract from from"Widnes and Runcorn Photographic Memories".
There have
been several
Ditchfield Halls
near here. In the
1500s and 1600s the
Dychfield family
that lived here
were strong Roman
Catholics and
refused to attend
the Protestant
services at their local
parish church at
Farnworth. Instead
they built their own
chapel but they were
still fined for not
attending the official
church services! The
last Ditchfield Hall
was demolished in
the 1960s.
An extract from from"Widnes and Runcorn Photographic Memories".