or HALTON, i. e. High Town, a town of Cheshire, 186 miles from London. It stands on a hill, where a castle was built anno 1071, and is a member of the duchy of Lancaster; which maintains a large jurisdiction in the county round it, by the name of Halton-Fee, or the honour of Halton, having a court of record, prison, &c. within themselves. About Michaelmas every year, the king's officers of the duchy keep a law-day at the castle, which till remains a stately building. Once a fortnight a court is kept here, to determine all matters within their jurisdiction; but felons and thieves are carried to the sessions at Chester, to receive their sentence. By the late inland navigation, it has communication with the rivers Mersey, Dee, Ribble, Ouse, Trent, Darwent, Severn, Humber, Thames, Avon, &c. which navigation, including its windings, extends above 300 miles, in the counties of Lincoln, Nottingham, York, Lancaster, Westmoreland, Stafford, Warwick, Leicester, Oxford, Worcester, &c.