Halton

A great deal of prehistoric material has been found in Halton parish. The earliest are a Mesolithic flint core found in Wendover Woods and a Mesolithic tranchet axe found in field-walking at Rosemead. Neolithic flint flakes and scrapers have been found in a metal-detecting survey in Rowborough Copse and in field-walking at Rosemead. A Neolithic to Bronze Age long or round barrow was excavated in the 1920s at Bulback Barracks. Iron Age pottery was found in the excavation. The other major prehistoric monument is Boddington Hillfort, which dates from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. There has been some excavation and field survey done here and much Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age pottery has been found, some under the rampart.

Field-walking surveys at Rosemead and next to the canal, metal-detecting in Rowborough Copse and ground-works at the RAF station, as well as chance finds in the flower-bed outside the church have turned up prehistoric artefacts as mentioned above as well as Iron Age, Roman, Saxon, medieval and post-medieval pottery. There are not many records of medieval Halton, though St Michael's church was rebuilt in the nineteenth century and there are records of a watermill at Haulton Mill, which may not have been medieval.

A few of the houses in Halton date to the nineteenth century, such as Ivy Cottage and, of course, Halton House, which is now an officer’s mess. The Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal dates to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the bridge over it at Halton House is also nineteenth century. The Weston Turville Reservoir is actually in Halton parish and dates to the eighteenth century. It provided water for the canal.

Of course, the most recent ‘monument’ is RAF Halton, which dates back to the early twentieth century and reuses nineteenth century buildings. Four Second World War air-raid shelters have been identified in field survey.