OVERTON: Ouretun. Old English, ofer = riverbank. Tun can mean, village, homestead, farm, settlement etc. Probably means a village, on the riverbank.

There are several references of Overton being a Roman settlement, unverified at present. According to Lancaster museum there was a Viking settlement at Trailholme.

The information below is from British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol8/pp61-64

Ouretun, Domesday (great survey) Book; Ouerton 1176.

In 1066 Earl Tostig held OVERTON, assessed as four plough-lands (ploughland; 100 -120 acres) as a member of his Halton lordship. Tostig Godwinson was an Anglo-Saxon Earl of Northumbria and brother of King Harold Godwinson.Later it formed part of the demesne of the honour of Lancaster, the manor descending with the duchy to the Crown. The manor of Overton was held in 1361 by John of Gaunt and in 1500 by Sir John Lawrence. Charles I in 1630 sold it to Charles Harbord and others, who in turn sold in 1636 to trustees for the tenants, among whom, therefore, it became divided.

Greave: Among the older free tenants were the greaves or reeves, who held half a plough-land in virtue of their office. Another oxgang (15 - 20 acres) of land was held in thegnage (estate). Originally in Anglo-Saxon England the reeve or greave was a senior official with local responsibilities under the Crown e.g. as the chief magistrate of a town or district. Subsequently, after the Norman conquest it was an office held by a man of lower rank, appointed as manager of a manor "estate in land" and overseer of the peasants. Peasant, member of a traditional class of farmers, either laborers or owners of small farms see wikipedia - peasant for full definition).

The village of Overton has an old-world air and consists largely of stone-built whitewashed cottages of 18th-century date, but some of the houses are older. That known as the North Farm has a doorway with a shaped head which bears the initials and date R. H. E. H. / T. H. /1674. The house itself is of two stories with low mullioned windows, but most of the mullions have been cut away.

Population figures from Census Records:

2011: 1069 

2001: 1015 

1971: 831 

1931: 282

1901: 346 

1891: 321

1881: 325

1871: 296

1861: 305

1851: 334

1841: 390

1831: 336

1821: 344

1811: 305

1801: 322