sentences:  In 1379 and in 1381 there were 15 canons at Norton and in 1401 there were 16, making it the largest Augustinian community in the northwest of England.By this time the barony of Halton had passed by a series of marriages to the duchy of Lancaster.John of Gaunt, the 1st Duke of Lancaster and 14th Baron of Halton, agreed to be the patron of the newly formed abbey.