Hightown is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England, located midway between the city of Liverpool and the coastal resort of Southport.

Understandably Mills appears to have not visited the small West Lancashire coastal village or he would not have given the description "the major town ..

There is still a village green today (oddly triangular) near the pub and railway station but unlike when Nicholas Blundell visited there are no cattle pens on it.

The inventory for Richard Riding's property records it as being of the property of “Richard Rydeing of the Hytown within Crosbie Parava.”[8] High Town is recorded on Greenwood's Map of Lancashire, 1818, north east of where the village is today, approximately at the junction of Orrell Hill Lane with the modern A565[9] Hightown is historically part of the estate of the Blundell family of Little Crosby and many houses still pay a nominal ground rent annually to the Whitlock-Blundell estate.

[10] The fort was situated midway between Hightown and Hall Road and housed a number of Italian and German POW's during WWII.

Following its decommission at the end of the war a small cinema screen within the complex was reputedly used by local residents for a number of years until the camp was finally demolished in the mid-1960s.

The most notable of these incidents was the loss of a family during a blaze within the lighthouse which once stood close to the site of Fort Crosby.

The most prominent buildings at the turn of the 20th century were the Truant School, next to the railway line, and the Hightown Hotel (the village pub).

In 1901 “There were 20 officials and 114 boys in the truant school at Hightown, belonging to the Liverpool education authority.”[11] Listed buildings and Second World War remains.

[13] An exhibition by artist Tom Fairclough 'Collateral' contained peaceful but evocative pictures of the rubble that make up the sea defences at the mouth of the Alt.

[18][19] Today the Hightown Club offers sporting and social facilities for lawn bowls, cricket, squash, tennis and junior football [20] , although in the past there have been highly successful hockey and rugby sections.

[21] The Hightown ladies hockey team were one of the country's most prominent clubs in the 1980s and 90s, when they were led by England international Maggie Souyave.

[26] Since the fire, all the sporting sections have been using temporary facilities and the club is planning a complete rebuild of the clubhouse, with work to commence in 2012.

For elections to Sefton Council the village and Civil parish of Hightown is within the Manor electoral ward and is represented by three councillors.