Colton Parish

This parish is one of the most modern in Lancashire, having been a parochial chapelry to Hawkshead, till 1603, or according to Dr. Whitaker, till 1673. The lands of the bailiwick of Colton belonged to the abbey of Furness, till the suppression of religious houses, when they fell to the Duchy of Lancaster, and were held of Queen Elizabeth, by customary and bloomsmithy or wood rents. In the 11th of James I, the bailiwick of Nibthwaite, Colton, Haverthwaite, Satterthwaite, Sawrey and Graythwaite, was granted in fee farm, to William and George Whitmore, of London; and in the same yeare the land owners commuted the customary rents, by a purchase from the crown. The bloomsmithy was afterwards granted with the other privileges of the liberty of Furness, by Charles II to the Duke of Albemarle, from whom it descended to the Duke of Buccleugh. It is about six and a half miles in length, and five and a half miles in breadth, contains an area of 16,720 statute acres, and is divided into the four townships of East Colton, West Colton, Nibthwaite, and Haverthwaite with Finsthwaite and Rusland. Its population in 1801, was 1516; in 1811, 1524; in 1821, 1627; in 1831, 1786; and in 1841, 1993: of whom 1000 were males, and 993 females. Its rateable value is £8051 12s.

COLTON (EAST) township comprises the village of Colton, and the hamlets of Bouth and Oxen Park, distant about six miles N.N.E. of Ulverston. The parish church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, stands on a lofty eminence. It is supposed to have been consecrated in 1575, by Archbishop Sandys, and to have been rebuilt about the yeare 1600, by William Rawlinson. It was re-pewed about ten years ago. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of seventy-six of the land-owners, who pay an annual stipend of twenty marks to the clergyman. At Rook How, 3 three miles N.E. of Colton, is a Friends' Meeting House, where a few of the followers of George Fox hold meetings. It was built in 1725. The Friends were first formed in Furness in 1652, on their founder's visit to this neighbourhood, and though they were at one time rather numerous, they are now dwindled to about thirty members, in both High and Low Furness.

COLTON (WEST) township includes Bandrake Head, Tottlebank, and Underfield;4 the flax mill at Penny Bridge, and several dispersed dwellings, distant from five to seven miles N. by E. of Ulverston. At Tottlebank is a Baptist chapel, erected about the yeare 1664, and rebuilt about a hundred years ago. It is endowed with a small estate, now worth about £45 a year, together with the interest of £300 invested in property. Penny Bridge derived its name from the Rev. James Penny, Who lived at the old ford of the river Crake, when the bridge was erected. The word penny is probably a corruption of the British word penna, the head, the chief, &c.

---