A Brief History of Colton Church

The beautiful Colton church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity and consists of an embattled tower, a nave (without side aisles), north transept and chancel. The first mention of the church in the parish is in 1531 when there was an un-consecrated chapel existing on the site.

The un-consecrated chapel was probably built in the Tudor period between 1458 and 1531, though there was probably a more ancient building on the same site. From documents in the parish records, we gather that this parochial parish of Colton was consecrated by Edwin Sands, Archbishop of York, on the last day of August 1578. The existence of an ancient Elizabethan chalice dated 1571 and an older font of Furness sandstone, together with a pre-reformation bell seems to point to the existence of a chapel on this site long before this time.

It is known that Rawlinson Greenhead rebuilt the chapel of Colton upon the common belonging to his family in 1603, the year of his death.  The church was restored during the period of 1710 -1712 at a cost of £45-10-9d, and in 1721 the north transept was built. After much dispute about the building, certain parties were excommunicated and sent to Lancaster Goal for interfering with the building work.  In 1840 the church was completely re-seated in pitch pine at a cost of £216-17-6d, those pews still serving the church today after 165 years.

The church then fell into disrepair and was again restored in 1890 at a cost of £900, including special gifts and monies raised by public subscription, with the exception of two grants received from the Carlisle Diocesan Church Building Society. The restoration involved the removal of the old gallery from the west wall, and during this restoration an ancient font was discovered that had been upturned and set in the floor and used as a base for a more modern one. This old re-discovered font is now near the west door and is used for christenings. Some new windows were also placed in the chancel and north transept, replacing the early wooden ones and a more modern heating system was installed and a new pitch pine floor was laid.

                                                                                                          Ron Mein