A Parish is the smallest unit of church, or of local government administration in rural areas.  There are two types of parish:

1. Ecclesiastical (Church) parish. The district under the jurisdiction of a priest.

2. Civil Parish. The smallest unit of local government administration in a rural area.

In England a civil parish (usually just parish) is the lowest unit of local government, lower than districts or counties. Civil parishes in the modern sense were established in 1894, and although their origins are in the system of ecclesiastic parishes, they no longer have anything to do with the Church of England.

This website relates to the Civil Parish of Colton, one of 269 civil parishes in Cumbria and one of the largest (by area) in the South Lakeland District.

Colton Civil Parish is heart-shaped and stretches from Coniston Water in the west to Lake Windermere in the east, and from Greenodd in the south to an irregular northern boundary which takes in Low Parkamoor, Ickenthwaite, Thwaite Head and High Stott Park.