There is no record of when the Parish of Colton was first inhabited but there is substantial physical evidence that there were people here in the Bronze Age.  In the fields adjacent to Moreton Brook there are 'Burn Stones' which were heated with fire and then used to cook their food.  The first writing naming Colton is in the Domesday survey of 1086 when it was recorded that Colton had two manors held by Azelin and Geoffrey and a sub-manor held by Almar.  A priest and a watermill are mentioned.  There was a considerable acreage of woodland together with unenclosed land suited for farming which, with heathland and marshland, together amount to the acreage of the parish in 2002.

During the 12th and 13th centuries Colton's population had grown so much that Colton was considered a town -- the largest population between Stafford and Lichfield!  In 1235 a Market Charter was granted.  Market day was to be Friday and the annual fair days were to the the 19th and 20th September. {Originally 8th and 9th September before the introduction of the new calendar}.

In the 14th century Colton was an important centre of glass making but of these centuries nothing apart from the Church Building remains.

Colton Hall, Geoffrey's manor was burned down before 1649 and a much restored and altered house known as Colton Hall Farm stands nearby.  Azelin's manor was quite close to the church.  The field to the south of the church is known as Castle Croft and it is assumed that Colton House {circa 1720} stands within the grounds of Azelin's house.

The first Bellamour Hall, now a much reduced ruin, still stands but the house built by Herbert Aston in about 1639 was demolished during the 1920's.  Boughey Hall, originally the Grange was owned by St. Thomas Priory Stafford from 1257 to 1536 and it possibly has the 15th century Hall House within its core.  Lower Newlands Farmhouse was built circa 1640 by the Whiston family and Hamley House was built in the early 18th century by the Webb family who had formerly lived at Wilderley.  Wilderley was first recorded as occupied in 1320 and lay on the far north western boundary of the Parish where a barn now stands - marked on the OS map as Wilderley Barn.  It was demolished in the early 18th century.

	The High Street. Rowancroft (left) and the chimneys of Holly Cottage (centre) can be seen together with the roof of Little Hay Manor on the right. At the left centre is a roof line of a now demolished building.  A row of bungalows is now here.  Information about the area before they were built would be gratefully received.
This is one of the 'Bonney' pictures dating from the 1880's and 1890's. See the reference to Bonney and also the Colton House picture on the Colton House page.

Little Hay Manor {the half hide at Domesday} was later owned by the de Blithfields in the early 14th century and passed by marriage to the Bagots until its sale after World War I.  The present house was built in the 1840's but the Tudor style chimneys of the previous house are still visible.

Various artefacts appertaining to the history of the parish are held by the church and private individuals; one such is a fossilised antler found when Moreton Brook was dredged after World War II.  Erratics -stones deposited in the last Ice Age - can be seen in various places in the village.

The majority of fields are known by name.  There is indication that this area was under the influence of the Danes prior to 1066 by the field name 'Sleeting'  Other names recall the woodland that had once covered the parish whilst some confirm the physical state of the ground (e.g. Marsh).  Other names, Brick Kiln for example, refer to industrial activity.  Much of the parish abounds in Marl Holes from which marl was extracted to dress the fields to refresh them.

Some say the word Colton is derived from Col, a person's name, but others suggest the meaning of Col is 'hill' from the Norse word 'colla'.  Ton is a Saxon word for an enclosure or farm.  We can be sure, though, that this place known as Colton dates back at least to Saxon times.

Dorothy Bradbury