Colton is a township and small village in the parish of Bolton Percy, 4 miles east-north-east from Tadcaster. The North Eastern railway runs through the township. Divine service is performed in the school-room every Sunday by the Rev. F. W. Jackson M.A. curate of Bolton Percy. There is a Wesleyan chapel. R. A. Morritt esq. is lord of the manor and chief landowner. The soil is loam and clay; subsoil clay. The chief crops are wheat, oats, barley, turnips and green crops generally. The area Is 1,206 acres; rateable value, £3,018; and the population in 1871 was 142.

National school (mixed), with a small endowment, but supported chiefly by the rector of the parish and Mr. Morritt; Miss M. A. E. Copley, certificated mistress.