An old market town four miles south-east of Milnthorpe. The early history of Burton goes back to William the Conqueror. In the Domesday Book the area was initially owned by one Torsin.
Later as a reward for helping Edward IV capture his arch enemy Henry VI, an extensive grant of land was made to Sir James Harrington. Later in 1759, Burton, together with Dalton and Holme, were purchased by Colonel Charteris of Hornby Castle.
Burton became a market town by a charter procured from Charles II by Sir George Middleton of Leighton in 1661, and by 1750 was the most extensive corn market in the county. It is on record that besides corn dealing, as many as eighty beasts were slaughtered in a day at Martinmas, such meat selling at 1d-2d (old pence) per pound.
The Lancaster-Kendal Canal was opened in 1819, and the wharf and weigh-bridge where coal was brought to the area are to be seen a half mile to the west.
In the market place stands an 18th century cross once used as stocks...four recesses can still be seen in the steps for leg irons. The village was a one time important changing place for horses in the days of pack-horses and stage coaches. The first stage-coach in fact passed through at six miles per hour, arrived twice weekly, and was given the name 'The Flying Machine'. The most important stops were at the Royal Oak (now the Royal Hotel) and the King's Arms.
The parish church of St James has a Norman tower built in the 12th century, but added to in the 14th and 16th century. It contains a private chapel for the Hornby family of Dalton Hall. Its oldest possession are three fine fragments of a stone cross carved before the Conqueror's Domesday Book was made, one showing two figures under an arch, and a larger figure holding a cross below. Tradition says that one of Cromwell's horsemen was found dead here, the village folk burying him where they found him, and planted hawthorn over him.
