Barton sits on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, and is 5 miles (8 km) from the Irish Sea coast.

[1] Barton's listing in the 1086 Domesday Book shows Roger the Poitevin as lord and Tenant-in-chief.

At the time Barton was in the Hundred of West Derby in the county of Cheshire.

Her husband, Richard Shuttleworth of Gawthorpe Hall, supported the Parliamentary side in the English Civil War.

The Shuttleworths held the manor until 1833, when it was sold to the Preston industrialist, George Jacson.