[1] It is separated from the civil parish of Little Mitton by the River Ribble, both lie about three miles from the town of Clitheroe.

Historically, the village is part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, but was transferred to Lancashire for administrative purposes on 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972.

The ancient parish of Mitton took its name from the Old English, being a settlement at the mythe, the confluence of the Hodder and Ribble Rivers.

From the late eleventh century, it fell under the Lordship of Bowland, the Lords of Bowland being lords paramount of a Royal Forest and a Liberty of ten manors spanning eight townships and four parishes and which covered an area of almost 300 square miles (780 km2) on the historic borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire.

[3] The manors within the Liberty were Slaidburn (Newton-in-Bowland, West Bradford, Grindleton), Knowlmere, Waddington, Easington, Bashall Eaves, Mitton, Withgill (Crook), Leagram, Hammerton and Dunnow (Battersby).

In the late thirteenth century, the family adopted the surname de Sotheron, later Sherburne, by marriage, thereby laying the foundation for the dynasty of Shireburne of Stonyhurst.