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.

That Lordship in turn comprised a Royal Forest and a Liberty of ten mesne manors spanning eight townships within four ancient parishes and covered an area of almost 300 square miles (800 km2) on the historic borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire.

The manors within the Liberty of Bowland were Slaidburn (including Newton, West Bradford and Grindleton), Knowlmere, Waddington, Easington, Bashall, Mitton, Withgill (Crook), Leagram, Hammerton and Dunnow (Battersby).

[8] By this time, the manor of Knowlmere comprised "some eighteen farms and lesser holdings which included Birkett, Foulscales, Thorneyholme, Mossthwaite and other properties on the south side of the Hodder between Newton and Dunsop Bridge".

[10] There has been some speculation that the mysterious Bogeuurde in Domesday - identified by Ekwall with Barge Ford, near Foulscales - may in fact be the manor of Knowlmere in its earliest manifestation.

[11] Title to the Manor and Liberty of Slaidburn, West Bradford and Grindleton, including the township of Newton, was bought by Tory MP, Ralph Assheton, later first Baron Clitheroe, in 1950.

Richard Leigh of Birkett, the founder of Newton's first independent chapel in 1696, was closely associated with the great Congregationalist preacher Thomas Jollie.

[18] The Roman road known as Watling Street, that runs from Manchester via Ribchester to Carlisle, passes in a NNE direction to the west of the village.

The confluence of Foulscales Brook and the Hodder is the location of Barge Ford, considered to be the mysterious Bogeuurde mentioned in Domesday[11] and by some, linked to the early origins of the manor of Knowlmere.