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The Parish of Carlton in General

Carlton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Carlton and Chellington, in the county of Bedfordshire. The River Great Ouse runs just to the north of the village. Nearby places are Chellington, Harrold, Pavenham, Turvey and Odell.

Landscape

Volume III of The Victoria County History for Bedfordshire was published in 1912; at that time the parish comprised 1,530 acres, of which 692 acres are arable land, 613¾ acres permanent grass and 23 woods and plantations. The Ouse divided the parish from Harrold. The soil was clay, the subsoil gravel. Carlton received an Enclosure Award by Act of Parliament in 1805.

Name

The name Carlton has its origins in the English language and is derived from the combination of two elements: carl meaning free man or peasant, and ton meaning town or settlement. Together, Carlton translates to “From the town of the free men”.

  • 1086: Carlentone
  • 1175: Carlinton
  • 1198: Carleton
  • 1227: Cherlton
  • 1240: Carlton
  • 1671: Carleton

Administrative History

Carlton is a parish in the Hundred of Willey which also included Chellington, Farndish, Felmersham, Harrold, Odell and others. There are two tiers of local government covering Carlton, at parish and unitary authority level: Carlton with Chellington Parish Council and Central Bedfordshire Council.

Population

The Domesday Book of 1086 contains an entry for Carlton showing it had 21 households comprising of 7 villagers and 15 smallholders. As these individuals would have been heads of households, this number should be multiplied by at least four to provide an idea of the actual figure.

The Hearth Tax of 1671 records 45 dwellings in Carlton. It has been estimated that this represented a population of about 195.

  • 1086: 84
  • 1671: 195
  • 1801: 376
  • 1851: 432
  • 1901: 351
  • 1931: 340