English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Carleton

Major Settlement in the Parish of Pontefract

Historical Forms

  • Carleton(am) 1155–8 YCh Hy2 Ch 1230 Pont c.1200 YI 1258 LacyComp 1296 MinAcct 1323 Surv 1341
  • Karleton c.1212 Pont 1258 YI

Etymology

This is a common type of p.n. in YW and in all probability a Scandinavian form of the common OE  ceorla -tūn 'farmstead of the churls or ordinary freemen', v. ceorl , karl , tūn (cf. EPN i, 89, ii, 2).