A village is adopting its full name for the new Millennium.

Carleton will now be known by its official title - Carleton-in-Craven - and maps, signs and letterheads have been changed accordingly.

John Preston, clerk to the parish council, said the correct name for the village originally included the Craven part but a process starting in the last century had reduced the full title. And it will not be the first change of name for the village in the last 100 years. According to Rachael Naylor in her book, Carleton with an 'E', the owner of the cotton mills in the village, John Arthur Slingsby, put the 'e' into Carleton shortly after the First World War in order to avoid confusion with the many other villages in Yorkshire with the same name.

The stone bridge over the River Aire which dates from 1908 bears a plate which spells Carlton, without the 'e'.

Mr Preston said he had documents from the 19th century which spelt the village both Carlton and Carleton and with and without the '-in-Craven' suffix.

To try to clear the matter up, in 1994 the parish council agreed to establish the official name as Carleton-in-Craven. The Ordnance Survey agreed to change its maps once Craven District Council responded that it had no objection.

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