A LOCAL village wishes to be known by a new name for the new millennium.

Carleton should now be known by its full title - Carleton-in-Craven - and maps, signs and letter heads 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.

Now Carleton wants it back. 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, who was also chairman of the parish council, 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.

Bartholomew's Gazetteer of Britain lists 12 Carltons, including four in North Yorkshire, plus another 17 variations, such as Little Carlton, Great Carlton and East Carlton. However, it also lists seven Carletons, plus five variations.

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.

Alas, new maps show the village as Carleton in Craven - without the hyphens - so more correspondence will be required.

New road signs, using the full name were purchased by the parish council some five years ago and put up by the highways authority.

Now that a new millennium has started the parish council is seeking to emulate the likes of Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Thornton-in-Craven and Sutton-in-Craven and make sure its full name is widely used.

The Craven Herald has agreed to adhere to the change of name in its general usage.

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