Little Carlton is a hamlet in the

Newark and Sherwood Newark and Sherwood is a local government district and is the largest district in Nottinghamshire, England. The district was formed on 1 April 1974, by a merger of the municipal borough of Newark with Newark Rural District and Southwell Rural ...

district of

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

, England, north-west of

Newark-on-Trent Newark-on-Trent or Newark () is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road bypasses th ...

. Little Carlton was recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

in 1086.

History

Middle Ages

Little Carlton was originally a medieval village and part of the meadow field system. At the time of its first entry in the

, the village was owned by the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

. This entry in the book also documents a mill, 66 acres of meadow and 80 acres of underwood. During this time, the village was referred to as "Carleton", "South Carlton" or "Carlton by Newark". In 1180, the village was recorded as being called Karlet or Karletun; in 1278 as Sutkarleton; in 1332 as South Carlton Juxta Bathele and in 1425 as Lytel Carleton. The areas of Little Carlton used during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

are now only earthworks or buried remains including sunken gulleys. Some rectangular earthworks remain (some of which are believed to be footprints of houses) though continuous ploughing of such areas has led to their degrading. There is evidence of two medieval ponds in Little Carlton, though only one still holds water. One is a roughly circular indent in the ground which was partially filled in during construction of a house directly to its east; the other (which still holds water) is larger and further to the west, on the north border of one of the medieval field enclosures. The northernmost of these enclosures features more gulleys along with a series of ridges resembling cultivation strips, however, slight differences in their shape (namely having flat tops and being stright) lead many to believe they fulfilled a different - unknown - purpose.

Second World War

During the Second World War, Little Carlton was used to hold prisoners of war at Bathley Lane Farm. Some barns and sheds used for the POW camp that were returned to farming use can still be seen.{{Cite web, last=Sites (www.communitysites.co.uk), first=Community, title=POWs in Little Carlton {{! Little Carlton {{! Notts Places {{! Our Nottinghamshire, url=http://ournottinghamshire.org.uk/page/pow_camp_at_little_carlton?path=0p31p564p, access-date=2020-12-23, website=ournottinghamshire.org.uk

References

Hamlets in Nottinghamshire Newark and Sherwood