Map - Carlton, County Durham (Carlton)

Carlton is a village and civil parish within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 726. It is situated a few miles (several km) to the north-west of Stockton-on-Tees, a short distance from the village of Redmarshall.

Although subject to much new building in the past decade, the village still retains its medieval layout, with houses facing each other across the main street, and with strips of land in front and behind. This layout had been identified as Norman, probably dating to the rebuilding of the village after William's harrying of the North.

The origin of the village of Carlton lies in the remote past, the pattern of the village was probably determined in the 11th or 12th century when estate re-organisation was commenced. It is part of the ecclesiastical parish of Redmarshall which came under the auspices of the Bishop of Durham, and is situated north of the River Tees, about 5 miles to the west of Stockton-on-Tees, and until boundary re-organisation in 1974 was part of the County of Durham. It is 160 ft. above sea level, and was essentially a small agricultural village, the farmhouses and cottages built on either side of the main village street, probably an old drovers road, with a slow flowing stream running alongside the south of the settlement.

In 1200 AD, Bishop Pudsey of Durham caused a survey (the earliest record) to be made of all his possessions, this included Carlton, in which there were 23 farmers, a miller, and that William, son of Orm of Carlton, had to come to the great chase of the Lord Bishop with one greyhound whenever required. Towards the end of the 14th century there were 124 residents and at that time tenants had a common bakehouse, the lease being two shillings paid to the Bishop.

Life in Carlton until the beginning of the 20th century was very different and much harder than that enjoyed by residents today. The only water supply was from the village pump, situated in the centre of the village, piped water was installed in about 1895, although the village pump was still in general use many years later.

Transport and travel was by foot or horsepower until the introduction of the railway to the east of the village, when a railway station (originally named Carlton Station) was constructed in about 1850. Once the Carlton Station was operating it became the local centre of industry, with goods trains, chemical works, coal depot and passenger trains. Houses and cottages were built for the workers, many of whom were housed in the village, this increased the population considerably at this time. Farmers used the railway regularly to send their milk to the dairies in the town, cows were milked, milk cooled and measured into churns and transported by horsepower to catch a train due before 7:00 a.m. so that it could be delivered at its destination fresh for breakfast.

A bus service was introduced in the 1920s; initially the bus ran only twice a week, market day and Saturday. This has now developed into an hourly service every weekday.

Many changes in the way of life in Carlton have taken place in recent years, and are often described as 'before' or 'after' the war (1939–45). During the 19th century, travelling men with stallions used to visit the village to 'service' the mares owned by local farmers. As the horse was the predominant method of transport of the day, the travelling men would stay overnight at a farm in the village before going on to the next stop. The horse and cart mode of travel gradually gave way to the motor vehicle during the 20th century, and today the village is troubled with increasing traffic, some exceeding the 30 m.p.h. speed limit which was introduced in 1978.

Up until the advent of the 'combine', a steam thrashing machine travelled the area, spending a day at each farm thrashing the corn. Thrashing day was a big event on the farms; about 20 local men and women worked on the thrasher starting about 6.00 a.m. until dark. The farmer's wife had a busy day starting with breakfast (traditional), ten o'clocks, dinner (roast beef) and three o'clocks, plenty of good food for such hard work.

Before the war there were many natural landmarks, which have now disappeared. There were well used footpaths around the village, about five duck ponds, orchards, trees and hedgerows. Progress meant that roads had to be widened and old property demolished, but village greens are still very pleasantly established, lately enhanced by bulbs planted by residents and regularly maintained by the Stockton Borough Council.