Carlton-le-Moorland

Carlton-le-Moorland is listed in the Domesday Book as consisting of 29 households, 255 acres (1.0 km²) of meadow, and a church.[2]

The parish church is a Grade I listed building dedicated to Saint Mary, dating from the 11th century, although the nave and tower were rebuilt in the late 16th century. The church was restored in 1890-1891 by C. Hodgson Fowler. The font is from the 12th century.[3] Outside, the lychgate, which is Grade II listed, was erected in 1918 as a war memorial.[4]

St Lazarus Hospital, a leper hospital founded prior to 1180, was sited in Carlton-le-Moorland, and maintained by the Order of Saint Lazarus. It is not known when it closed.[5] According to England and the Crusades, 1095–1588, Nigel of Amundeville gave land at Carlton-le-Moorland to the brethren of the Order of Burton Lazars around 1242, probably because some of his family suffered from leprosy. His father, Ralf, had given land in 1180 for the same purpose, as did his brother Elias, whose own daughter was a sufferer.[6]

The Knights Templar and a monastic order owned lands in and around the parish in the Middle Ages. Eventually the Disney family, which had its main branch in Norton Disney, took over ownership of local estates that had been monastic holdings in the 16th century. There are Disney family members buried in the church. There used also to be a manor house opposite the church, in which the Disney family lived before they moved to Sommerton Castle.

Carlton-le-Moorland has a post office, a village hall, and public house called the White Hart.

The parish council owns the village hall, the playing fields, and "The Sands", an area of amenity land and allotments. Over the last couple of decades, the village has undergone some housing development.

• Media related to Carlton-le-Moorland at Wikimedia Commons
• "Carleton le Moreland", Genuki.org.uk. Retrieved 10 July 2011