Carlton is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 and civil parish within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees

Stockton-on-Tees (borough)

Stockton-on-Tees is a unitary authority area and borough in the Tees Valley area of north east England, with a population in 2001 of 178,408, rising to 185,880 in 2005 estimates....

 and ceremonial county of County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is situated a few miles to the north-west of Stockton-on-Tees

Stockton-on-Tees

Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in north east England. It is the major settlement in the unitary authority and borough of Stockton-on-Tees. For ceremonial purposes, the borough is split between County Durham and North Yorkshire as it also incorporates a number of smaller towns including...

, a short distance from the village of Redmarshall

Redmarshall

Redmarshall is a village and civil parish in the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. Redmarshall is situated to the west of Stockton-on-Tees, the Village is also located just north of the A66 which is one of the main Trunk routes in, out and through...

. Located within the village are Carlton Village Stores and "The Smiths", a family run bar/restaurant (previously the Smiths Arms). The Smiths features in the 2006 Good Beer Guide, selling Deuchars IPA and a guest beer, usually from a big brewer, which changes every few weeks. It is the only pub in the local villages to have retained a two room layout, with a separate public bar (including wide-screen, usually featuring music channels, unless sport is on) and a critically acclaimed restaurant.

History

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

Harrying of the North

The Harrying of the North was a series of campaigns waged by William the Conqueror in the winter of 1069–1070 to subjugate Northern England, and is part of the Norman conquest of England...

.

Public services

The village is home to a sports field with children's play area, a village green, WI hall and a chapel.

Notable people

George Orwell

George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...

 resided at Greystone, the home of his wife Eileen's sister-in-law and about half a mile outside the village, from 1944-1945. He moved there with Eileen and newly-adopted son, Richard, following bomb damage to their London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 flat. The then housekeeper, Mrs Blackburn, remembers Orwell reading in the garden or sitting in the bay window of the drawing-room reading or making notes. This room overlooked Whitton

Whitton, County Durham

Whitton is a village within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated to the north west of Stockton-on-Tees, near Stillington and Thorpe Thewles.-Landmarks:...

 valley, made up of rural farmland with woodland in the distance, as well as the Whitton Bridge Pasture

Whitton Bridge Pasture

Whitton Bridge Pasture is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the unitary authority of Stockton-on-Tees, England. At 3.18 hectares it lies to the south of Whitton village and north west of Stockton-on-Tees. SSSIs are chosen by Natural England, and Whitton Bridge Pasture was designated...

. It was here that Orwell finished his anti-Stalinist

Stalinism

Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...

 allegory Animal Farm

Animal Farm

Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell published in England on 17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to and during the Stalin era before World War II...

before leaving for France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

as a war correspondent in 1945.