Ackton Explained

Official Name:Ackton
Static Image Name:Ackton Estate near Featherstone - geograph.org.uk - 368612.jpg
Country:England
Coordinates:53.6921°N -1.376°W
Civil Parish:Featherstone
Metropolitan Borough:Wakefield
Metropolitan County:West Yorkshire
Region:Yorkshire and the Humber
Post Town:PONTEFRACT
Postcode Area:WF
Postcode District:WF7
Dial Code:01977
Constituency Westminster:Hemsworth

Ackton is a hamlet in the parish of Featherstone, in the Wakefield district of West Yorkshire, England. It is near Pontefract. In 1931 the parish had a population of 961.[1]

History

Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the name "Ackton" means "oak-tree farmstead". It is formed from the Old Scandinavian word eik ("oak-tree") and the Old English word tūn ("farmstead, village, enclosure").[2] The first element of the name indicates the presence of settlers from Scandinavia in Ackton whose dialect influenced the name of the settlement. Ackton appeared as Aitone in the Domesday Book of 1086.[3] The village is mentioned again, this time more correctly, as Aicton.

Ackton was a township in the parish of Featherstone,[4] from 1866 Ackton was a civil parish but on 1 April 1938 the parish was abolished and merged with Snydale to form "Ackton and Snydale".[5]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Population statistics Ackton Tn/CP through time. A Vision of Britain through Time. 10 August 2023.
  2. Book: Ekwall. Eilert. The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names. 1960. Clarendon Press. Oxford. 0-19-869103-3. 2. 4.
  3. Web site: Powell-Smith. Anna. Ackton Domesday Book. opendomesday.org. 13 November 2017.
  4. Web site: History of Ackton, in Wakefield and West Riding. A Vision of Britain through Time. 10 August 2023.
  5. Web site: Relationships and changes Ackton Tn/CP through time. A Vision of Britain through Time. 10 August 2023.