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]

Ackton
Ackton is located in West Yorkshire
Ackton
Ackton
Location within West Yorkshire
Civil parish
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townPONTEFRACT
Postcode districtWF7
Dialling code01977
PoliceWest Yorkshire
FireWest Yorkshire
AmbulanceYorkshire
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Yorkshire
53°41′31″N 1°22′34″W / 53.692058°N 1.376018°W / 53.692058; -1.376018

History

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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 [sic] in the Domesday Book of 1086.[3] The village is mentioned again, this time more correctly, c. 1166 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]

References

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