Its reputation declined for several decades afterwards, with the team participating in obscure county divisions until the 1995–96 season saw the club join the nationwide league system.

Carlton Town was founded as Sneinton Football Club in September 1904,[2] beginning in the amateur Notts Alliance League after having a previous application refused.

[6][7] Becoming champions in the 1905–06 season,[4][8] mixed fortunes followed as key players Arthur Clamp and Andrew Mosley joined Notts County, while new tram infrastructure in the area promised better attendances at home games.

[13] Described by the Manchester Courier as "the leading amateur football club in Nottingham",[14] Sneinton won the 1909–10 League, becoming the first team to win three consecutive titles.

[19] Sneinton lacked the means to travel and insisted the match be played in Nottingham, securing Notts County's Meadow Lane as a venue, but they lost 8–1 to Leytonstone.

[33][34] Illnesses and outside work commitments within its part-time squad were a challenge for the club,[34] but the Football Post still acknowledged the high quality of Sneinton's teamwork, goalkeeping, and defence.

[16][46] Sneinton's third-place finish in the tenth tier in 2000–01 would ordinarily have secured entrance to the Northern Counties East Football League, but their ground did not meet the minimum standards for the higher Division.

[16] Mick Garton, who became chairman that year, invested nearly £200,000 in the team's facilities ahead of the 2002–03 campaign in order to ensure that the ground met the standards that would be required for promotion from the League.

[46][b] The team were promoted to the ninth tier when they finished as League champions in 2005–06, also establishing a club record in the FA Vase that year by reaching its third round.

[46] The club finished tenth out of 22 in 2007–08 but challenged for promotion in the following year, eventually losing in the League's 2008–09 playoff semi-final 5–2 to Stocksbridge Park Steels, for whom future England international Jamie Vardy scored a hat-trick.

[2][46] After being runners-up and playoff semi-finalists in the division's 2011–12 contest, the team's League form dipped in the following seasons as they finished twelfth, tenth, and eighteenth respectively.

[2][51] Early 2020 presented significant financial challenges, firstly due to ground damage caused by Storm Ciara, and then a drop in revenue because of the coronavirus pandemic.

[60] The home kit mirrors the colours of the club badge, introduced in July 2007, which also depicts Carlton Town's initials, year of foundation, and common nickname—the "Millers".

[7][64] Located on the Colwick Lawn Estate, its owner, the Earl Manvers, led the Sneinton Improvement Committee in providing "a ground possessing many natural and distinct advantages".

[18] Refusing their opponent's request to the contrary, the team remained in Nottingham to play the 1919–20 FA Amateur Cup fixture against Leytonstone, using Notts County's Meadow Lane.

[67][68] With the permission of Nottingham Forest in December 1929, Sneinton instead played its first round Amateur Cup tie versus Horsforth St Margaret's at the City Ground.

[69] The Nottingham Evening Post opined that the addition of another pitch and modifications to the pavilion at Colwick Road in 1935 permitted increased youth engagement.

[27][70] After reforming in 1947, the club relocated to one of two public pitches at Colwick Wood Park in 1948, having played its matches in the intervening year at an alternative venue outside the district.

[46] Chairman Mick Garton invested nearly £200,000 in upgrading Carlton's site and facilities in 2002, which, two years later, were named in remembrance of his predecessor Bill Stokeld.

[51] Ahead of the team's promotion at the end of that season, League requirements inspired the addition of changing areas, a hospitality venue, toilets, and a tea bar.