Moreton is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

southwest of

Thame Thame is a market town and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England, about east of the city of Oxford and southwest of Aylesbury. It derives its name from the River Thame which flows along the north side of the town and forms part of the ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, England. (Moreton should not be confused with North Moreton and

South Moreton South Moreton is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England, about east of Didcot, west of Wallingford, Oxfordshire, Wallingford, and south of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, Abingdon. It is only separated by the Great Western Railway cu ...

, larger and unrelated

South Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a p ...

villages between Wallingford and

Didcot Didcot ( ) is a railway town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England, located south of Oxford, east of Wantage and north west of Reading, Berkshire, Reading. Historically part of Berkshire, the town is noted ...

History

Moreton has been in existence as long as Thame, being mentioned with it in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086. In the past, the main occupation of the inhabitants was farming, there being at least seven farms and more than 30 cottages, the majority housing the farm labourers. A decline in agriculture greatly reduced the size of the village and eventually led to the closure of the Methodist chapel, the school, and the shop. The bottom of the decline came in the 1950s, and today there are about 50 houses and cottages, plus two farms and a

smallholding A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...

, all family-owned and run. The majority of Moreton’s older buildings cluster at the east end of the hamlet, surrounding the green and the two ponds. They then trail thinly up to the war memorial, which was erected in 1920. Beyond the war memorial is a small but mixed collection of houses. To car users Moreton only has one road in and the same road out (plus two extremely low-grade but passable back roads, one to the nearby village of Tetsworth and another to the Oxfordshire Golf Resort), but its roads were passable once. Until well into the 18th century, the main thoroughfare from

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery and the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Waterside Theatre. It is located in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wycombe and Milt ...

Tetsworth Tetsworth is a village and civil parish about south of Thame in Oxfordshire. Its Parish Council is made up of six elected Councillors. The estimated population in 2018 was 752 persons. According to the Council (in late 2019), the business incl ...

and Wallingford ran through Moreton, via today's Moreton Lane in Thame. The needlemakers of

Long Crendon Long Crendon is a village and civil parish in west Buckinghamshire, England, about west of Haddenham and north-west of Thame in neighbouring Oxfordshire. The village has been called Long Crendon only since the English Civil War.Birch, 1975, p ...

made use of this road twice a year to send their goods by

stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

for sale in London. Before that, it was used by the

Roundheads Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who ...

, who would have passed through carrying the mortally wounded

John Hampden John Hampden (24 June 1643) was an English politician from Oxfordshire, who was killed fighting for Roundhead, Parliament in the First English Civil War. An ally of Parliamentarian leader John Pym, and a cousin of Oliver Cromwell, he was one of ...

from the Battle of Chalgrove Field to Thame in 1643. Like many villages and towns in Oxfordshire, Moreton was pillaged during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. This era is the one that appears to have produced the ‘troubled spirit’ that haunts Brook Cottage. The various happenings were recorded by Mr. Ron Mott, who was born in the cottage. He remembers his parents occasionally referring to hearing the ‘Old Man’s’ rat-tat on the door and heavy footsteps on the brick path outside. Until early in the 20th century, Moreton had two

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

s: the Bell at one end and the Royal Oak at the other. Both have since closed and are now private houses.

History

See also

References

Sources

External links