Norton is a village in the

Wychavon Wychavon () is a local government district in Worcestershire, England. The largest towns therein are Evesham and Droitwich Spa; the council is based in the town of Pershore. The district also includes numerous villages and surrounding rural ...

district of

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

, from the boundary of the City of Worcester, England. The village sits within the Norton Juxta Kempsey civil parish and is split in two by the

M5 motorway The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...

, with the original village to the east. The village saw considerable development in 1990s, mainly centred on the large decommissioned military Norton Barracks, which have been converted into apartments. The village is the location of St Peter's Garden Centre and Worcester Cricket Club. Worcester Norton Hockey Club also originates from the village, but now play and train at nearby Nunnery Wood High School, Worcester.

Economy

In 1939, Morganite Crucible, a subsidiary of

Morgan Crucible Morgan Advanced Materials plc is a company which manufactures specialist products, using carbon, advanced ceramics and composites. The group is headquartered in Windsor, United Kingdom, and has 60 sites worldwide. It is listed as public limit ...

, opened its works in the village. In 2010, the site, now closed, was sold for use as an industrial estate, but a Morgan presence remains in the form of Molten Metal Products Ltd, distributors of Morgan products, owned by two ex-Morgan employees, Dave Hill and Jim Ritchie. A permanent military presence was established in the village with the completion of Norton Barracks in 1877.

Transport

Worcestershire Parkway railway station opened on 23 February 2020. This has a platform on the Birmingham to Bristol line with

CrossCountry CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a British train operating company owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the current CrossCountry franchise. The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT) in 2006, ...

services which link to Cardiff, Bristol to the south also Birmingham and Nottingham to the north. There is another platform on the Oxford route to Worcester with

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

services.

References

Villages in Worcestershire Wychavon {{Worcestershire-geo-stub