South Moreton, Berkshire
Historical Description
Moreton, South, a village and a parish in Berks. The village stands on a small affluent of the river Thames, and has a station on the G.W.R., 3 miles SE from Didcot Junction station and 3½ SW of Wallingford, and a post and money order office under Wallingford; telegraph office, Cholsey. The parish, which is principally agricultural, contains also the tithing of Fulscot, and comprises 1350 acres; population, 356. It has a parish council consisting of five members. The manor house, now a farm, was formerly the residence of the Saundervilles, was afterwards the property of the Sadgrove family, and now belongs to the Hedges family. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £135 with icsidence. Patron, Hertford College, Oxford. The church is in the Eiirly English style, and consists of two aisles, the E end of one of them forming the chancel. There is a Baptist chapel. In 1863 Edward Sherman, a native of this parish, gave the sum of £1000 for the benefit of the poor.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Berkshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | South Moreton St. John | |
| Hundred | Moreton | |
| Poor Law union | Wallingford |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1599.
Churches
Church of England
St. John the Baptist (parish church)
The church of St. John the Baptist, situated west of the village, is a stone edifice in the Early English style and consists of two parallel aisles, vestry, open timbered south porch and a double bell cote on the western gable of the south aisle; the east end of one aisle forms the chancel; two of the Early English windows remain on the south side, the others having been replaced by Decorated and Perpendicular windows; an arcade of five arches divides the two portions of the chorch; the church has open timbered roofs, a good north doorway of the Decorated period, now walled up, and at the west end the remains of a reputed Saxon doorway: there is a stone pulpit, entered by an archway in the wall; at the west end of the church is a slab of black marble, inscribed to Margaret, second daughter of William Tipping, of Draycott, ob. May 3, 1656, and in the south aisle is a mural monument, to John Kirby esq. 1839; in the year 1849 the east wall was rebuilt, the old wooden tower pulled down and two bells were hung in the present bell cote, the interior reseated and a stone pulpit and font provided: there are 200 sittings: the churchyard contains memorials to the Kirby, Sadgrove, Field and Taylor families, and at the east end is a yew tree of great antiquity.
Baptist
Baptist Chapel
There is a Baptist chapel.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
South Moreton was in Wallingford Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for South Moreton from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Moreton, South (St. John))
- Kelly's Directory of Berkshire, 1915
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Berkshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of South Moreton are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Berkshire papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitations of Berkshire 1532, 1566, and 1665-6 is available online.