Moreton in the Marsh, Gloucestershire

Historical Description

Moreton-in-the-Marsh, a small market-town and a parish in Gloucestershire. The town stands on the Fosse Way, near the meeting-point of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire½ Warwickshire, and Worcestershire, 7 miles SW by S of Shipston-on-Stour; consists chiefly of one wide street nearly half a mile long; publishes a weekly newspaper; and has a bead post office, a station on the G.W.R., two banks, a police station, a public hall, an institute, a cottage hospital, and two cemeteries. The church is ancient, was restored in 1861 and again in 1892, and consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with tower and lofty spire. There are Congregational and Wesleyan chapels. The Redesdale Public Hall was erected in 1887; and the petty sessions are held here. The Mann Institute was erected in 1891, and comprises a large hall, a working men's club, and a library. The curfew-bell, which was regularly rung till 1860, hangs in a tower in the centre of the town. Charles I. slept, in 1644, in a room in the White Hart Inn. A weekly market is held on Tuesday, and cattle fairs are held on the second Tuesday of every month, The parish comprises 1014 acres; population, 1446. The manor was given at the Norman Conquest to Westminster Abbey. The living is a chapelry, annexed to the rectory of Batsford, in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient County	Gloucestershire
Ecclesiastical parish	Moreton-In-The-Marsh St. David
Hundred	Westminster
Poor Law union	Shipston-upon-Stour

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Cemeteries

Two cemeteries, near the London road, and each about one acre in extent, were formed in 1867, one for the members of the Church of England and the other for Dissenters, with mortuary chapels, at a cost of £650. The ground for the Church of England cemetery was given by the Earl of Redesdale and that for the Nonconformists by Mr. Henry G. Busby.

Church Records

The Phillimore transcript of Marriages at Morton-in-Marsh 1672-1812, Gloucestershire is available to browse online.

The register of baptisms and burials dates from the year 1643; marriages, 1672.

The Gloucestershire Parish Registers are available online at Ancestry, in association with Gloucestershire Archives.

Churches

Church of England

St. David (parish church)

The church of St. David is a building of stone, in the Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles, north porch and a western tower with pinnacles and lofty spire, 116 feet high, and containing a clock and 8 bells: the east window is stained: the church was thoroughly restored in 1859-61, at a cost of £2,000, under the direction of Messrs. Poulton and Woodman, architects, of Reading: in 1891-2 the church underwent extensive alterations, when the three galleries were removed, the south aisle widened, the chancel extended, and a chancel aisle built, the font being removed to the western entrance; the total cost amounted to about £1,200: the communion plate includes a chalice of silver, dated 1576: there are sittings for 600 persons.

Congregational

Congregational Chapel

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Moreton in the Marsh from the following:

Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Moreton-In-The-Marsh (St. David))

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Gloucestershire is available to browse.

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers covering Gloucestershire online:

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of the county of Gloucester, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.