Moreton is a small rural village in the

borough of Stafford The Borough of Stafford is a local government district with borough status in Staffordshire, England. It is named after Stafford, its largest town, which is where the council is based. The borough also includes the towns of Stone and Ecclesha ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, England, near the border with

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

. It is south-west from Gnosall, south-east from Newport, and South-West-West from

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...

. Population details as taken at the 2011 Census can be found under Gnosall.

Description

Two notable sites in the village are the village community hall built in 2000 and St. Mary's Church. The church of St. Mary is a stone building, in the

Italian style Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, and was erected in 1837; it consists of a chancel, transepts and nave, with tower and one bell, and seats 340 people. One other local site which is now a privately owned home is the school, which at one point had over one hundred students from Moreton and its surrounding hamlets. Considering the size of the village (roughly 50-60 houses), the lack of more facilities is unsurprising, although historically it had a school, shop, and two pubs as well as the remaining church and community centre located within the village. The village is made up primarily of three roads: Heath Lane, Post Office Lane and Church Lane. Both the village hall and church are located on Church Lane, nearer to where the Lane joins Post Office Lane.

History

Moreton

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

was formed on April 26, 1845, from the parish of Gnosall, although it remained in Gnosall parish for civil purposes. Until the mid-1870s, it was referred to as 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 ...

of Gnosall , and can be found, prior to 1880, described with the history of Gnosall. However, by 1880 it had developed sufficiently to be referred to separately, with its own 'satellite' hamlets: Bromstead Heath, Great Chatwell, Coley, Outwoods and Wilbrighton. Folklorist

Charlotte Burne Charlotte Sophia Burne (1850–1923) was an English author and editor, and the first woman to become president of the Folklore Society. Life Charlotte Sophia Burne was born on 2 May 1850 at Moreton, Staffordshire, Moreton vicarage in Staffordshir ...

(1850-1923) was born at Moreton Vicarage.

References

External links

* Villages in Staffordshire Borough of Stafford {{Staffordshire-geo-stub