The name “Moreton” is derived from the Saxon “Mor’tun” meaning Low-Lying or Marshy Ground, which in some respects, Moreton remains today. Always a Hamlet & never a fully-fledged Village, Moreton remains one of the few places in England to have neither a Manor House or a Church & the early History & Ownership, of Moreton go a long way towards explaining this. The “Lords of the Manor” of Moreton were Absentee Landlords who always Lived somewhere else & therefore had no need of a House or a Church in Moreton.
Moreton lies on the Cuttle Brook & is still a sizeable Village with a number of Ancient Cottages & Farmhouses, as well as a 19thC Primitive Methodist Chapel, a former National School & a number of 20thC Council Houses. Its appearance was completely altered by the Inclosure Award. The large Green in the South-West was Inclosed & though some of the oldest Houses are still in this area, the Modern Village has spread North-Eastward. An older part of the Village where there are Timber-framed & Thatched Cottages is grouped around a small Green to the North-East of the old one.
The Bishop owned only 37/60ths of Moreton, the remaining 23/60ths were held by a Norman Knight – Hugh de Braimuster – who had his principal Home at Bledlow Manor. Hugh went on Crusade to the Holy Land between 1160 & 1180 & Moreton passed to his son Odo who confirmed the arrangement with the Bishop. An early Tenant in Moreton (c.1146) was one Osmund de Moreton who was succeeded, in turn, by Geoffrey de Moreton (described in the records of 1150 as “Hugh de Braimuster’s man”), William de Moreton & Walter de Moreton. Geoffrey de Moreton appears to have been well connected – he gave Thame Abbey a “Hide” of Land (about 120-acres) on condition that during his life or until he became a Monk, the Abbey should give him every year “a certain amount of Grain, 2s-2d for his Hose & Shoes & allow him a Calf & a half”. The de Moreton’s seem to have been the Principal Tenants of the de Braimusters until well into the 1300s but with the majority of the Land still owned by the Bishop. Although the main Ecclesiastical Centre of the time was Thame Abbey the Bishop lived in some splendour in Thame Park where there was also a Monastery & a thriving Academic Community of Monks.
History of Moreton Village
Moreton has been in existence as long as Thame, the latter being mentioned with it in the Domesday Book of 1086
OS Map 1881 – Albury, Crowell, Emmington, Kingston Stert, Moreton, North Weston, Stoke Talmage, Sydenham, Tetsworth, Thame, Towersey
In the past the main Occupation of the Inhabitants was Farming – there being at least 7-Farms & more than 30-Cottages, the majority Housing the Farm Labourers. A decline in Agriculture greatly reduced the size of the Village & eventually led to the Closure of the Methodist Chapel, the School & the Shop. The bottom of the Decline came in the 1950s and today there are about 50-Houses & Cottages, plus 2-Farms and a Smallholding, all Family-owned & Run. The majority of Moreton’s older Buildings cluster at the East-end of the Hamlet surrounding the Green and the 2-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.
Moreton only has one Road in & the same Road out (plus 2-extremely low-grade but passable Back Roads, one to the nearby Village of Tetsworth & another to the Oxfordshire Golf Resort), but its Roads were passable once. Until well into the 18thC, the Main Thoroughfare from Aylesbury to Tetsworth & Wallingford ran through Moreton, via today’s Moreton Lane in Thame. The Needlemakers of Long Crendon made use of this Road twice a year to send their Goods by Stagecoach for Sale in London. Before that, it was used by the Roundheads, who would have passed through carrying the Mortally wounded John Hampden from the Battle of Chalgrove Field to the Greyhound Inn in Thame in 1643.
1st Series OS Map Of Oxfordshire
Surveyed by a Local man, Richard Davis of Lewknor & Published in 1797. This Large Map consists of 16-Sheets at an impressively detailed Scale of 1:31,680 or 2-ins to 1-mile. No more than 200-Copies were ever made, the evidence is based on all Sets of the Map having Manuscript Serial No.s – this Image is part of No.34. Very few complete Copies survive. In terms of what the Map shows, a clear break has been made from the Christopher Saxton-led Traditional County Map, as here far more detail than previously is featured. Not only are County & Hundred Boundaries, Rivers & Streams, Towns & Villages, Parks, & Woodland depicted, but here we have Roads, Tracks, Hedges, indeed every Field can be seen, and relief is beautifully represented by the use of Hachures. Davis was also Topographer to His Majesty, George III.
Like many Villages and Towns in Oxfordshire, Moreton was Pillaged during the English Civil War. 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 20thC Moreton had 2-Public Houses: the Bell at one end & the Royal Oak at the other. Both have since Closed and are now Private Houses. Records show that what we know today as The Old Bell was, in 1851, the “One Bell Inn” (? reputed to be in the Lower High Street Thame) & Living there were Thomas Lester, a Butcher & Shoemaker who employed 2-men, his wife, Anne, & their 5-children (all under 12). It is assumed that Anne Lester was the Landlady of the One Bell Inn. By 1881, it had become “The Bell Inn” & the Landlord was Harry Richmond who lived there with his wife Harriet & child.
At about the same time, Moreton’s Water (drawn from Wells & Springs) was considered to be so good that the Hamlet became the Centre of the Local Brewing Industry & this activity is frequently recorded in reference to John North who, around the 1860s, was the Blind Landlord of the ‘Royal Oak‘ Pub & who Brewed & Served his own Beer. His Beer was renowned to be of such quality that the saying in Thame at the time and well into the 20thC was “go to Moreton & know the Rights of it”. His culinary speciality was to smear Malt on a piece of Pork, wrap it in old sacking & bury it for 6-months to “Season”! In 1870 the Royal Oak burned down & was later re-Built. It closed its Doors & called Time for the last Time on 24th December 1999 when Paddy McGinty was Landlord ending many Centuries of the Tradition of a Village Pub in Moreton. The Royal Oak Sign used to Hang on an Elm tree – c.1900. There is no Record of when Royal Oak was Established (presumably after 1651 when the name became popular for Pubs).
In the latter years of the 19thC and the early part of the 20thC, there was a Brickworks on the Northside of Rycote Lane opposite the Road to Moreton, on the Site once occupied by Bennett’s Transport Depot & the Rovacabin Works. The Brickmaker’s was initially known as “The Christmas Hill Brickworks”. Its precise Origins are unknown but it appears that in 1884 one Mr C Blood took over the Works from Mr J E Humphreys. The Works seem to have had their ups & downs, having been closed on possibly more than one occasion but subsequently re-opened. However, at least for a while, the Brickworks were fairly extensive. There were 4-Brick Kilns & a Siding giving access to the Railway & a further Line running into the Clay Pit. Historians Brown & Guest who Published a History of Thame in 1935 mention that the Brickworks were reopened in 1934, on an extensive Scale as the “Priest End Brick & Tile Works”, as a result of the Building Boom.
Aston Rowant & Chilterns Spring Line Villages 