Morton by Bourne
- The parish was in the Bourne sub-district of the Bourne Registration District.
- Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
- The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
Census
Year |
Piece No. |
| 1851 |
H.O. 107 / 2095 |
| 1861 |
R.G. 9 / 2317 |
- The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist.
- The church was restored in 1860.
- The church seats 400.
- Here is a photo of St. John the Baptist's Church, taken by Ron Cole (who retains the copyright):
- The parish registers go back to 1549, but the Bishop's transcripts go back to 1541.
- The parish lies in the Aveland & Ness Deanery. You may wish to purchase some of the Deanery marriage indexes to make your search easier.
- The foundation stone was laid in 1875 for a Wesleyan Methodist chapel in Morton. There is no graveyard attached. There was a Baptist chapel, too, replaced in 1876. For information and assistance in researching these chapels, see our non-conformist religions page.
- Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.
- The parish was in the Bourne sub-district of the Bourne Registration District.
- Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which started in July, 1837.
Morton by Bourne is both a village and parish about 2 miles north of Bourne and 97 miles north of London. The parish includes the hamlet of Hanthorpe (also called Harmthorpe). Hacconby parish lies to the north. The parish covers about 4,850 acres of land that is typical Fenland marsh.
The A15 trunk road (the old Roman Road) runs through the west end of the village. The village was, in the 19th century, supplied with water from artesian wells. The River Glen flows southward just outside the eastern edge of the village. If you are planning a visit:
- The parish was once a station stop on the Great Northern Railway.
- Hanthorpe House, in Hanthorpe hamlet, was the residence of Dr, Charles Edward ROBY in 1900.
- The national grid reference is TF 0923.
- You'll want an Ordnance Survey Explorer map, which has a scale of 2.5 inches to the mile.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
- Michael Peck provides: "The Morton (by Bourne) War Memorial has now been recorded. It is for WW1 only and consists of 2 parts, a memorial 'proper' in the church grounds which shows no names and a plaque which actually names the men
(specifically states Morton and Hanthorpe) inside the church. The names
recorded are:"
WW1:
- Arthur Ashton
- John Thomas Ashton
- William James Barron
- Arthur Bates
- John James Booth
- Cecil Cox
- Thomas Fowler
- Harold Hanford
|
- Arthur Newton
- Arthur Charles Parker
- Rupert Hardy Parker
- George Plowright
- William Swift
- John Taylor
- Joseph Parker Taylor
- James Wright
|
- The name Morton is from the Old English Mor+tun, or "Farmstead on the moor or marsh". In the 1086 Domesday Book, the village is given as Mortun.
["A Dictionary of English Place-Names," A. D. Mills, Oxford University Press, 1991]
- Care of the parish poor dates back to 1716 when Rebecca LEABAND bequeathed some land for the education of the children of the poor.
- The Common Lands were enclosed here in 1771.
- In 1795, Henry ABEL, Esq., of Greenwich Hospital left a provision for providing bread and fuel for the poor.
- In 1820, Thomas HOGARD left the rent from three acres for the poor.
- After the Poor Law Act of 1834, the parish became part of the Bourne Poor Law Union.
| Year |
Inhabitants |
| 1831 |
842 |
| 1881 |
950 |
| 1891 |
899 |
| 1911 |
839 |
- A National School was built here prior to 1871 to hold 200 children.
- For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.
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[Last updated: 21-February-2008 - Louis R. Mills]
