- Moreton, Essex
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Coordinates: 51°44′34″N 0°13′08″E / 51.7428°N 0.2188°E
Moreton 
Moreton
Moreton shown within EssexPopulation 366 [1] District Epping Forest Shire county Essex Region East Country England Sovereign state United Kingdom Post town ONGAR Postcode district CM5 Dialling code 01277 Police Essex Fire Essex Ambulance East of England EU Parliament East of England UK Parliament Brentwood and Ongar List of places: UK • England • Essex Moreton is a village in the Epping Forest district of the County of Essex, England. It is located 7.2 miles (11.6 km) east of Harlow and 3.2 miles (5.14 km) north-west of Chipping Ongar.
Two thousand years ago it was the point at which a Roman style road, connecting Great Dunmow (Stane Street) to London, crossed the Cripsey Brook[citation needed]. Today the bridge that crosses the Cripsey is still a feature of Moreton, and though not two thousand years old, its construction nonetheless predates the advent of mass motorised transport. There being no weight limits on the village lanes in this corner of Essex, this narrow bridge has become somewhat degraded over recent decades, by the passage of large trucks and of other vehicles driven with insufficient precision between its parapets.
There is no modern road, at this point, following the route of the Roman road out of the village, but the old road's route can be followed at Tawney Common a few miles to the south west. Modern Moreton remains at the confluence of various minor roads, however, which link to Fyfield, to the east, Bobbingworth to the south, High Laver (burial place of John Locke) to the west and Matching to the north. Where the roads meet there remain several substantial village houses from the late Medieval / early modern period of English history, as well as two traditional English pubs, being The White Hart and The Nags Head.
Directly to the east of The Nags head, Moreton features a primary school, which retains its small Victorian era main building, but in recent decades has grown in size and in excellence, as schools in neighbouring villages have been closed down.
The surrounding area is agricultural, and there is also a flour milling business a short distance to the north of the village. That apart, commercial activity has largely abandoned the village, and today many residents must commute to Harlow or Chelmsford or to London.
For many years after petrol and diesel engined tractors became mainstream in England, Moreton retained a depot housing steam tractors (traction engines) but historical traction engines are no longer a feature of Moreton.
Gallery
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White Hart public house
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St Mary's church
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The road towards London crossing the Cripsey Brook
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Distances from Moreton
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Moreton CE Primary School
References
External links
The District of Epping Forest Parishes Abbess Beauchamp and Berners Roding • Bobbingworth • Buckhurst Hill • Chigwell • Epping • Epping Upland • Epping Green • Fyfield • High Laver and Little Laver • High Ongar • Lambourne • Loughton • Magdalen Laver • Matching • Matching Green • Matching Tye • Moreton • Nazeing • North Weald Bassett • Chipping Ongar • High Ongar • Roydon • Sheering • Stanford Rivers • Stapleford Abbotts • Stapleford Tawney • Theydon Bois • Theydon Garnon • Theydon Mount • Waltham Abbey • WillingaleAttractions Constituencies Categories:- Epping Forest
- Villages in Essex
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