Moreton-in-Marsh

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Moreton-in-Marsh
Moreton-in-Marsh high street (looking south)
Moreton-in-Marsh shown within Gloucestershire
Population	3,198 (2001 Census)
OS grid reference	SP206322
District	Cotswold
Shire county	Gloucestershire
Region	South West
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Police	Gloucestershire
Fire	Gloucestershire
Ambulance	Great Western
European Parliament	South West England
List of places: UK • England • Gloucestershire

Coordinates: 51°59′16″N 1°42′05″W / 51.9879, -1.7014

Moreton-in-Marsh is a town in Gloucestershire, England. The name "Moreton" derives from "Farmstead on the Moor," while the suffix "in Marsh" is because the town sits on flat, poorly drained, boulder clay and gravel. A mile east of Moreton the Four Shires Stone marks what was the boundary of the historic counties of Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and Oxfordshire.

Moreton is located at the junction of the Roman Fosse Way (now the A429) and the A44 and has a railway station on the Cotswold line. In the nineteenth century the town was also the southern terminus of the horse-drawn Stratford and Moreton Tramway. The town's environs are quite flat and low-lying although it situated at the northern extremity of the Cotswold Hills range. During World War II, a large area of this flat land to the east of the town was developed as an airfield and used by Wellington Bombers. The airfield may have inspired the title of the radio show Much Binding in the Marsh.

The former airfield is now home to the Fire Service College where senior fire officers from brigades all over the UK undergo operational, management and leadership training. The same complex is also now the headquarters of the Institution of Fire Engineers, the professional body for fire fighters, officers and civilians with an interest in fire engineering.

Moreton has many buildings in characteristic Cotswold stone, numerous antique shops and several hotels. A Caravan Club site is a short walk east on the Broadway road (A44), past a museum devoted to the Wellington bomber . Other local attractions include Batsford Arboretum (near Batsford village)and the “onion-domed” Sezincote house and gardens. Moreton was once the headquarters of the railway spot-hire company Cotswold Rail.