Morton & Hanthorpe
parish
SUNRISE ACROSS THE FENS - SUNRISE OVER THE
HILLS
THE PARISH OF Morton and Hanthorpe is around six and
a half miles in length from east to west. You can enjoy a spectacular
fenland sunrise at sea level and a superb, restful sunset over the hills
at 200 feet above sea level.
The eastern boundary of the parish is the South Forty Foot Drain which
stretches from Boston to Guthram. The drain was most likely dug in the
1700s when the fens were finally drained. The last time it was cleaned out
by hand was in 1914.
At the end of Morton Drove is the quaint, tiled Forty Foot Farm, built in
the mid 1800s. This drove, along the south part of the fen, was once quite
bendy and was straightened when the roads were metalled.
There are several farms along Morton North Drove and one of these is
Engine Farm. The distinctive white engine house, containing a drainage
pump, still stands and is maintained by the Richardson family. The
building resembles many of the local chapels built in the same period. It
originally housed a steam pump which was fed with coal transported from
the village railhead at Morton station. It was converted to diesel power
in 1932 and ceased operating in 1968 when the new pump house was built
across the Forty Foot.
The fen at one point at sea level, is now rich arable farming land but
until the 19th century it would have been moist cattle pastureland. The parish boundary in the north, bordering Haconby Fen, runs along
a drain called Land Dike and, a mile and a half to the south, bordering
Dyke Fen, along New Dike.
At the 'top' of the fen is Scotten Dike and close to the edge of the village
is the Car Dyke, built in Roman times, which originally linked Lincoln via
Peterborough, to Cambridge.
Morton village has, of course, increased in size over recent years. The
village railway station was closed to passengers in 1930 and to freight in
1963. What a great boon it would be to today's commuters! Some of the old
railway track is now a footpath.
Morton, a Saxon settlement, is mentioned in the Domesday Book. The oldest
parts of the village are mostly in the High Street. In the centre of the
village, around 25 feet above sea level, is the Church of St. John the
Baptist, built in the 14th century but retaining a priest's door from an
earlier 12th century building. Along the Haconby road the edge of the
football field is the parish boundary. The A 15 passes through the parish
at the western end of the High Street with the King's Head on one side of
the crossroads and the Nelson on the other. The road leaves at the parish
at the first lay-by to the north, and just beyond the cactus nursery in
the south.
Part of Morton village spreads west along Hanthorpe road and here, at the
moment, there are still some cattle fields.
After a small gap the hamlet of Hanthorpe, a Viking settlement begins. Now
it is also enlarged by modern houses but until relatively recent times was
a collection of stone built farms and farm workers cottages. Both Edenham
Road and Stainfield Road twist through Hanthorpe, at around 80 feet above
sea level.
Towards Stainfield, the parish boundary is near the water treatment
station. Towards Bourne Wood, Clipseygap Lane joins Hanthorpe to Cawthorpe,
and along the bend in this track, just past the wood entrance, runs the
parish boundary.
A small piece of Bourne Wood, called Fox Wood, is actually in the parish.
The main wood ride from the entrance is the boundary. Further westwards a
small privately owned woodland called Nabb Wood is also within the parish.
In summer nightingales sing here.
To the west of Hanthorpe the mile long Gunboro Hill, flowered in spring
with primroses, cowslips and orchids, climbs away from the village. The
western boundary, at the highest point of the parish, runs along the edge
of Gunboro Wood at the road-side and then north across the fields to
Spring Wood.
Reproduced from Morton & Hanthorpe Parish Council News Spring 2006
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