Morthen

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Morthen
Yorkshire
West Riding
Horse riders on York Lane, Morthen (geograph 3487071).jpg
York Lane, Morthen
Location
Grid reference: SK476893
Location: 53°23’56"N, 1°17’6"W
Data
Post town: Rotherham
Postcode: S66
Dialling code: 01709
Local Government
Council: Rotherham
Parliamentary
constituency:
Rother Valley

Morthen is a hamlet in the West Riding of Yorkshire, between Brampton-en-le-Morthen and Laughton-en-le-Morthen.[1] The population of the hamlet as taken at the 2011 Census was less than 100. Details are included in the civil parish of Thurcroft.

Former chapel of St James

Morthen lay in the Viking district also named "Morthen". This had already ceased to function by the Norman Conquest, but gave its name to several villages in the area. In the early Mediæval period, Aston and Dinnington were also described as being "-in-Morthen".[1]

The name of the hamlet originates in the Old Norse for "moorland assembly". The assembly probably met in a meadow lying next to the ridge running between Upper Whiston and the hamlet of Morthen.[1]

However, another plausible source for the name of Morthen is offered in the book "Athelstan" by Paul Hill, in which he states Morthen means "Slaughter Field". Given the proximity of a nearby stump of a Saxon cross, which is said by Guy Points in his "Yorkshire. A Gazetteer of Anglo Saxon and Viking Sites" to commemorate the epic Battle of Brunanburgh in 937 would tie the cross and the name together.

Outside links

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("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Morthen)

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 David Hey, Mediæval South Yorkshire