Morton, Derbyshire
Encyclopedia
Morton is a civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 and village, three miles north of Alfreton
Alfreton
Alfreton is a town and civil parish in Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England, adjoining the Bolsover and North East Derbyshire districts. It was formerly a Norman Manor and later an Urban District. The population of the Alfreton Ward was 7,928 at the 2001 Census...

 in Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

History

Morton is first mentioned in the will of Wulfric Spott in 1002 and again mentioned in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 as one of the manors belonging to Walter D'Aincourt
Walter D'Aincourt
Walter D'Aincourt accompanied William the Conqueror to England in 1066 and was rewarded with a large number of manors in a number of counties but particularly Nottinghamshire after the Norman conquest.-Biography:...

.

Claims to be centre of England

According to the roadsigns as you enter, Morton is the geographic centre of England. There is no current documentary evidence to support the geographical veracity of the claim made on the road signs. The Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...

 define Fenny Drayton
Fenny Drayton
Fenny Drayton is a village in Leicestershire England, in the district of Hinckley and Bosworth. Near to the county border of Warwickshire and using a Warwickshire County postcode, it is just off the A444 road an old Roman road, north of Nuneaton close to its crossroads with the A5...

 to be the Geographical centre of England
Centre points of the United Kingdom
There has long been debate over the exact location of the geographical centre of the United Kingdom, and its constituent countries, due to the complexity and method of the calculation, such as whether to include offshore islands, and the fact that erosion will cause the position to change over time...

, and Coton in the Elms
Coton in the Elms
Coton in the Elms is a village and parish in the English county of Derbyshire. It is located five miles south of Burton upon Trent.South east of the village is Church Flatts Farm, which is defined by the Ordnance Survey as the farthest point from the sea in Great Britain.-History:Coton is mentioned...

 to be the Farthest point from the Sea
Centre points of the United Kingdom
There has long been debate over the exact location of the geographical centre of the United Kingdom, and its constituent countries, due to the complexity and method of the calculation, such as whether to include offshore islands, and the fact that erosion will cause the position to change over time...

. Historically Meriden
Meriden, West Midlands
-External links:*****...

has been regarded as the centre of England for over 200 years.
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