A visit to the Morton Horse Chestnut Tree

The pursuit of visiting the 50 Great British Trees continues! Yesterday we took a shortish road trip to visit the village of Morton and its Horse Chestnut tree.  The village is quite pretty around the church square and although most of the housing is the typical miners' lodging it does have a bit of a peaceful and slightly quaint feel to it.  I am slightly bemused as to why that particular horse chestnut tree was chosen though...it's not particularly old and according to the parish council site it might not even be the original one planted in that location.  The prettiness of it can't be denied though! However if anyone has any inside knowledge about the Morton Horse Chestnut or the process of how the 50 Great British Trees were selected please leave me a comment.

Morton Horse Chestnut Tree

We also had a wander about the churchyard to see what interesting things we could find, unfortunately the church itself was locked up so we couldn't have a peek around inside.  I'm not sure what it is but while I can't stand funerals I love old cemeteries but that's a subject for another time.  

The church 'gate'

Old grave markers

Water spout, there was another identical but more worn one on the opposite side of the church

More water spouts

While doing a bit of research on Morton I did discover another interesting tidbit...the parish claims to be the centre of England (based on north-south axis and the east coast/Welsh border) and it's marked by an old oak tree!  Of course a newer OS (Ordnance Survey) study has now shown this is not quite accurate but it's still cool.  

The centre of England?

Morton Parish Council Plaque

Me in the centre of England!

This trip marks 4 out of the 50 trees (plus a bonus!), we just need to decide on which one to road trip to next. I was considering the Lebanon Cedar in Childrey but a google maps search shows that it might not be accessible to the public now as it appears the old rectory garden is blurred out on street view.