Morton Palms

Morton Palms is a civil parish in the Darlington district, in the ceremonial county of Durham, England. In 2001 the parish had a population of 32.^[1][2] The parish borders Barmpton, Great Burdon, Hurworth, Middleton St. George, Neasham and Sadberge.^[3]

Morton Palms
Morton Palms Farm
Morton Palms Location within County Durham
Area	5.50 km2 (2.12 sq mi)
Population	32 (2001 census)
• Density	6/km2 (16/sq mi)
Civil parish	Morton Palms
Unitary authority	Darlington
Ceremonial county	County Durham
Region	North East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
List of places UK England County Durham 54.523199°N 1.4900100°W / 54.523199; -1.4900100

Landmarks

There are five listed buildings in Morton Palms.^[4] Brick Train, a brick sculpture is in the parish.

History

The name "Morton" means 'Moor farm/settlement', it was held by Bryan Palms in the 16th century.^[5] The site of the deserted medieval village of Morton Palms is marked by the current farm buildings.^[6] Formerly a township in the parish of Houghton-le-Skerne,^[7] Morton Palms became a civil parish in its own right in 1866.^[8]

Tees Valley Metro

Transit diagram showcasing all discussed or mentioned ideas for the Tees Valley Metro.

Starting in 2006, Morton Palms was mentioned within the Tees Valley Metro scheme as a possible new station. This was a plan to upgrade the Tees Valley Line and sections of the Esk Valley Line and Durham Coast Line to provide a faster and more frequent service across the North East of England. In the initial phases the services would have been heavy rail mostly along existing alignments with new additional infrastructure and rollingstock. The later phase would have introduced tram-trains to allow street running and further heavy rail extensions.^{[9][10][11][12]}

As part of the scheme, Morton Palms station would have received rail services to Darlington and Saltburn (1–2 to 4 trains per hour) and the Tees Valley line would have received new rollingstock.^[9]

However, due to a change in government in 2010 and the 2008 financial crisis, the project was ultimately shelved.^[13] Several stations eventually got their improvements.^[14]