Moreton-in-Marsh and Blockley
Moreton-in-Marsh still runs the largest open-air street market in the Cotswolds, while neighbouring Blockley hides a surprising silk-mill past.
Moreton-in-Marsh sits on the Fosse Way in the North Cotswolds, its wide High Street a legacy of centuries of market trading that continues, largely unchanged, every single Tuesday. A few miles away, Blockley looks every bit the quiet Cotswold village but was once a genuine centre of industry, its brook once powering six working silk mills. Between them, and the historic house and arboretum just outside town, this pair covers a genuinely varied slice of the North Cotswolds. This guide sets out what makes both worth building a visit around.
Moreton-in-Marsh and Blockley at a Glance
| Location | North Cotswolds, Gloucestershire, on the Fosse Way |
| Known as | Home to the largest open-air street market in the Cotswolds |
| Distance from Oxford | Around 30 miles; about 50 minutes by car |
| Distance from London | Around 85 miles; roughly 1 hour 45 minutes by car |
| Nearest railway station | Moreton-in-Marsh, in the town itself, with direct services to London Paddington (around 1 hour 35 minutes) and Worcester |
| Market day | Every Tuesday, held on the High Street since a market charter was granted in 1227 |
| Best known for | Its Tuesday street market, the Curfew Tower and Redesdale Market Hall, Batsford Arboretum, Sezincote House and Blockley’s silk-mill history |
Exploring Moreton-in-Marsh’s High Street
Moreton-in-Marsh’s unusually wide High Street exists because of trade, and it still hosts the largest open-air street market in the Cotswolds every Tuesday, a tradition unbroken since the town was granted a market charter in 1227. At its centre stands the Redesdale Market Hall, built in 1887 and paid for by Lord Redesdale’s relative Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, its steeply pitched roof and distinctive clock turret still a focal point for antique fairs and markets today. Nearby, the Curfew Tower, believed to be the town’s oldest surviving building, dates to the sixteenth century; its bell, dated 1633, was rung nightly until 1860, and the room beneath it once served as a makeshift gaol for the town’s more minor offenders.
Moreton also has the distinction of being the only town in the Cotswolds with its own working railway station directly on the High Street, a genuinely useful base for car-free exploring of the surrounding area.
Where to Eat and Drink in Moreton-in-Marsh
- The Redesdale Arms, a seventeenth-century coaching inn on the High Street, pairs a menu of modern international cooking and traditional British favourites with several distinct dining spaces, including a garden terrace and conservatory, and a daily fresh fish board built around local game and Cotswold meat.
- Moreton’s High Street holds a further run of cafés and pubs worth exploring, particularly on market day itself.
For a wider view of dining across the region, the best country pubs in the Cotswolds sets Moreton’s options in context.