Morpeth, Ontario

{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}} {{Infobox settlement |official_name = Morpeth |other_name = |native_name =  |nickname = |settlement_type = Unincorporated community |motto = |image_skyline = File:Morpeth United Church - 2024 - 1.jpg |image_caption = Morpeth United Church, built 1877 |image_flag = |flag_size = |image_seal = |seal_size = |image_shield = |shield_size = |city_logo = |citylogo_size = |image_map = |mapsize = |map_caption = |image_map1 = |mapsize1 = |map_caption1 = |pushpin_map = CAN ON Chatham-Kent#Canada Southern Ontario |pushpin_label_position =  |pushpin_map_caption = |pushpin_mapsize = |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = Canada |subdivision_type1 = [[Provinces and territories of Canada|Province]] |subdivision_name1 = [[Ontario]] |subdivision_type2 = Municipality |subdivision_name2 = [[Chatham-Kent, Ontario|Chatham-Kent]] |government_type = |leader_title = |leader_name = |leader_title1 =  |leader_name1 = |leader_title2 = |leader_name2 = |leader_title3 = |leader_name3 = |leader_title4 = |leader_name4 = |established_title =  |established_date = |established_title2 =  |established_date2 = |established_title3 =  |established_date3 = |area_magnitude = |unit_pref = |area_footnotes = |area_total_km2 = |area_land_km2 = |area_water_km2 = |area_water_percent = |area_urban_km2 = |area_metro_km2 = |population_as_of = |population_footnotes = |population_note = |population_total = |population_density_km2 = |population_metro = |population_density_metro_km2 = |population_urban = |population_density_urban_km2 = |population_blank1_title = |population_blank1 = |timezone = [[North American Eastern Time Zone|EST]] |utc_offset = -5 |timezone_DST = [[Eastern Daylight Time|EDT]] |utc_offset_DST = -4 |coordinates = {{coord|42|23|35|N|81|50|44|W|region:CA-ON_type:city|display=inline,title}} |elevation_footnotes =  |elevation_m = |elevation_ft = |postal_code_type = [[Canadian postal code#Forward sortation areas|Forward sortation area]] |postal_code = [[List of N postal codes of Canada|N0P 1X0]] |area_codes = [[Area codes 519 and 226|519 and 226]] |blank_name = [[National Topographic System|NTS]] Map |blank_info = 040I05 |blank1_name = [[Geographical Names Board of Canada|GNBC]] Code |blank1_info = FDWRD |website = |footnotes = }}

'''Morpeth''' is a community in [[Chatham-Kent, Ontario]], Canada. It is located between [[Blenheim, Ontario|Blenheim]] and [[St. Thomas, Ontario|St. Thomas]] on [[Highway 3 (Ontario)|Highway 3]].

==History== The community is named after [[George Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle|Lord Morpeth]], who was once a guest of Col. [[Thomas Talbot (Upper Canada)|Thomas Talbot]].<ref>"Morpeth," ''Encyclopedia of Canada'' (Toronto: University Associates, 1948), IV, 338</ref> Morpeth was an area of notable commerce in the 1880s. When the railroad went through, it instead went through nearby [[Ridgetown, Ontario]], which eventually grew faster than Morpeth.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lauriston |first=Victor |title=Romantic Kent: More Than Three Centuries of History, 1626-1952 |year=1952 |publisher=Shepherd Printing Co. |page=236 }}</ref>

[[Archibald Lampman]], one of Canada's [[Confederation Poets]], and "generally considered the finest of Canada's late 19th-century poets in English", was born in Morpeth in 1861.<ref name="gnarowski">Michael Gnarowski, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20090910031235/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0004492 Lampman, Archibald]," ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' (Hurtig, 1988), 1169.</ref> The ''[[Dictionary of Canadian Biography]]'' says: "The Morpeth that Lampman knew was a small town set in the rolling farm country of what is now western Ontario, not far from the shores of Lake Erie. The little red church just east of the town, on the Talbot Road, was his father’s charge."<ref name="online">"[http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=6209&interval=20&&PHPSESSID=h31jipmd5m1esaab5kfpk286q5 Lampman, Archibald]," Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Web, Mar. 22, 2011.</ref>

St. John's Anglican Church was completed in 1878, by architect [[Gordon W. Lloyd]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Ecclesiological Gothic Revival in Southwestern Ontario: Three Churches By Gordon W. Lloyd (1832-1905) |first=Loryssa |last=Quattrociocchi |publisher=University of Guelph |url=http://hdl.handle.net/10214/8103 }}</ref> In 2010, it was added to the Municipal Heritage Register due to its "cultural value or interest" to Chatham-Kent;<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/morpeth-native-hopeful-historic-church-does-not-get-demolished/article_57b6a388-8fba-5c4e-a4ed-46f0358f0434.html |title=Morpeth native hopeful historic church does not get demolished |work=[[Toronto Star]] |first=Bird |last=Bouchard |date=November 17, 2021 }}</ref> its heritage status was removed in 2021.<ref name="Barker21">{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/morpeth-church-demolishment-hertiage-advocates-1.6241721 |title=Heritage advocates questioning Chatham-Kent decision to strip Morpeth church of heritage designation |date=November 10, 2021 |first=Jacob |last=Barker |work=[[CBC News]] }}</ref>

==Attractions== Attractions include Greenview Park and Zoo, Rondeau Shores Trailer Park, and [[Rondeau Provincial Park]].<ref>{{cite web | title = Greenview Park and Zoo | publisher = Greenview Park and Zoo | url = https://greenviewparkandzoo.ca/ | accessdate = June 6, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Rondeau Shores Trailer Park | publisher = Rondeau Shores Trailer Park | url = http://www.rondeaushorestrailerpark.com/contact.html | accessdate = June 6, 2025}}</ref>

Morpeth United Church, built in 1877, was converted into an [[Airbnb]] rental unit.<ref name="Barker21"/>

==References== <references/>

==External links== {{Commons category|Morpeth, Ontario}} {{Portal|Canada|Ontario}} *[https://www.chatham-kent.ca/Pages/default.aspx Chatham-Kent website]

[[Category:Communities in Chatham-Kent]] [[Category:Populated places on Lake Erie in Canada]]