The name "Orton" means 'Upper farm/settlement', the last part being from its high situation on a hill overlooking four counties.
Domesday Book Orton on the Hill was recorded in the
Domesday Book as
Wortone. It was recorded in the possession of Henry the Earl Ferrers with six ploughs. This was one of the 35 lordships bestowed upon
Henry de Ferrers by
William the Conqueror who later ceded Orton (Overton) and Morebarne to the
Cistercian abbey of
Merevale.
Tudor times In the
Tudor period, according to John Nichols' survey, the manor belonged to the Bradshaw family, a citation of Robert Bradshaw being made in 1579. The diocesan census of 1564 records 31 families in the parish. In 1588 Robert Bradshaw owned the manor and the grange at Morebarne. The
Knights Templar and the manor of Warton also held lands in the parish.
English Civil War During the
English Civil War Reverend Porter, the Vicar of Orton, appears to have harboured
royalist sympathies and faced ejection. According to
John Walker's chronicle of the
Sufferings of the Clergy during the grand Rebellion, Porter was cited by the
Committee for Compounding and faced
sequestration. Mathew Mathews the new incumbent was appointed to administer the church, but when two sequestrators went to the vicarage house to take possession in July, 1647, Porter's mother denied them access. The key had also been taken from the church. Roger was imprisoned three times and plundered, later leaving him destitute with a wife and eleven children. Orton was also visited by
parliamentary troops from the local parliamentary garrisons who made off with horses. Captain Ottaway's soldiers from
Coventry garrison took horses from Mr Robinson and John Orton. Soldiers from
Tamworth took a gelding and two mares from Mr Porter, the vicar, in November, 1643.
Modern history Orton on the Hill was formerly a
civil parish and formerly in the
Sparkenhoe hundred. On 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with Twycross. ==Population==