Church Of St Mary

The Church of St. Mary is a parish church located in Morpeth, primarily dating from the 14th century. It is constructed of squared stone and features Lakeland slate and lead roofs. The church includes a west tower, a nave with aisles, a south porch, a chancel, and a vestry.

The two-storey tower has angle buttresses and two-light bell openings, topped with a low, lead concave spire from the 18th century. The nave, which has five bays, features a 19th-century porch and windows adorned with cusped Y-tracery. The east window of the south aisle is a three-light window with reticulated tracery. Both the nave and aisles have low-pitched roofs behind parapets.

The three-bay chancel retains its original priest's door, complete with decorative hinges and a knocker. It has two-light windows with Decorated tracery, separated by buttresses. A large 18th-century incised sundial is present, along with a substantial five-light east window featuring reticulated tracery and two cusped niches in the buttress on the south side. The chancel has a high, steeply-pitched roof.

On the north side, there is an original two-storey vestry with two gargoyles, while the north aisle has been partly rebuilt in the 19th century.

Inside, the church features an original south door with an iron knocker and another original door leading to the vestry. The arcades are supported by double-chamfered arches and octagonal piers, with foliage capitals on the south arcade responds. The tower arch and chancel arch are also double-chamfered, with the chancel arch resting on octagonal responds. The original nave roof displays arched braces and cusped spandrels between the purlins and principal rafters, with old timbers present in the aisle roofs. In the south aisle, there is a 14th-century tomb recess and a squint into the chancel. The east window contains 14th-century "Tree of Jesse" glass, restored in 1851 by Wailes, along with 14th-century glass in the south aisle east window. The chancel features elaborate sedilia and piscina with crocketed ogee heads and figures on the dividing columns, as well as 14th-century head stops on all chancel windows. An original door leads to an aumbry on the north wall of the chancel, which has a 19th-century roof with cusped arched braces on angel corbels. The church also includes good late 19th-century screens and a pulpit, along with a cartouche dedicated to Robert Fenwick from 1717 located in the south aisle.