Morham Parish Church And Burial-Ground

Morham Parish Church and Burial-Ground is a church dating from 1724, with a Dalrymple Aisle added around 1730, and a bellcote from 1685 incorporated into an earlier church structure. The church is constructed of rubble red sandstone, with a harl pointing finish; it has ashlar dressings, and a classical frontage to the north. The Dalrymple Aisle is faced in white ashlar. The main body of the church has four bays to the south, featuring round arched openings with keystone details. A doorway is located in the outer right bay, with a semi-circular fanlight and two-leaf doors. Windows are present in the remaining bays, with the window in the outer left bay blocked from a former doorway. Stone with banded carving, originating from the earlier structure, has been incorporated to the left of the present doorway. Steeply pitched gables face east and west; the east gable is blank, with ventilation windows, encompassing a corniced burial enclosure at ground level and a bellcote at its apex. The north elevation is blank, with the Dalrymple Aisle projecting centrally. The 1685 bellcote is constructed of stone and features a cornice and an ogival stone cap with thackstones. The bell itself was cast in 1681 and is dated, bearing the inscription "Sir James Stansfield Donum Eius”.

The Dalrymple Aisle, circa 1730, is taller than the main body of the church, possessing a higher eaves cornice and a base course. Its north-facing ashlar frontage features a tripartite arrangement with rusticated quoins and a base course. A raised central bay contains a Gibbsian doorpiece and two-leaf panelled doors. Simple panelling is located above the doors and in the flanking bays at ground level. Two Gibbsian windows illuminate a loft, sharing a cornice with the central bay. Above is a corniced and richly carved armorial panel, incorporating a segmental pediment and curved mouldings that flank the windows below. A die or squat stack sits atop this feature. The loft is no longer accessible from the interior, only via a stone forestair and doorway on the east return, with an additional window on the west return. Decorative leaded glazing is featured in the round arched windows, while the Dalrymple Aisle windows have a twelve-pane pattern within sash and case frames. The roof is covered in grey slates, with an early skew form corresponding to the original church design. Ashlar coping defines the Aisle.

The interior of the church is plain, with a boarded dado, painted plaster, and a coombed ceiling. A central aisle is present, and the doorway is surrounded by panelling. The church contains a communion table and pulpit of suitable 18th-century style. Centre lights are arranged in a coronet form. An etched window depicting a Celtic Cross is located at the west end.

The graveyard is enclosed by substantial rubble and harl-pointed boundary walls, including those to the west, which incorporate the outer wall of former manse offices, now residential. A bee bole is present in one corner. A selection of heavily weathered gravestones are found within the graveyard, exhibiting memento mori motifs and artisan classical forms.