Morpeth St Mary

Parish Notes Northumberland

Morpeth St Mary the Virgin

[Population 1911: 9,398 incl. 884 persons enumerated in the Northumberland County Lunatic Asylum, and 145 in the Morpeth Union Workhouse]

Church

The parish church of St. Mary, situated on Kirk hill, about a mile south of the town, is a plain edifice of stone, in the Decorated style of the 14th century, the lower portion of the tower showing traces of Norman work: the church consists of chancel, which has been well restored, has five stained windows, including a fine Jesse window with fragments of ancient glass, and on the south side are triple canopied sedilia and a mutilated piscina: in the north wall is an aumbry, and on either side of the chancel arch is a hagioscope: the east window of the south aisle contains figues of St. Blaize, Bishop of Sebaste, and St. Denis, Bishop of Paris: the chancel seats and the pulpit are of carved oak: there are sittings for 600 persons. Outside the church on the south are two stone effigies. The churchyard, entered by a lich-gate, built in 1862, retains an ancient cross, now restored, and another, erected as a memorial to the Rev. J. Bolland, a former curate. The register dates from the year 1585. The living is a rectory, tithe rent-charge £147, gross yearly value £1,300, with residence, in the gift of the Earl of Carlisle, and held since 1842 by the Rev. the Hon. Francis Richard Grey M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge, hon. canon of Newcastle and rural dean of Morpeth. [Kelly's Directory of Durham and Northumberland (1890), page 815.]

Townships

Topography

History

The Parish Chest

Non-Parochial Records

Newcastle Courant 20/9/1844 There has not been a death in Morpeth between July 6th and September 15th - a period of ten weeks.

Newcastle Courant 8/11/1844 (4a) At the hiring for single servants at Morppeth, yesterday, the demand for women was brisk, but the men were not much wanted.

Berwick Advertiser 14/3/1846 THE MURDERER UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH.- The execution of Ralph Joicey, the parricide, is fixed to take place in front of the county gaol at Morpeth, at 8 o'clock in the morning of Wednesday the 18th instant. The Hon. and Rev. F. Grey, rector of Morpeth, has prepared an intercessory prayer on his behalf, which is daily offered in the parish church; and petitions are being got up in Newcastle and Morpeth, praying for a commutation of the sentence.

Gateshead Observer 7/9/1850 John Trainer, of Morpeth, was discovered, on Thursday se'nnight, hard at work, with the aid of his wife, increasing the national stock of whisky without the cognizance of the Excise. He has since been committed, as an old offender, for three months.

Newcastle Courant 14/12/1849 Yesterday, in consequence of the funeral of the late C.W. Bigge, Esq., muffled peals were rung at Morpeth at intervals thoughout the day.