St Mary's Church, Morpeth. Photo Northumberland County Council, 1980.

(NZ 19718509) St Mary's Church (C of E)
(NZ 19748512) Lych Gate. (1)

1418 HIGH CHURCH Church of St Mary
NZ 1985 4/17 11/8/50
13th and 14th century, restored 19th century. Nave of five bays, aisles, choir, tower with low timber spire. One of the best parish churches in the district and with important remains of mediaeval glass in East window of choir.

1418 HIGH CHURCH Lychgate
NZ 1985 4/18 11/8/50
Grade II*
19th century, stone, arched, one of the two best lychgates in Northumberland. (2)

Church of St Mary, Grade I. Parish church, mainly 14th century. Squared stone with slate and lead roofs. West tower, nave with aisles and south porch, chancel and vestry.
Two storey tower, angle buttresses, two-light bell openings. Lead 18th century concave spire. 19th century porch. Original priest's door in chancel. 18th century sundial. Original two-storey vestry on north side with two gargoyles. North aisle partly rebuilt in 19th century.
Interior: original south door with iron knocker. Original door into vestry. Original nave roof; old timbers in aisle roofs too. 14th century tomb recess in south aisle. 14thcentury glass in south aisle east window. East window has 14th century 'Tree of Jesse' glass, restored 1851 by Wailes. Elaborate sedilia and piscina. 14th century head stops to all chancel windows. Original door to aumbry on chancel north wall. 19th century roof on chancel. Late 19th century screens and pulpit. (3)

St Mary; essentially 14th century, with a few Early English remains. East window, of five lights, is the most ambitious of its date in the county (excluding Newcastle). 14th century glass at east end is the most important 14th century glass in the county. (4)(5)(6)

The Buildings of England volume for Northumberland contains a description of the church. Pevsner notes that the font is 13th century, and the porch is probably 16th century. The cartouche to Robert Fenwick was erected in 1717, although he died in 1693. (4)

Church includes a white marble tablet as a war memorial inscribed "IN MEMORY OF/ WILLIAM JAMESON,/ SON OF JOHN AND BARBARA JAMESON,/ OF PONTELAND,/ PRIVATE IN THE IMPERIAL YEOMANRY,/ WHO SERVED IN THE BOER WAR, AND WAS KILLED/ IN ACTION AT DOORN RIVER, SOUTH AFRICA,/ ON NOVEMBER 5TH 1900, AGED 28 YEARS./ THIS TABLET WAS ERECTED BY HIS FRIENDS TO SHOW THEIR REGARD FOR A BRAVE MAN/ WHO LIVED IN THE FEAR OF GOD/ AND DIED IN THE SERVICE OF HIS COUNTRY." (7)

Watching brief work was undertaken by PF Ryder between 26 October 2012 and 1 February 2013 during alterations to the church. These works included the re-opening of a medieval doorway at the west end of the north wall of the north aisle of church, which had been partly destroyed in the insertion of a window in 1953, and limited excavation works inside the north aisle's western corner and immediately outside of the north aisle for a heating system. A possibly medieval pintel for the north door was found fixed into the wall and is possibly 14th century in date. The works within the aisle revealed only a 19th century heating duct and those outside the remains of a later 19th century boiler house. In the remains of the boiler house the demolition rubble included two pieces of a later 18th century monument, possibly part of a table tomb, used to infill the area. (8)

The Anglican Parish of Morpeth website contains images of architectural details of the Church of St Mary the Virgin/ St.Mary's church and graveyard. (9a)