Morham

Morham, East Lothian, sometimes spelt Moram, Morum, Morhame, etc., in old records, is the smallest (agricultural) parish in Scotland, sandwiched between five other parishes: Haddington, Garvald, Yester, Whittingehame, and Prestonkirk, in the undulating lower reaches of the Lammermuir Hills.

Church and hamlet

For centuries a small castle or Tower house stood opposite the church but there are scant remains of it today. The village, once a few hundred yards south of the church, has vanished. The first notice of the church is as a prebend in 1481, although a charter of Bara in 1340 is witnessed by a "'Lord' William, Rector of the parish of Morham". In April 1532 Mr. Robert Hoppringill was parson of Moreham (NAS - GD150/710). The present building of 1724 replaced a church of 1685 and stands in a secluded hollow in a very neat walled burial ground. The Dalrymple loft and mausoleum of circa 1730 are an imposing feature on its north side. A walled garden separates the church from the 1827 manse. The Statistical Account of Haddingtonshire (Edinburgh 1841) states that the earliest date in the Parochial Records is 22 February 1712. However, there is also a gap in the Morham Old Parish registers from late in 1714 until 1720. There was at Morham a parochial school very early on, and a James Hogg was schoolmaster there until 1742, when he took up a new appointment at Whittingehame.