Morland House and Gardens

Morland House has been home to the Markham family since 1828, when the house was Morland Vicarage and Rev William Markham was the Vicar of Morland. The house was then a Georgian vicarage, facing south with stables and nearby cottages. After William inherited the proceeds of his brother’s, Admiral John Markham’s Sussex estate, he bought the house for his only daughter, Maria, when she married her cousin, Francis Markham of Becca Hall in Yorkshire. The energetic young couple then spent the 1880’s extending and re-figuring the house and gardens as home for their six children, including putting oak panelling in the main rooms. This is what we see today. They also bought three local farms and cottages in the village. After the sale of Becca Hall in Yorkshire, the house became the repository for the extensive library of books written by the family, plus family records and portraits. Sadly the couple had no grandchildren, so the last surviving son, Frederick Rice Markham, left the house to his second cousin, Canon Gervase Markham. He and his wife Barbara, moved to Morland in 1965 and brought up their three children in the house, Freddy, Victoria and Frances. The house is now in trust for Freddy’s grandson, William.