Morthouse

A morthouse[1] or deadhouse[2] was a specialised secure building usually located in a churchyard where bodies were temporarily interred before a formal funeral took place.

These buildings date back to the time when bodysnatchers or resurrectionists frequently illegally exhumed dead bodies that were then sold for dissection as part of human anatomy training at universities, etc.

A morthouse differs from a mortuary or morgue, which is a facility for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification or autopsy prior to burial.

Simpler techniques than morthouses to protect the recently deceased included the family acting as lookouts, high graveyard walls with locked gates, especially deep graves and even using heather, turf, stones, etc.

[4] Heavy mortstones could be placed over the grave and even the gravestone itself could be used as a deterrent,[3] such as the especially large solid cast-iron example at St Columba's in Stewarton, Ayrshire (see photograph).

[7] The requirement for corpses to be in good anatomical condition lent itself to methods of delaying burial until the bodies were of no dissection value in buildings with prison-like security systems in place.

A number of morthouses were built partly underground or were effectively subterranean to give added security, some were lead lined to prevent water seeping into the vault and air vents were a common feature.