Once the slab is lifted by the rings, stairs lead down into a crypt which holds the remains of some pivotal figures in Scottish history.
Their presence is delaying the sale of the church overhead in a controversy that raises significant questions about the ramifications of one of the biggest property selloffs of modern times.
The Church of Scotland, once one of the most powerful forces in Scottish life, is disposing of hundreds of churches, manses, halls and cottages over the next five years as it faces up to a "perilous" transformation in its fortunes and its place in Scottish society.
Congregations are in steep decline, its clergy are ageing and its finances are in disarray.
Like hundreds of other churches earmarked for sale, Morham church should be on the market - but that has been halted by an unprecedented row over the fate of the nine people interred there more than 300 years ago.
Morham was once the family church of the Dalrymples, a dynasty that built Newhailes House, a Palladian mansion nearby. Interred in the crypt are the remains of Sir David Dalrymple, the lord advocate who oversaw the union of Scotland's parliament with Westminster in 1707, and his grandson Lord Hailes, an eminent historian and contemporary of Adam Smith and David Hume.
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