A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, (from
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
''lic'', corpse), also ''wych gate'', is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style
churchyard
In Christian countries a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster-Scots, this can also ...
. The name resurrection gate is also used. Examples exist also outside the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
in places such as
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
, the
Upland South
The Upland South and Upper South are two overlapping cultural and geographic subregions in the inland part of the Southern and lower Midwestern United States. They differ from the Deep South and Atlantic coastal plain by terrain, history, econom ...
and Texas
in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Norway, and Sweden.
Etymology
The word ''lych'' survived into modern English from the Old English or
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
word for corpse, mostly as an adjective in particular phrases or names, such as lych bell, the hand-bell rung before a corpse;
lych way, the path along which a corpse was carried to burial (this in some districts was supposed to establish a
right-of-way
Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.
A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
); lych owl, the
screech owl
Screech owls are typical owls (Strigidae) belonging to the genus ''Megascops'' with 23 living species. For most of the 20th century, this genus was merged with the Old World scops owls in ''Otus'', but nowadays it is again considered separate ...
, because its cry was a portent of death; and lyke-wake, a night watch over a corpse (''see
Lyke-Wake Dirge
The "Lyke-Wake Dirge" is a traditional English folk song and dirge listed as number 8194 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The song tells of the soul's travel, and the hazards it faces, on its way from earth to purgatory. Though it is from the Chri ...
'').
It is cognate with the modern German ''Leiche'',
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
''lijk'' and ''
lichaam'',
West Frisian ''lyk'' and
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
''lik'', all meaning "corpse".
Description
Lychgates consist of a roofed
porch
A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...
-like structure over a
gate
A gate or gateway is a point of entry to or from a space enclosed by walls. The word derived from old Norse "gat" meaning road or path; But other terms include ''yett and port''. The concept originally referred to the gap or hole in the wall ...
, often built of wood. They usually consist of four or six upright wooden posts in a rectangular shape. On top of this are a number of beams to hold a pitched roof covered in
thatch
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...
or wooden or clay tiles. They can have decorative carvings and in later times were erected as memorials. They sometimes have recessed seats on either side of the gate itself, for the use of pall-bearers or vigil watchers.
Lychgates followed a somewhat predictable pattern, though great variations in form could be seen. Typically, they were gable or hipped roofed, often with benches where mourners could sit, or with a lych-stone, coffin-stool or trestle, upon which a coffin could be rested.
The most common form of lychgate is a simple shed composed of a roof with two gabled ends, covered with tiles or thatch. At
Berrynarbor
Berrynarbor (historically Berry Narbor, Berrie Nerbert, etc) is a village, civil parish and former manor in the North Devon district of Devon, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 749, increasing to 802 at the ...
, Devon, there is a lychgate in the form of a cross, while at
Troutbeck,
Westmorland
Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...
, there are three lychgates to one churchyard. Some elaborate gates have chambers over them. In
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
and the South of the US, lychgates are simpler in construction, usually consisting of a steel or wooden span with a sign showing the name of the burial space.
Dates of surviving lychgates
![Lych gate, St George's church Beckenham](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Lych_gate%2C_St_George%27s_church_Beckenham.jpg)
Most were built from around the mid-15th century although some date from earlier, including the 13th-century lychgate of St George's churchyard in Beckenham, South London, claimed to be the oldest in England.
[''Brewer's Britain and Ireland'', compiled by John Ayto and Ian Crofton, ]Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd (established 1949), often shortened to W&N or Weidenfeld, is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It has been a division of the French-owned Orion Publishing Group since 1991.
History
George Weidenfeld a ...
, 2005, After World War I a number of lychgates were built as war memorials, for example that of
Sandridge
Sandridge is a village and civil parish between St Albans and Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire, England.
History
The original name was "Saundruage" meaning a place of sandy soil serviced by bond tenants.
The earliest recorded mention of Sandri ...
, Hertfordshire. Sandridge lychgate is a
Grade II listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
as is that of St Cuthbert's,
Allendale, Northumberland. However, many of these memorial lychgates, such as that of St Peter's,
Felkirk
South Hiendley is a village and civil parish in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 1,667, increasing to 1,817 at the 2011 Census. Until 1974 it was part of Hemsworth Rural District.
The village is on th ...
, Yorkshire, are not listed. Several new examples were built to mark the new
millennium
A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...
, such as that at
Lenton, Lincolnshire
Lenton is a hamlet in the district of South Kesteven, Lincolnshire, England. It is situated approximately south-east from Grantham, and is part of the Lenton, Keisby and Osgodby civil parish .
Village
The village is sometimes known as ''Lav ...
.
Use
In the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, before mortuaries, and at a time when most people died at home, the dead were placed on a
bier
A bier is a stand on which a corpse, coffin, or casket containing a corpse is placed to lie in state or to be carried to the grave.''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' (American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., New York, ...
and taken to the lychgate where they remained, often attended against
bodysnatchers, until the funeral service, which may have been a day or two later. The lychgate kept the rain off, and often had seats for the vigil watchers. Bodies at that time were buried in just
shroud
Shroud usually refers to an item, such as a cloth, that covers or protects some other object. The term is most often used in reference to ''burial sheets'', mound shroud, grave clothes, winding-cloths or winding-sheets, such as the famous Shr ...
s rather than
coffin
A coffin is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, either for burial or cremation.
Sometimes referred to as a casket, any box in which the dead are buried is a coffin, and while a casket was originally regarded as a box for jewel ...
s. At the funeral, the priest conducted the first part of the service under the shelter of the lychgate.
In traditional usage, the gate was "the sheltered point at which the coffin was set down at a funeral to await the clergyman's arrival." An English commentator, writing in 1899, noted that the lych-gate, "or corpse-gate, with its pent-house roof, is specially provided for the shelter of a funeral while awaiting the priest, but it is only in a few cases that it is exclusively used for that purpose; it is frequently, perhaps, where it exists, commonly, the principal gateway of the churchyard."
In some regions of Cornwall and Devon, such gates were called "''trim-trams''" – the spot where a funeral train (or ''tram'') was brought into the proper order (or ''trimmed'') to be ready for the officiating clergyman.
In parts of Scotland, ''Lykerstanes'' (lit. "corpse stones") may have served a similar purpose.
Lychgates serve to differentiate consecrated and unconsecrated space, and serve as a
liminal space. Stone lychgates may create an increased aural awareness of the transition from one space to another by creating a tangible contrast between sounds inside and outside.
In England, there was a folk belief that the spirit of the last person buried stands watch at the gate till the next is buried, leading to funeral fights at the entrance to decide which corpse should be buried first.
Wedding traditions
Traditionally in some parts of England, particularly parts of
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
, at the end of the wedding as the bride and groom leave the church the gates are closed (or where there is an absence of gates a rope is held across) by the local children and the couple have to pay them to let them pass. Conversely, in Cheshire and Shropshire, wedding parties would never pass through the lychgate, so as to avoid misfortune.
Examples
File:Lych gate.jpg, A traditional English lychgate
File:Lenton Lincolnshire Lychgate geograh1761572 by BobHarvey.JPG, Millennium lychgate at Lenton, Lincolnshire
Lenton is a hamlet in the district of South Kesteven, Lincolnshire, England. It is situated approximately south-east from Grantham, and is part of the Lenton, Keisby and Osgodby civil parish .
Village
The village is sometimes known as ''Lav ...
File:Cummertrees Parish Church & Lych gate.JPG, A rare Scottish example at Cummertrees
Cummertrees is a coastal village and civil parish of Annandale in the historical county of Dumfriesshire in Dumfries and Galloway. It lies about inland, on the Pow Water to the northwest of Powfoot, from Dumfries and from Annan.
Etymology
...
, Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of ...
File:Lych-gate-at-St-James-the-Less.png, Lychgate at the Church of St. James the Less
The Church of St. James the Less is a historic Episcopal church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that was architecturally influential. As St. James-the-Less Episcopal Church, it was designated a National Historic Landmark for its Gothic Revival ...
, Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
File:Lychgate.jpg, Lychgate at St. Michael's church, Aylsham
Aylsham ( or ) is a historic market town and civil parish on the River Bure in north Norfolk, England, nearly north of Norwich. The river rises near Melton Constable, upstream from Aylsham and continues to Great Yarmouth and the North Sea, ...
, Norfolk
File:Lych Gate, All Saints Parish Church, Shiptonthorpe.jpg, Lychgate of All Saints Parish Church, Shiptonthorpe
Shiptonthorpe is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately south-east of the market town of Pocklington and north-west of the market town of Market Weighton.
...
, East Yorkshire
File:Castle eaton lych gate.jpg, Lychgate at St.Mary's parish church, Castle Eaton
Castle Eaton is a village and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Wiltshire, England, on the River Thames about northwest of Highworth. It was historically in the area governed by the (former) Wiltshire County Council, but since 1997 has b ...
, Wiltshire
File:Kirkley Cemetery Lychgate.jpg, Lychgate at Kirkley Cemetery
Kirkley Cemetery is a burial ground in the Kirkley area of Lowestoft in Suffolk. Located on London Road South, the cemetery is maintained by Waveney District Council and is open for traditional and Green Burials.
The cemetery contains 59 war ...
, Lowestoft
Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...
, Suffolk
File:St Michael's Manafon lych gate.jpg, Lychgate designed by John Douglas at St Michael's Church, Manafon
St Michael's Church, Manafon, is in the small village of Manafon, Powys, Wales. It is an active Anglican church in the parish of Llanfair Caereinion, Llanllugan and Manafon, the deanery of Mathrafal, the archdeaconry of Montgomery and the dioc ...
, Powys
Powys (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh succession of states, successor state, petty kingdom and princi ...
File:Lychgate at St Andrew's Church, West Tarring.jpg, Early 20th-century lychgate at St Andrew's Church, West Tarring, West Sussex
File:StColumba Nov08 3.jpg, Lychgate at St. Columba's Chapel (Middletown, Rhode Island)
File:St Wulfran's Church, Ovingdean 04.JPG, Lychgate at St Wulfran's Church, Ovingdean
St Wulfran's Church, dedicated to the 7th-century French archbishop Wulfram of Sens, is an Anglican church in Ovingdean, a rural village now within the English city of Brighton and Hove. Parts of the structure date from the early 12th centu ...
, East Sussex
File:Lychgate at St. Anne's Chapel of Ease in Fredericton.jpg, Lychgate at St. Anne's Chapel (Fredericton)
St. Anne's Chapel is a Gothic Revival Anglican chapel of ease in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Constructed between 1846 and 1847, it was designed by British-born architect Frank Wills. St. Anne's Chapel is a National Historic Site of Canada.
Hist ...
, New Brunswick
File:Alskogs-kyrka-Gotland-total1.jpg, Lychgate at Alskog Church
Alskog Church ( sv, Alskogs kyrka) is a medieval church in Alskog on the Swedish island of Gotland. The church in its entirety dates from the 13th century, with the last additions probably being made c. 1300. A few alterations are of later date. I ...
, Gotland
Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...
(Sweden)
File:Garda Church yard portal 02.jpg, Lychgate at Garde Church
Garde Church ( sv, Garde kyrka, sometimes also Garda Church) is a medieval church in Garde on the Swedish island of Gotland. It was built in stages during the Middle Ages. The oldest part is the nave and the base of the tower, while the most rec ...
, Gotland
File:Ro kyrka bell tower.jpg, Combined lychgate and bell tower
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...
at Rö Church, Sweden
File:StJohns&LychGate.jpg, The Anglican Church of St John the Evangelist & its Lych Gate, Camden, NSW 27 Feb 2017
File:Porth Mynwent Eglwys S Baglan Lych Gate - geograph.org.uk - 615079.jpg, St Baglan's Church, Llanfaglan
St Baglan's Church, Llanfaglan, is a redundant church in the parish of Llanfaglan, Gwynedd, Wales. It is designated by Cadw as a Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches. It stands in an isolated ...
, Wales
File:Lychgate of the Church of Saint Swithun, Bournemouth.jpg, Lychgate of the St Swithun's Church, Bournemouth
St Swithun's Church is a Grade II listed church in the town of Bournemouth, England.
History
St Swithuns is a work of Richard Norman Shaw constructed in the 1870s, and was one of the towns two central churches with St Michael's Church, Bournemou ...
See also
*
Corpse road
Corpse roads provided a practical means for transporting corpses, often from remote communities, to cemetery, cemeteries that had burial rights, such as parish churches and chapel of ease, chapels of ease. In Britain, such routes can also be known ...
*
Church porch
A church porch is a room-like structure at a church's main entrance. A porch protects from the weather to some extent. Some porches have an outer door, others a simple gate, and in some cases the outer opening is not closed in any way.
The porch ...
*
Lich
In fantasy fiction, a lich (; from the Old English , meaning "corpse") is a type of undead creature.
Various works of fantasy fiction, such as Clark Ashton Smith's "The Empire of the Necromancers" (1932), had used ''lich'' as a general term fo ...
*
Lyke-Wake Dirge
The "Lyke-Wake Dirge" is a traditional English folk song and dirge listed as number 8194 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The song tells of the soul's travel, and the hazards it faces, on its way from earth to purgatory. Though it is from the Chri ...
References
*
External links
{{NIE Poster, Lich-gate, year=1905
A restoration of a lych gateat Houghton-le-Spring's Hillside Cemetery
featuring a traditional lychgate
Otterbourne lychgateIllustrated article on lych gatesin Newfoundland, Canada
Christianity in England
Church architecture
Types of gates