LYCHGATES are so named from the old Anglo-Saxon word lich, or German leiche, meaning corpse, because they stood at the entrance of the churchyard, where the bearers of the dead might deposit their burden, and rest awhile before passing through, and into the church for the solemn funeral rites. Some lychgates are actually provided with a long flat slab for this very purpose, as is the case, for instance, at Ashprington and Atherington, both in Devonshire, and at Chiddingfold, Surrey (Fig. 227). Usually also they are fitted with benches.

The rubric of the Prayer Book of 1549 directed that the officiating minister at funerals should go to meet the corpse at the "church style," i.e., lychgate; and again, according to the Prayer Book now in use (of the year 1662), the clergyman and the clerks meeting the corpse "at the entrance of the churchyard" (i.e., at the lychgate, wherever one exists), there begin the burial service, and thence precede the body into the church.

In some places, as at Heston and Hayes, in Middlesex, and at Chalfont St Giles, the entrance gates form turnstiles, being fixed to a central post, which revolves on a pivot.

There is hardly scope for any very great variety of types in lychgates, but they may be classified generally under certain main groups, viz., first, the porch-shape, in which the roof-ridge has the same axis as the passage way; secondly, the shed-like form, in which the roof-ridge runs transversely to the axial line of the passage way; thirdly, a rare variety, embodying both the previous features, and such that is exemplified by the charming lychgate at Clun, Shropshire (Fig. 235), where two roof-ridges cross one another at right angles; or at Berrynarbor, Devonshire, where the lychgate is on the plan of a cross; and, lastly, lychgates formed by the combination of the requisite passage way with a church house or other building. To this class belongs the entrance to the churchyard at Penshurst, Kent, an example well known and admired for its picturesqueness. Other instances are those of Hartfield in Sussex (Fig. 201), Long Compton in Warwickshire, Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire (Fig. 204), and Bray in Berkshire (Figs. 202, 203). The last-named specimen is of exceptional interest, not only because it contains an ancient chapel, but also because it bears, on one of the uprights of the entrance, the date of its construction, 1448, a most unusual circumstance. The penthouse gallery, shown on the left of the photograph, is a modern addition. It will also be noticed, on comparison of the two illustrations, that the west window of the old chapel-chamber has, since 1879, been robbed of some of its mullions, and now consists of three lights only.

Two Welsh examples of lychgates, with a room built over each, are enumerated by the Rev. Elias Owen, in 1886, viz., Derwen, Denbighshire, where the upper storey is utilised for parochial purposes, and Whitford, Flintshire, where it served as a schoolroom. Latterly, "when the school increased in numbers, the lychgate was blocked up and formed into a class-room" in addition to the upper part. The same writer remarks that a fully equipped lychgate includes seats, a lychcross and a lychstone. As a rule, both lychcrosses and lychstones "have disappeared ... but underneath the roof of Caerwys (Flintshire) lychgate are still to be seen the beam and socket, where once stood the wooden lychcross, and on the ground are traceable the foundation stones of the two lychseats, and of the lychstone in the centre of the porch. This rest for the coffin was a low wall" of about a coffin's length. Some of the distinctive features of lychgates were destroyed in the eighteenth century. Thus "the beam that stretched from wall to wall," and had a wooden cross inserted into it, "has, in nearly every instance, been sawn away." The above-named example at Caerwys, however, according to the Inventory of the Royal Commission, still survives. The place was visited in July 1910, and the report runs: "Within the covered lychgate is a pre-Reformation oak frame, the two uprights supporting a beam in which a cross was fixed," the ancient custom having been to set down corpses on their way to burial upon the lychstone immediately beneath this cross.

The distribution of lychgates in various districts is most unequal. Thus nearly every one of the twenty-four churches of the Deanery of Woodleigh, Devonshire, is said to possess a lychgate. An instance, which may safely be pronounced unique, is that of Troutbeck, Westmorland, where there are, or were, no less than three stone lychgates to one and the same churchyard.

Lychgates are constructed, it goes without saying, of the most convenient native material available. Thus, the Welsh examples illustrated are of indigenous stone; whereas in Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Kent, and other districts in which freestone is not available, the lack of it is amply compensated by the development of the resources of timber. Kent, though deficient in churchyard crosses, may justly claim to rival, if not indeed to surpass, the other counties of England in respect of the admirable lychgates which it contains. The handsomest stands at Beckenham (Figs. 205-207), on the south side of the old churchyard. The gate is of the shed variety, but the roof-ridge, instead of running the whole length from end to end (as it does at Lenham in the same county (Figs. 220, 221, and 222), at Ashwell, Hertfordshire (Figs. 215-218), Hayes (Fig. 200) and Heston (Figs. 213 and 214) in Middlesex, Morwenstow in Cornwall (Fig. 219), Isleham in Cambridgeshire (Figs. 223-225), and Goring in Oxfordshire (Fig. 226)), is hipped, with very charming result. But hipping alone is not enough to ensure full Æsthetic effect. One has only to compare two examples of hipped roofs, viz., that at Beckenham, already named, and the not dissimilar instance at Staple (Figs. 208, 209), in the same county, to realise what very different artistic values two gates, based on one identical motif, may possess. The Beckenham lychgate is far superior to the other, no doubt because of the excellent proportions of its parts. The old drawing, by Buckler (Fig. 206), shows that at one time the large oblique struts were wanting; a deficiency which altered the whole appearance of the lychgate, tending, as it did, to make the roof look heavy and ill-balanced. The large struts, however, had been supplied by 1871. The pronounced tilt of the roof toward the eaves, by means of sprockets (see the section drawings, Fig. 207), gives additional character to this beautiful lychgate. At the present day it cannot, unfortunately, be seen to proper advantage, because of the intrusive presence of a modern brick wall, abutting close up against either end of the gate, and concealing its lower part. The roof is now tiled, but it is believed that it was originally thatched, or shingled. The difference of effect produced by varying the number of bays is illustrated by comparing the lychgates of West Wickham (Figs. 211, 212) and Beckenham, both of one bay each; those of Isleham, Staple, Lenham, and Ashwell, all of two bays each, and that of Anstey with its three bays. As to the last-named, Buckler's amazingly incorrect draughtsmanship in the right hand lower corner fortunately does not avail to disguise the sturdy dignity and grand outline of this magnificent example.

At Ashwell, Hertfordshire, the timber lychgate, which forms the south-west entrance to the churchyard, probably dates from the fifteenth century. The three standards carrying the horizontal lintel are so much more massive at the top than at the bottom that they must certainly have been cut from tree trunks inverted, like the angle spurs used in the construction of ancient timber-framed houses. The windbrace in the roof, and the engrailed vergeboard under the end gable should be noticed.

The lychgate which forms the western entrance to the churchyard at Lenham, Kent, comprises two passage ways, each having a four-centred arch of timber overhead. The narrower gate, that on the south, has the head cambered out of a single piece of oak to the four-centred outline. The northern, the wider gate, has the head built together of two pieces, shaped to the requisite form. The supporting struts and braces are much worn with age and weather, but happily unrestored. The roof is tiled. The main part of the timberwork is of the fifteenth century, says Mr E. C. Lee, except the roof, the rafters of which, built into the adjoining house, are "very poor and rough.... The strutting at A is bad in construction, all the strain being thrown on the pins." There is a tradition that this gate was brought hither from Canterbury some time about 1770; but it is, in all probability, without historical basis, as also are many other traditions of a similar kind.

The lychgate at Pulborough, Sussex (Fig. 236), is an example of a pyramidal roof, and may be contrasted with the cross-ridged construction of the lychgates at Clun in Shropshire (Fig. 235), or Monnington-on-Wye in Herefordshire (Fig. 237). All three are square on plan, and built of timber. The ornamental wood-patterning at Clun is closely allied to the typical domestic work of Shropshire and Cheshire, only in this instance it is open instead of being filled in between with wattle and daub.

Some lychgates belonging to the shed type are of composite materials, partly masonry and partly timberwork. To this class belong the gates at Pattingham, Staffordshire (Fig. 234), with its timber-framed gables in the long roof; Llanfillo, Brecknockshire (Fig. 229), and Clodock, Herefordshire (Fig. 228). The last-named is of uncommon character, having timber posts supplemented by masonry pier-walls, with recesses, like niches, in their inner sides. The stone piers are each 8 ft. 8 in. long by 2 ft. thick, and the clear opening between them is 7 ft. 4 in. wide. The roofing is of stone slates. It is believed to have been erected in 1667.

To judge of the respective effects produced by timberwork on the one hand, and stonework on the other, one has only to compare the porch-like lychgates of Rustington, Sussex (Fig. 230), and Boughton Monchelsea, Kent (Fig. 231), with those of Talyllyn (Fig. 232) and Llandrillo-yn-Rhos (Fig. 233). It happens that the date of the construction of the last-named is known, viz., 1677. Otherwise, both this one and Talyllyn are so rude in construction, and so conspicuous for the absence of architectural detail, that it would be rash to attempt to assign a more precise date to either of them than some period subsequent to Queen Elizabeth's reign.

"It is difficult," says Herbert North in The Old Churches of Arllechwedd, "to conjecture the date of the local lychgates." Of six specimens, past and present, noted by him in Carnarvonshire, every one bore, or bears, a date some time within the eighteenth century. The lychgate of Llanrug is dated 1718; Caerhun and Llanfaglan, 1728; the old gate, now demolished, at Dolwyddelan, was dated 1736; the gate at Bettws-y-Coed is dated 1756, and Llanrhychwyn, 1762. In one case only, that of Dolwyddelan, the parish accounts show clearly that the work executed in the year specified was of the nature of repairs to an already existing structure. With regard to the other lychgates, however, there is no way of determining whether they were repaired merely, or built afresh at the dates recorded on them. With one exception, the lychgate of Bettws-y-Coed, where there is on the east side, over the gateway, a fine curved beam, 10 in. square, of really medieval aspect, internal evidence is of little avail, because the structures themselves are of quite plain and simple character, devoid of any distinctive architectural feature whatever. It is, however, a very extraordinary coincidence if occasion arose for all the six lychgates to require repairing within a space of less than fifty years. One can scarcely be rash, then, in assuming that, in the majority of instances, these lychgates were built at the actual dates respectively inscribed upon them.