I attended a walk with Colin on Monday at St Giles Church in Norwich and he mentioned its lych gate which prompted me to think about these structures that we often see in front of churches. Lych gates are the ornamental gateways which lead to churchyards. They symbolise the threshold between the secular (non-religious) and sacred zones of a parish and once served a practical function of storing a coffin before burial. Their name derives from the Anglo-Saxon or German word for corpse: lich, or leiche.
Medieval lych gates were used as a meeting point and shelter for mourners. The group would convene beneath it and would be met by the priest prior to entering the consecrated churchyard for the funeral service. Lych gates continued to be built throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and later examples, particularly after the First World War, were often erected as memorial structures. Here is an article for those who would like to read some more:
https://www.somersetandbathparanormal.co.uk/the-origins-of-the-lychgate
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