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.
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