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. [Illustration: 201. HARTFIELD, SUSSEX LYCHGATE BUILDING] [Illustration: 202. BRAY, BERKSHIRE] [Illustration: 203. BRAY, BERKSHIRE LYCHGATE, FROM THE CHURCHYARD] [Illustration: 204. CHALFONT ST GILES, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE LYCHGATE] [Illustration: 205. BECKENHAM, KENT LYCHGATE] [Illustration: 206, 207. BECKENHAM, KENT LYCHGATE] [Illustration: 208, 209. STAPLE, KENT PLAN AND SECTIONS OF LYCHGATE] [Illustration: 210. ANSTEY, HERTFORDSHIRE LYCHGATE] [Illustration: 211, 212. WEST WICKHAM, KENT LYCHGATE] [Illustration: 213, 214. HESTON, MIDDLESEX LYCHGATE] [Illustration: 215, 216. ASHWELL, HERTFORDSHIRE LYCHGATE, ELEVATION AND SECTION, SHOWING ROOF CONSTRUCTION] [Illustration: 217, 218. ASHWELL, HERTFORDSHIRE LYCHGATE, PLAN AND END ELEVATION] [Illustration: 219. MORWENSTOW, CORNWALL LYCHGATE]