St Helen’s lychgate repair

The lychgate at St Helens church gets a makeover, but what is the function of a lychgate.

The answer goes back to the Middle Ages when they became a part of the burial process.

Lychgates comprise a sheltered covered area on the consecrated boundary of a church where a corpse could left prior to burial. The word lych is the Anglo Saxon word for corpse or body.

The covered area allowed the coffin or body to be laid out ready for collection at the start of the burial service, which could occur in the next few days. Worth bearing in mind the living conditions of many folk in the Middle Ages. Wealth was rather spartan and coffins deemed an unnecessary or unviable expense. It was therefore essential to move the deceased body from the house as soon as possible. The covered, yet open sided structure of the lychgate gave protection from the weather, wild animals and to an extent from body snatchers.

The lychgate of St Helens is of medieval construction and is in surprisingly good condition for its age. It is now getting the roof repaired and retiled and some new replacement timbers to ensure it can last a few more hundred years.