Lychgate at Church of St Mary the Virgin

Summary

Lychgate at Church of St Mary the Virgin, 1919-1920, to designs by Sir George Oatley.

Reasons for Designation

The lychgate at The Church of St Mary the Virgin is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a well-composed lychgate which references the porch to the church, built using traditional materials and techniques, and exhibiting high-quality joinery and craftsmanship, particularly in the detailing of the scroll dedication;
* an example of a design by notable Bristol architect Sir George Oatley, then well-established in practice, reflecting his Christian faith and accomplishment in Gothic design.

Historic interest:

* as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on the local community, and the sacrifice it made in the conflicts of the C20.

Group value:

* sharing a close association with the Church of St Mary, listed at Grade II.

History

The aftermath of the First World War saw the biggest single wave of public commemoration ever with tens of thousands of memorials erected across England. This was the result of both the huge impact on communities of the loss of three quarters of a million British lives and the official policy of not repatriating the dead. Memorials at home, therefore, provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss.

One such memorial was raised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Leigh Woods as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by the members of the local community who lost their lives in the First World War. At the entrance to the churchyard is a memorial lychgate, designed by Sir George Oatley, dedicated on Sunday 17 July 1921.

Lychgates, often forming a picturesque entrance to a churchyard, initially had a practical and ritualistic purpose. Medieval lychgates were used as a meeting point and shelter for burial parties bringing bodies for interment. The group would convene beneath the lychgate, to be met by the priest prior to entering the consecrated churchyard and beginning funerary rituals in line with the 1549 Order for the Burial of the Dead. Some lychgates had a slab to hold the coffin, and they often had benches. Their name derives from the Anglo-Saxon or German word for corpse: lich, or leiche.

Sir George Oatley (1863-1950) is considered one of Bristol’s most significant C20 architects. His most well known building in the city is the Wills Memorial Building of 1925, and is credited for a significant role in shaping the city’s skyline. Aside from large projects like the Wills building, Oatley worked on a number of varied projects from the modest lychgate to churches, chapels, hospitals, houses, banks, factories, police stations, warehouses and buildings for charitable organisations.

Details

Lychgate at Church of St Mary the Virgin, 1919-1920, to designs by Sir George Oatley.

MATERIALS: timber frame on a limestone conglomerate plinth, with a tiled roof.

PLAN: standing at the southern entrance to the churchyard. Rectangular on plan.

DESCRIPTION: the lychgate has a stone plinth surmounted by a pegged timber frame, with a hipped, red tiled roof, with a cross finial painted in red and gold. The timber frame consists of a series of deep posts with decorated gothic tracery and balustrades between, with pointed arched openings either side. Pair of barred gates with decorative ironwork.

The internal face of the wall plate has a carved scroll dedication painted red and gold. The inscription reads:

VITAM SALUTI PATRIAE PORT LABUERE (A.M.D.G.)/ IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF/ ‘NAMES’/ WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 – 18

There are scissor braced trusses in roof, timber benches resting on shaped stone brackets either side of the passage, and a dressed stone paved floor.

Sources

Books and journals
Whittingham, S, George Oatley: Architect of Bristol (2011),
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England North Somerset and Bristol (1986), 542

Websites
Leigh Woods | War Imperial War Museums, accessed 22/01/25 from https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/46183

Other
Supplement to the Horfield and Bishopston Record, 22 July 1921, p.3

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