Lychgate

The Lychgate from Junction Road

From the churchyard, a burial party brings a victim from the Pretoria disaster.

Solidly built of stone, there must be few such lychgates in the country. An inscription over the entrance reads, "The House of God and it is the Gate of Heaven." Inside the building a brass tablet records, "To the Glory of God for national mercies throughout successive generation, and in memory of Thomas Withnell, Vicar of Deane, A.D. 1767-1776. This Lychgate was erected by Ellen Low Ashton, A.D. 1903 H.S.P., Vicar."

At the entrance are carved heads of King Edward VII

and Queen Alexandra,

and on the archway facing the church those of Rev. H.S.Patterson

and Miss Ashton.

The lychgate was erected in such dimensions that it might shelter such mourners who do not use the church.

Miss Ashton was a decendant of Rev. Thomas Withnell,a previous vicar, who was buried at Wigan.

A lychgate of the usual kind replaced an older one in 1752 and was removed in 1799.