Ok everyone …. the Lych Gate is open again

It’s that brick, stone and wooden tower which is one of the iconic images of where we live.

2024

So much so that many of us take it for granted and barely realized that after 137 years it needed some tender care and attention.

2024

It had been erected to commemorate Queen Victoria’s jubilee, and was a bold statement of support for the old St Clement’s Church which dated from 1800 and stood on the site of an older wattle and daub chapel which had been built at the beginning of the sixteenth century.

Today it is perhaps surprising to discover that there had been a time when we had two churches which both went under the name of St Clement’s and that this had its roots in the  Great Chorlton Church schism, when the congregation split over where to build a new church.

The 1800 building was seen to be too small and various sites for a new one were explored, but with no agreement one wing went off, accepted the offer of a parcel of land on Edge Lane and built a new church.

But the authorities retained the old church as the place for baptisms, marriages and burials, and one of the wealthy members of the congregation donated money to enhance the old church.

This was Cunlifee Brooks who lived at Barlow Hall and his donations included money for a grand new east window and the impressive lych gate.

2024

In 1993 the gate had a make over which concentrated on the roof of the bell tower.

But earlier this year a more extensive renovation was undertaken by the City Council looking to use materials which were sympathetic to the original.

The work was finished last week, and the scaffolding came down revealing the structure pretty much as it would have looked like in 1887.

And over the last week and a bit heaps of people have gone down to the green and taken their own pictures to which I now add mine, along with one taken back in 1980 when it had yet to reach its hundredth birthday.

Since then it has stood over a series of archaelogical digs, and watched as more than 350 of the headstones from the graveyard were removed and the site landscapped.

Location; The Lych Gate

Pictures; the restored Lych Gate, 2024, and in 1980, from the collection of Andrew Simpson 

1980

 

The work begins …. restoring Chorlton’s historic landmark

Anyone who has recently passed the former parish churchyard by the green will have noticed that preliminary work has begun to restore this iconic bit of our past.

Looking through the Lych Gate, 2023

The gate dates back to the jubilee of Queen Victoria and was funded by the Cunliffe Brook’s family. 

There are those who can remember when a bell was rung from the tower to mark the New Year, and plenty more senior citizens who sheepishly admit to hiding in the space and causing a “nuisance to passers by”.

It was last renovated in 1993 and 31 years on it is due some more tender care and attention.

The  gate, 2024, with the tree outlined in red

The preliminary work will include cleaning the structure, checks for birds and bats and also the removal of a small 1.5 M self-seeded tree which is causing damage to the wall adjoining the structure. 

Kath Mcvicker from the City Council tells me that “There will be  a need to close off the walkway through the Lych Gate and a footpath diversion around the site. I am requesting that the contractor arranges for signage and notice of the works to be erected as quickly as possible detailing the diversion route”.

All of which is exciting news, and marks a new step forward in the plans to give the graveyard its first major make over since it was transformed in the mid 1980s from a derelict and sad looking place.

Standing outside the gate circa 1900

To this end the Friends of Chorlton Graveyard was formed partly to have a debate about its future and more immediately to explore how the graveyard could be maintained by the community.

All of which will restore it to  a place of peaceful contemplation   which   these young people knew sometime at the start of the 20th century

Location; Chorlton Graveyard

Pictures; looking into the graveyard, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and the lych gate, 2024, with the tree outlined in red, courtesy of Kath Mcvicker, Manchester City Council, and the gate circa 1900 from the Lloyd Collection

And what did you do to help restore our historic graveyard? ........ find out tomorrow at 12 at the Bowling Green Hotel

 Just over a month ago a few of us came together to look at ways in which the graveyard by the green could be helped.

The graveyard, 2023

It has been at the centre of Chorlton life for over three centuries and surrounded a succession of local churches, dating back to the early 1500s.

The Lych Gate, circa 1900

And here were the graves of more than 360 individuals and families, from the great and wealthy to traders, shopkeepers, farmers, and agricultural workers.

The church was closed in 1940 and demolished nine years later leaving the graveyard a closed and almost forgotten place till it was landscaped and given a makeover in the 1980s.

And forty years on it is time to come together to look at it again.

In the intervening years some of the gravestones which act as a path have moved slightly and others are suffering from the constant foot fall which is steadily wearing away the inscriptions.

The Lych Gate, 1980

All of which led to the formation of a “Friends” group which could look to the immediate need of keeping the gravestones clear of the detritus of old leaves and soil and have an overview of how the place could be developed in partnership with the City Council.

Looking across the green to the graveyard, 1981

So, this Sunday come along at 12 to the Bowling Green Hotel where after the unveiling of a blue plaque marking the historic importance of the pub, we will be taking about the group.

Andrew Simpson will give a short talk about the history of the graveyard and the parish church along with some of those who were buried there and then Peter will outline the aims of the Friends’s group.

Already the newly established Facebook Friends site has attracted 210 members in just over a month and each day a few more sign up. *

And almost Breaking News there is a planning application in for the City Council to renovate the Lych Gate and external walls.

Renovating the Lych Gate in 1993

So that is it, come along on Sunday and be part of the project.

Pictures; The Lych Gate, circa, 1900 from the Lloyd Collection, Target Tower Repairs, South Manchester Express and Advertiser, 1993, and pictures of the Rec, 1980, 1981, and 2023 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

**The Friends of Chorlton Graveyard, www.facebook.com/groups/chorltongraveyard

**Listed building consent for fabric repairs and redecoration of the Lych Gate and boundary walls, 136990/LO/2023, Manchester City Council Planning Portal, https://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=RURB6TBCJOG00

Saving that bit of Chorlton’s history for another century and a bit …..

For many the Lych Gate on the village green is one of the iconic images of where we live.

Meeting at the Lych Gate, circa 1900

It has stood at the entrance to the old parish burial graveyard since 1887 and was erected to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Jubilee.

And long after the parish church was abandoned and demolished and most of the gravestones carted away it stood as a reminder that this was the spot where most of Chorlton were baptised, married, and finally buried stretching back into the 17th century.

But this listed building is now in need of some tender care and attention.

It last had a make over in 1993 when the bell tower “was repaired with specialist Victorian tiles from Staffordshire”. *

Repairing the Gate, 1993

The need to revisit the building was raised by Andrew Simpson and Peter Topping earlier in the year as part of a bigger initiative to restore the former parish graveyard.

The Gate and the green, 1981

Suggestions included relocating the remaining gravestones, creating a ramp at the southern entrance, and a series of story boards which would explain the history and significance of the site.

Central to the plan would be the establishment of a Friend’s group of volunteers who would adopt the graveyard, and in partnership with the City Council look to maintain the place and look to its future.

To this end Andrew and Peter contacted Cllr Mathew Benham who organised several meetings with Neighbourhood Services and the plan for the Friend’s group is advancing.

And last week Cllr Benham alerted us to the exciting news that there is an application in for “fabric repairs and redecoration of the Lych Gate and boundary wall”.**

The Lych Gate, 1980

The application from the City Council to do the work was submitted in May and is now out for consultation, and you can see the plans in detail by following the link below.

There will be many who will greet the news with great pleasure.

Some, because the Lych Gate is a special part of  Chorlton while for many others it will be the memories of hearing the bell at New Year or from illicit games in the tower. 

Through the gate and into the graveyard, 2022

And for those who would like to know more about the history of the graveyard, the church and the lychgate, I shall suggest the book by Andrew and Peter, The Lych Gate and Grave Situations beyond, from that popular series nothing to do in chorlton, available from us at www.pubbooks.co.uk and Chorlton Book shop, and The Story  of Chorlton-cum-Hardy,  Andrew Simpson.

So that is it for now.

Other than to say the report of the 1990s repairs needs a tad correction, because the gate dates from 1887 not 1897 and the church was demolished in 1949 not 1930.

Location; Chorlton Green

Pictures; The Lych Gate, circa, 1900 from the Lloyd Collection, Target Tower Repairs, South Manchester Express and Advertiser, 1993, and pictures of the Rec, 1980, 1981, and 20023 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Target Tower Repairs, South Manchester Express Advertiser, April 8, 1993

**Listed building consent for fabric repairs and redecoration of the Lych Gate and boundary walls, 136990/LO/2023, Manchester City Council Planning Portal, https://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=RURB6TBCJOG00