Arthur Romney Green's lychgate

Having read Life to the Lees, (Elkin, Susan, Cromwell Press, 1998) I recently made a small detour off the A3 to All Saints Church, Catherington, near Waterlooville.  It is here that Arthur Romney Green was commissioned to make a lychgate to commemorate those that fallen in the First World War.  

Arthur Romney Green's lychgate,
Catherington

Elkin writes that "Eric Gill procured for Green an important order for a war memorial lychgate...'Inside' the gate, designed into the pleasing geometrical shape of the construction, are four rectangular panels on which are carved the names of the dead.  According to Graham Castle it was from Gill that Green learned how to cut letters.  Each panel is edged with Green's characteristic fine-lined diamond patterning.  The structure includes elegantly angled shelved on which - to this day - Catherington families place wreaths." (ibid).

Arthur Romney Green's lychgate,
Catherington

There is a lot of detailing in this large wooden structure, and it was fascinating to spot many Arthur Romney Green design traits as I explored the lychgate.  From the carved wording to the diamond patterning and the clover leaf gates, there really was quite a lot to see.  


The wording over the entrance reads "I am the resurrection and the life".  On the beam inside the cross is repeated, and the wording reads "For those who fell in the Great War 1914-1918".  The structure is generally in very good condition.  The gates have some water damage however.  Sadly as most visitors now approach from the car park to the side of the church, the path from the lychgate to the church has been grassed over.  The structure's outline is mirrored in the finial of the Second World War memorial which stands in front of the lychgate.

looking towards the lychgate,
Catherington

the view from the lychgate,
Catherington