Iconic Chorlton

Iconic Chorlton

The Lych Gate, Chorlton Green. Octagonal, half-timbered bell tower. Site of the old St Clements church. In the 1860s the old church had become too small and there had been a plan to rebuild it on the corner of what are now St Clements Road and Edge Lane. A breakaway group refused to move and so despite the erection of the present church, the old church on the green beside the ancient graveyard stayed the official parish church. The Lych Gate was built in 1888 as a gift from Cunliffe Brooks who was opposed to the demolition of the church on the green. He and his wife had special reason to feel close to the church on the green because two of their children were buried there.
  
Despite such loyalty the age of the old church and its graveyard came back to challenge its supporters. In the 1880s the great burial scandal hit the national newspapers and the Home Secretary intervened to close it, and sadly the church itself suffered from severe frost damage in 1940 and was closed. The Lych Gate was restored in 1976.

I suppose it is a symbol of loyalty, as well as a well-loved Chorlton icon.