The Lych Gate

This is the Lych Gate at the Church of St. James the Great in the village of Thorley, Hertfordshire.
The church in the Early English style is 800 years old and replaced an earlier wooden one on the same site. The Manor of Thorley has another claim to fame in that it was held by Dick Whittington at the end of the fourteenth century.
Having taken the photograph I wondered why so many English churches had Lych Gates. It seems that they were part of the funeral service. The body of the deceased was layed on a bier under the shelter of the Lych roof. The clergyman would come and the first part of the funeral ritual was held there before it moved into the church