Dedicated in 1921, a simple wooden building at the entrance to a church in North Cumbria, is a focal point for a community.

A simple entrance to a church holds many memories

Witness to many happy events including weddings and christenings,  it is also a memorial to those lost in conflict.

The Lych Gate, at the entrance to Holy Trinity and St. Constantine Church in Wetheral, features many names of those who have died as the result of military activity.

The memorial was designed by J H Martindale, an architect from Carlisle and carved by Thomas Lawson.

It was dedicated on 10th July 1921.

Wetheral

Names, dates and regiments are all recorded

Fifteen minutes from Carlisle by train or 25 minutes by road is the small village of Wetheral.

Boasting some well proportioned houses, a shop and a number of pubs and a restaurant, Wetheral is built around the village green.

The church is situated around 200m from the village green and down a narrow road.

Sarah Bryant added to memorial

On Wednesday, 7 July 2010 a new name was added to the Lych Gate memorial, Corporal Sarah Bryant.

Sarah was the first woman to be killed whilst on military duty in Afghanistan. She died on Tuesday, 17 June 2008

It was through the gates of the memorial that she was carried for her funeral, held in the 16th century Church of Holy Trinity and St. Constantine.  Three years earlier, she had walked through the same gates for her wedding.

Sarah was buried, with full military honours, in the nearby Wetheral cemetery.

Remembering the fallen of Wetheral

Restoration

A fund raising appeal was launched following the death of Cpl Sarah Bryant, to repair the Lych Gate and to add her name to the list of other soldiers from the parish.

Grants and donations raised just over £5000 to fund repair of the roof, restoration of the existing plaques and the addition of a new oak memorial to Sarah.

The re-dedication of the Lynch Gate was performed by the Rector of Wetheral, David Craven.

The service, on the anniversary of Sarah’s funeral, was attended by members of Sarah’s family and the local community.

Further information

War Memorials Trust – Reference number WM3171

UK National Inventory of War Memorials 3114

Whilst researching a family tree, we came across The Cumbrian War Memorials blog site… an amazing labour of love and an absolute must visit, for anybody interested in military history.

‘There are many war memorials in Cumbria. The United Kingdom National Inventory of War Memorials at the Imperial War Museum lists over 800 in the county but this is a gross underestimate. There are perhaps two or three thousand commemorating conflicts from the middle ages to Iraq & Afghanistan. They take every imaginable form. An example is this delightful sundial that stands in St Mary’s churchyard, Longsleddale commemorating the village dead from the Great War.

This blog has been set up in the hope that it may inspire others to contribute towards establishing a comprehensive listing of memorials in the county. If recorded they are less likely to be destroyed, as many have been. They pose many questions; about the validation of war, of death and remembrance and of ideas of community or nationhood’.

Visit the Cumbrian War Memorials Blog and help them to conserve the memorials to Cumbria’s fallen, from Jacobite rebellions to the more recent events in Afghanistan and Iraq.