Hi everyone tonight:

Ken: you hit the nail right on the head, I must confess that I misspelled the name the article in the paper used "Lych" gate not the way I spelled it. It is amusing because the plaque that was mounted on the gateway to that Anglian church spells it in this way, your spelling seems to need a "t", but what ever is right I expect yours is the right spelling though.

the article does go on to say that other spellings are "lychgate", "lichgate", "lycugate" or "lychgate"

I stopped and examined it a couple of days ago up close, to see what damage had been done to it due to the frost tipping the stone pollars that supported it last winter. What I found was that one of the supporting timbers had split where it sat in a notched housing on the top of the stone pillar so the whole unit had to be lifted off for safety reasons and moved to a location behind the church for the time being.

For 106 years of age the condition of the lytchgate roof seemed to be exceptionally good but the stone pier has tipped badly.

Their estimate of repair according to the news article was $225,000 which seems a bit high in my books.

I think that the pier could be excavated around its base and with some manouevering with cables could be straigtened up and below the frost line form and pour supporting concrete, then just repair the timber and replace it back in its original position, what do you all think?

NH