In the village of Sandridge, Hertfordshire, stands a timber lychgate, a silent sentinel outside the churchyard of St Leonard's Church. Etched upon its timbers are the names of 24 fallen soldiers from the parish who gave their lives in the Great War from 1914 to 1918, and it also keeps alive the memory of those who fell in the World War of 1939 - 1945.
The gate is a Grade II listed structure, sharing a similar style with a lychgate war memorial in Benington, also in Hertfordshire. It stands as a permanent record of local loss and sacrifice, marking the entrance to the sacred grounds of the church.
On April 24, 1921, the lychgate was unveiled in a ceremony where a detachment of the St Alban's Church Lads' Brigade lined the churchyard. The Address was given by the Dean of St Albans, the Very Reverend G W Blenkin, while Colonel Henry Page Croft MP performed the unveiling. The gate and its flanking walls were listed for heritage protection in 1984.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nicolo Ciampini
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