Lych Gate To Church Of St Paul

The lych gate to the Church of St Paul, built in 1878 by architect E.C. Lee, features an oak frame set on flint walls topped with stone cappings and a roof covered in machine-made flat tiles. It consists of two bays and three principal trusses. The outer trusses include king and queen posts with arched bracing that intersects at subsidiary posts. The central truss has a king post and soulaces, with bracket bracing connecting the king post to the collar. Solid braces extend from the posts to moulded tie-beams, with the outer ones being arched and moulded, featuring pierced spandrels with octofoil designs that include a cross and trefoil. The roof plates project and are arched braced from the posts. The principal posts also have intersecting arched bracing similar to that of the roof, with the wall plate projecting and footbracing present. The gate itself is currently missing, and the posts are topped with cruciform finials adorned with trefoil decoration. This inventive design draws on medieval construction techniques, and the lych gate and the church together form a cohesive group.