Joy Morrissey MP has welcomed the listing of the historic Victorian lych gate at St Giles' Church in Stoke Poges, by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the recommendation of Historic England.
Great news that the historic Victorian lych gate at St Giles' Church in Stoke Poges has been listed at Grade 2 by @DCMS. Huge thanks to local man Harvey Whittam, of The Stoke Poges Society, who has championed the application to @HistoricEngland!
A picturesque Victorian lych gate at St Giles' Church in the village of Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire has been listed at Grade II by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on the advice of Historic England, after an application was submitted by local man Harvey Whittam.
Harvey Whittam, Chairman of The Stoke Poges Society, had long admired the lych gate and recently applied to Historic England for it to be considered for listing. He said: “I first saw the lych gate in 1981 in the opening scene of the James Bond film 'For Your Eyes Only', when I thought it was beautiful and in a delightful country setting.
“Last year, I started volunteering with others to help to compile a list of historic sites in Stoke Poges for the Parish Council - it was then I realised again, but this time in real life, that it's a fine structure. I am delighted the lych gate has received national recognition. There's no doubt having it listed adds cultural, social and environmental value to the area.”
The wooden gateway and its flanking knapped flint wall stand prominently in the churchyard of St Giles’, a setting associated with the poet Thomas Gray’s ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ published in 1751. The Elegy is said to be one of the best-known poems in the English language and was routinely learnt by school children until relatively recently. It is widely acknowledged to refer to Stoke Poges, where Gray was known to be staying when the poem was written in 1750.
Gray is buried in the churchyard and his tomb is listed at Grade II. A nearby monument to him designed by James Wyatt and carved with verses of the Elegy is Grade II listed and is a National Trust site. St Giles’ Church itself is Grade I listed and the lych gate and boundary wall form an ornate entranceway to, and are part of, this group of significant historic structures.
