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Did you know that the lych gate at St George’s Church Beckenham is reputed to be the oldest in England and dates from the 13th Century? A lych gate with its little pitched roof adds a definite tone to a churchyard, but it was not originally for decoration – lych is from the Saxon word for corpse: bodies for burial would be brought in their shrouds to shelter beneath the gate’s roof, from which point the priest would take control of the rest of the funeral.

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George Grote
Kate Lawler

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If what you have done is unjust, you have not succeeded. - Thomas Carlyle
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Battle of Towton - 1461, Battle of Alresford - 1644, Albert Hall Opens - 1871, Captain Scott dies - 1912, First London Marathon - 1981
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