The Wanganui Chronicle. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1948. ADORNING THE CITY

Wanganui Chronicle, 27 November 1948, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1948. ADORNING THE CITY

THE now blighted prospect of a royal visit to M anganui turned 1 some minds to the desirability of making a good showing in order to impress the visitors. On the assumption that Ihen Majesties would desire to see New Zealand it seems to be incongruous that the city should be hidden from sight behind scenes of bunting. It can hardly be imagined that a visit to the other side of the world would be undertaken for the purpose of viewing bunting. Only an unimaginative people could present such material as a relieving spectacle. As nobody wants to undertake the task of organising a floral carpet in Cook’s Gardens giving.to each organisation in the city that desires to take part a specific part of the work, it behoves the City Council to do something and it is not to be blamed if it falls back upon bunting. There was an Empress of Russia who desired to see her dominions and undertook an extensive journey. The Minister responsible for the tour in order not to disappoint her sent ahead actors who built model villages and peopled them with fake peasants all picturesquely clad. These actors gave to the Empress the enthusiastic reception appropriate to the occasion and the good lady returned to Moscow with a very vivid impression of the greatness of her domain, the happy lot of her people and the contentment that prevailed throughout the land. The royal visitors to New Zealand will no doubt desire to see the Empire’s dairy farm so it is appropriate that they should see yards and yards and yards of bunting. Thus will they return to London with a vivid impression of how the people of this Dominion live their lives. After the shouting and the bunting dies down the cities of New Zealand will return to their natural character. It is very difficult indeed to pretend that there is much worthy of notice in the cities of this country. In the Octagon in Dunedin there is a beautiful chureh wjiich stands well upon a site above the level of the street and so its proportions can be viewed to advantage from the far side of the open space. In Christchurch there are some benign churches, that is in material used in the surrounding lawns and kindly trees. Their architecture, too, is pleasing. In Wellington there may be some churches that would be worth looking at could they be seen, but they are all huddled together with other buildings. There is no spaciousness to set them ok. In Palmerston North the red brick church in the Square adds a pleasing detail to the scene when viewed from the municipal gardens, but the barrenness of the church site is disappointing beyond words. It is in the little town of Foxton where the real gem is to be found, for there a tiny little Methodist Church stands in dignified silence at the end of a delightfully kept approach. Foxton is not an impressive village; it looks tumbled down as though the people who live there have forgotten about it, but there stands this dignified appropriate pile of delightful proportions and quiet mien Here in Wanganui one church stands out as possessing an exterior personal appeal, it is the old wooden church that once stood in the Avenue. It was removed to its present site on a hilltop in the suburb of Gonville some decades ago and there it occupies a commanding place, while the well grown trees that line the approach to it add a sense of settled air to the building. It may not be very pretentious, it may not be an achitect’s dream, but there it is a beacon set upon a hill and it eannot be hid. The real character of the exterior of St. Peter’s, however, is impressed upon the mind by the very fine lichgate through which one enters the church acre. This lichgate is a delightful piece of work, it is well proportioned, it is cool and seems to invite one to enter and take one’s rest ere one passes on one’s way. Why are not lichgates more popular with New Zealand chureh authorities? It would be difficult to say. Perhaps they have not thought enough about them. Such structures would add dignity to the cities and towns of New Zealand without waiting for the time when heavy expense can be engaged in. It would, for instance, add to the dignity and to the interest of Victoria Avenue if the three churches that front it were to have lichgates. They would be appropriate forerunners of the main chureh building. It may be claiming too much that they would result in more people attending divine service, but they would certainly be reminders to the passers-by that they should so attend. The lichgate is usually placed on the boundary of consecrated ground. It is not, as might easily be supposed, a covered way in which to place a light, but is more correctly to be interpreted as a bodygate. The word “lich” comes from the Old English “lie,” a body, a corpse. It is the ancient custom for the clergyman to meet the cortege at the gate of the chureh and the covered gate erected there is for the protection of the pall bearers as part of the funeral service is read there. Lichgates have been erected in England for thirteen centuries, but being mostly of wood few of these ancient ones have survived. At Bray, in Berkshire, the gate is dated 1448. There is no set design for these structures, some are roofed in tiles and some in thatch, while more elaborate ones have a chamber above them. Licdistones in the centre for the purpose’ of resting the corpse occurs in some, while, in many side seats provide a resting place for those who find their business taking them to the church gates.

The practice of donating individual bells to the English churches as memorials does not permit of extension without limit and it has often occurred that a family will donate a lichgate to the parish church as a memorial. The lichgate certainly provides a useful and pleasing memorial and being within the compass of the finances of a small group o'f people has no doubt contributed to their being so freely adopted in England. But whatever be the cause of their continued use in England it is surprising that they have not been more frequently erected in New Zealand to detract from that usually barefaced character of our churches. True the lichgate implies some sense of feeling, some reverence for God’s Acre, some imagination. Is that the reason why this bunting hunting community has not yet risen to erecting lichgates? Has not the time arrived when a change of thinking is required? Foxton has done it in respect to its Methodist Church. Gonville has also achieved it in its lichgate. Christchurch has benefited by its strong ties with England. There arc excellent churches in New Zealand, why not now consider setting them off with an appropriate dress of lawn and tree and lichgate? Such a policy if generally adopted would go a long way to adorn and make more gracious the cities and villages of the Dominion, and add interest for the stranger within the gates.