A lych gate, also spelled lich gate or lycu gate (from Old English lic, corpse) is a gateway covered with a roof, the traditional entrance to a British churchyard.

Lych gates consist of a roofed porch like structure over a gate, often built of wood. They sometimes have recessed seats on either side of the gate itself.

The gateway was really part of the church. It was where the clergy meet the corpse and the bier rests while part of the service is read before burial. It also served to shelter the pall-bearers while the bier was brought from the church. In some lych gates there stood large flat stones called lich-stones upon which the corpse, usually uncoffined, was laid. The most common form of lych gate is a simple shed composed of a roof with two gabled ends, covered with tiles or thatch. At Berrynarbor, Devon, there is a lych gate in the form of a cross, while at Troutbeck, Westmorland, thete are three lych gates to one churchyard. Some elaborate gates have chambers over them.

The word lych entered into composition constantly in old English, thus, lych bell, the hand-bell rung before a corpse; lych way, the path along which a corpse was carried to burial (this in some districts was supposed to establish a right-of-way); lych owl, the screech owl, because its cry was a portent of death; and lyke-wake, a night watch over a corpse (see Lyke-Wake Dirge).

Architectural elements | Church architecture | Gates