Devil's door
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Devil's doors are structural features found in the north wall of some medieval and older churches in the United Kingdom. They are particularly common in the historic county of Sussex, where more than 40 extant churches have one.[1] They have their origins in the early Christian era, when pre-Christian worship was still popular, and were often merely symbolic structures—although they were sometimes used as genuine entrances.[2]
In a 2023 study, historian Geoffrey Sedlezky argues that the idea of a Devil's Door is a late 19th-century invention. Although the idea refers to medieval liturgical practices, the assumption that the northern church door was associated with the devil is a retrospective reconstruction, largely fueled by 19th-century preoccupation with the occult. In addition, there was a great interest in the historicization of medieval churches, which led to the search for an explanation for the frequent occurrence of closed-up northern entrances.