Sanctuary knocker

A sanctuary knocker, also called a sanctuary ring, is an ornamental knocker or ring on the door of a cathedral or church. Under medieval English common law, these instruments are traditionally said to have afforded the right of asylum to anybody who touched them, although the legal privilege of sanctuary attached to the church and its precinct rather than to the fitting itself. Surviving or recorded examples include those at Durham Cathedral, the Church of St John the Baptist at Adel in Leeds, St Nicholas's church in Gloucester and the Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon. By 1623, the laws permitting church sanctuary had been overturned by parliament.