  Dedication: St. Chad and St. Mary. A Church served by Secular Canons. Special features: Spires; West Front; Nave; Lady-Chapel; Herkenrode glass. Lichfield is famed for its three beautiful spires, the only church in England with this distinguishing feature. They are locally known as “Ladies of the Vale,” or “Ladies of the Valley.” The central spire, which always groups so charmingly with the two that rise above the west front, dates from the Restoration, and is an imitation of the western ones. Its predecessor, destroyed during the Civil Wars, was supposed to have been rebuilt about 1250. The two western spires are said to have been built by Roger de Norbury (1322-1359), but the north-west one was rebuilt in Perpendicular times in imitation of the earlier style. The south-west, or Jesus Tower, also the belfry, got its name from the Jesus Bell, given by Dean Heyward in 1477, and destroyed during the Civil Wars. The Jesus is a little higher than the other tower. Both spires are octagonal. At intervals they are broken by windows. “Of all the cathedral churches of England, Lichfield may be said to be the most lovely. Other cathedrals are larger—indeed, this is one of the smallest;—many are grander, or more magnificent; but for simple beauty, for charm, for delicacy of construction and appearance, Lichfield may rightly claim to take the foremost place. Peterborough, when we stand inside the west door and look down its line of enormous piers, fills us with awe at its immensity and strength; a feeling which is perhaps a little impaired by the present position of its stalls. Salisbury appeals to us with its perfect simplicity and symmetry, and York with its unequalled grandeur and splendour; but after viewing all the cathedrals of England, it is Lichfield which is most likely to be remembered among them for something which may be most aptly called charm. What can be more delightful than the view which confronts the traveller who, approaching from the town, pauses to look across the sparkling water of the pool at the three graceful spires standing out amid a wealth of green trees and shrubs? Truly a picture to be long remembered. “The cathedral stands in a close which was once surrounded by strong walls with bastions and a moat. Nature had supplied the moat on the south side, and the Cathedral Pool, as it is now called, is still there. The artificial moat has been drained, but its course can be easily traced running round the bishop’s palace, and its water has been replaced by lovely gardens and gravel walks. Some bits of the old wall remain, the north-east bastion in the palace gardens and a turret on a house at the south corner: the ‘beautiful gates’ of Bishop Langton are gone; but in the Vicars’ Close at the west of the cathedral are two small irregular courtyards with houses so old that we feel sure that their wooden beams and plaster were there when the Royalists of the neighbourhood housed themselves within the fortified close. “The close is not large, and of course, as Lichfield is a cathedral of the old establishment, there are no monastical buildings, no ruined cloisters. On the north side the ground rises rapidly in a grassy slope to a terrace, behind which are some of the canons’ houses. Opposite the north transept is the deanery, a substantial red brick house in the style of the middle of the last century; next to it, and farther east, is the bishop’s palace.”—(A. B. C.) Lichfield was built in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries and is, therefore, almost entirely in the styles of Early English and Decorated. The Early English may be studied in the transepts which were begun first; Early Decorated in the nave; and There is a curious similarity between the building of Lichfield and York: “The Norman Cathedral of York was built in 1080, and that of Lichfield at an uncertain date. Between 1154-1181, Archbishop Roger substituted for the original chancel at York a long, square-ended choir, with the aisle carried behind the end. At Lichfield, during the same period, the large chapel was built at the end of the Norman apse; and about the beginning of the Thirteenth Century the whole Norman eastern termination was, as at York, replaced by a long, square-ended choir with the low aisles behind. Next, at York the Norman transepts were rebuilt in Early English: the south transept, 1230-1241; followed by the north transept, 1241-1260. Also at Lichfield the Norman transepts were rebuilt in Early English, beginning with the south and ending with the north. The Early English work of this cathedral is shown by the licenses to dig stone to have been in progress in 1235 and 1238. York nave and Lichfield were next rebuilt in Early Decorated—the first in 1291-1324. Lastly, at Lichfield, the elongation of the eastern part was begun at the extreme east, beyond the existing choir by the Lady-chapel, in late Decorated under Bishop Langton, 1296-1321, and followed by taking down the choir, and continuing the same work on its site westward. The works at York followed in the same order, but forty or fifty years later, by first erecting the presbytery outside the existing choir, and then taking down the latter and continuing the work of the presbytery to form the new choir. The plans of the two cathedrals rival each other in the simplicity of their proportions.”—(W.) Nothing definite is known of the early history of this Cathedral, as all records were destroyed during the Civil Wars. In all probability there was the same old story of a Saxon church in the Seventh Century succeeded by several other churches until the Norman Cathedral was built, probably like Peterborough, only smaller. This, of course, fell a victim to the change of fashion, and was pulled down gradually as the new building—the one we know to-day—arose. The first thing that was done was the building of a new choir (Early English) from the central tower to the seventh bay of the present choir. Some of this was destroyed at a later period. The sacristy and adjoining room were also built. Then, about 1220, the south transept was begun, then the nave, north transept and west front, with the two towers. Walter de Langton (1296-1321) began the Lady-Chapel; and while this was being built the Early English presbytery was pulled down and rebuilt in the Decorated style, to be uniform with the Lady-Chapel. The old clerestory of the choir was also rebuilt in the same style. Walter de Langton also built the Bishop’s Palace, which was destroyed in 1643, bridged the Cathedral Pool, and erected a splendid shrine to St. Chad, which cost £2,000. This stood behind the high altar in the eastern bay of the retro-choir, with an altar to this saint on its west. St. Chad, or Ceadda (669-672), was the patron saint of Lichfield, who, when Bishop of Mercia, chose Lichfield as his seat and thus founded the diocese; and he built a small church near St. Chad’s Well. His service was short and he died in 672. Miracles were immediately performed at his shrine in Stowe Church; but his remains were removed to the Cathedral. St. Chad’s Head was placed in a separate chapel (see page 213). When Henry VIII. despoiled the shrine he found a great horde of treasures—jewels, golden and silver crosses, chalices, maces, and copes, and other vest Lichfield suffered greatly during the Civil Wars. The Royalists hoisted the king’s flag on the central steeple and defied the Roundheads led by Lord Brooke. The Cathedral was besieged in March, 1643; and on the second day of that month, which happened to be St. Chad’s Day, Lord Brooke was killed by a shot fired by a son of Sir Richard Dyott, called “Dumb Dyott,” because he was deaf and dumb. This was regarded as a miracle. A contemporary letter notes: “We have had the honour in these parts to bring my Lord Brooke to a quiet condition. That enemy of our Church (March 2) was slain in his quarrel against our Church, by the God of our Church, with a shot out of the Cathedral, by a bullet made of Church lead, through the mouth which reviled our Church; and (if this be worth your reading) this Cathedral was dedicated to the memory of an old Saxon holy man (called Ceadda, commonly Chad); the blow of death came from St. Chad’s Church upon St. Chad’s Day.” The Cathedral remained in a ruinous condition for a year or more after the Restoration. Then Bishop Hackett (1661-1671) went to work to clear away the rubbish and make repairs. In eight years’ time the Cathedral was ready for a new dedication. Perpendicular tracery was inserted in some of the windows in the Fifteenth Century, when the Cathedral was at the height of its beauty. The present West Front is a restoration of the beautiful work of the Middle Ages. In 1820 the west front was completely covered with cement which concealed all its beauty until 1877, when the authorities began to remove it. Only five of the original statues remained and it was decided to fill all the 113 niches. Tradition said the long row of figures over the doors represented the Saxon and English kings with St. Chad in the centre; but the others were unknown. They are now as follows: “The two rows on the northern tower to the north of the great west window: higher row, St. Editha, David, St. Helena, Solomon, St. Gabriel, Zechariah, Nahum, Amos, Jeremiah; lower row, Dean Bickersteth, St. Mark, Queen Victoria, St. Luke, St. Uriel, Malachi, Habakkuk, Obadiah, Daniel (Jeremiah just above Daniel by the window). “The two rows on the southern tower to the south of the great west window: higher row, Isaiah, Hosea, Jonah, Zephaniah, St. Michael, Bishop Hacket, Bishop Lonsdale, Bishop Selwyn; lower row, Ezekiel, Joel, Micah, Haggai, St. Raphael, Bishop Clinton, Bishop Patteshall, Bishop Langton. “Next is the long row of kings with St. Chad in the centre, stretching right across the cathedral: William the Conqueror, William Rufus, Henry I., Stephen, Henry II., Richard I., John, Henry III., Edward I., Edward II., Edward III., Richard II., St. Chad, Penda, Wilphere, Ethelred, Offa, Egbert, Ethelwolf, Ethelbert, Ethelred, Alfred, Edgar, Canute, Edward the Confessor. “Lowest row, broken three times by the doors: St. Cyprian, St. Bartholomew, St. Simon, St. James the Less, St. Thomas (northern door), St. Philip, St. Andrew (central door), St. Paul, St. Matthew (southern door), St. James the Greater, St. Jude, St. Stephen, St. Clement, St. Werburga.” The Duke of York (James II.) gave the money for the tracery of the large West Window after the original had been destroyed during the Civil Wars. This was removed in 1869, for another more The West Door is one of the most beautiful in England, taking rank with the Prior’s Door of Lincoln Cathedral. The porch is recessed and the outer arch, cusped. Within, a central support rises to form two arches. The whole is richly carved. Above the central pillar is a bas-relief representing Christ in Glory, with angels by his side. On the central column stands a figure of the Virgin and Child, and on either side of the door beneath canopies are Mary Magdalene and St. John the Evangelist (north), and Mary, wife of Cleophas, and St. Peter (south). What the original statues were is not known. Most of the ironwork on the doors is supposed to be original. The two side doors are deeply recessed. The figures in the northern doorway are of princes and princesses who promoted Christianity in England; and in the southern, the chief missionaries. The gable and towers are also adorned with statues of Biblical fame. The nave is ornamented and strengthened by buttresses and flying-buttresses. In the north transept we find a handsome North Doorway, a splendid specimen of Early English with traces of the Norman. It is deeply recessed and revealing a double arch carved with foliage. The mouldings are also carved. The outer one contains bas-reliefs showing the genealogy of Christ, beginning with Jesse and ending with the Virgin and Child. On the right side, opposite Jesse, is St. Chad baptizing the sons of King Wulphere, and above are the Apostles. The architrave is surmounted by a The south side shows the buttresses of the choir; then the turrets of the sacristy with their crocketed pinnacles; and then the South Transept, the gable of which contains a beautiful rose window. The South Door, much restored, resembles the northern one, only it is not so fine. The heavy buttresses on this side are Wyatt’s. Now we have again come to the Jesus tower (south-west), in which the ten bells are hung. Entering by the west door, the beauty of the interior bursts upon us. We have an unbroken vista and the Cathedral therefore impresses us as immensely long. The beautiful arches of the roof carry the eye straight down to the windows of the Lady-Chapel. The Nave is transitional from Early English to Decorated and is dated by various authorities from 1250 to 1280. The large piers are composed of clustered shafts with richly carved capitals of foliage. From these spring mouldings. The top of each arch touches the string-course, and then comes the triforium, so beautiful here with its row of double arches, each one sub-divided into two lights, above which is geometrical tracery. Dog-tooth ornament decorates the mouldings of these triforium arches, and The glass in the big west window dates from 1869, a memorial to Canon Hutchinson, who was a zealous worker for the Cathedral’s restoration, by Sir Gilbert Scott. In the north aisle of the nave we note the tablet placed there by Ann Seward to the memory of her father, Canon Seward, his wife and daughter, upon which Sir Walter Scott added lines to the memory of the poetess. There is also a neighbouring tablet to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who was born in Lichfield. In the north transept we find a curious monument to Dean Heywood (died 1492) showing the skeleton of this worthy. The upper part (which represented him in full canonical costume) has gone. Similar monuments are in Exeter and Lincoln. In the South Transept there are busts and memorials to Dr. Samuel Johnson, a native of Lichfield (died 1784), and to David Garrick (died 1779), an early resident of Lichfield. In the first bay of the aisle, there is a monument to the officers and men of the 80th Regiment (Staffordshire Volunteers), over which hang colours taken from the Sikhs. At the south end we note a fine altar to one of Nelson’s captains, Admiral Sir William Parker (died 1866). There is another memorial window in the south aisle of the nave to the officers of the 64th (2d Staffordshire Regiment) who fell in the Indian Mutiny. The Transepts, as we have seen, were built before the nave. Each consists of three bays with eastern aisles. Most of the windows are Perpendicular. “At the south end was probably a large five-light Early English window, surmounted by a rose window. The rose window still remains, but, being above the present groining, cannot be seen from inside the cathedral; the five lights are replaced by a nine-light obtuse-headed window, which seems much too large for the transept; and this effect is increased by the extreme whiteness and transparency of its glass. At the north end, the five-light window is surmounted with three small lights, but these last again are hidden in the roof.”—(A. B. C.) Now we come to the Choir, which, including the presbytery and retro-choir, has eight bays. It has no triforium. The splays of the windows are beautifully decorated with quatrefoil ornamentation. There is only one of the original Decorated windows (east on south side). The others are Perpendicular. “The vaulting is very much the same as in the nave, but the vaulting-shafts divide into seven instead of five ribs; the bosses, as everywhere else in the cathedral, are very deeply and richly carved. “On the four eastern sets of piers long slender shafts run up from the base of the piers in the same way as in the nave, and similarly the spandrels are ornamented with foliated circles, of which nearly all trace had disappeared before the recent restoration. This, however, is not the arrangement on the three western pairs. It was found Architects love to study the merging of the two styles in this part of the Cathedral, and one of the best illustrations is the entrance to the vestibule of the Chapter-House. The arch at the west end of the north-choir-aisle is very old and interesting and so is the arcading in the aisles. “In the first three western bays in both aisles the large arcading, with its plain trefoiled arches, is clearly Early English. The arcading in the other bays is equally clearly of the Decorated period, and is considerably smaller. In the four eastern bays in each aisle the arches go right up to the course which forms the top of the arcading, and the triangular spandrels thus formed are ornamented each with a curious little head, having queer headgear; the rest of the spandrel is carved with foliage, and in the plates of the foliated arches are quaint animals. The arcading in the remaining bay is similar, but angels’ heads with wings take up the whole spandrel. Some of the arcading, notably that in the three easterly bays of the south aisle, is unrestored. The inferiority of the modern work in the next bay is only too patent.”—(A. B. C.) The window over the tomb of Bishop Hackett in the South-choir-aisle is adorned by lovely foliage. Here, too, we find the very interesting Minstrels’ Gallery. It was probably placed here in the Fifteenth Century because the arcading has been cut away to make room for it. The little gallery rests upon fan-shaped vaulting. As it stands directly in front of the chapel of the Head of St. Chad, it may have been used for the purpose of exhibiting The Choir-screen, of ornamental metal-work, designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, is similar to those of Salisbury, Hereford and Worcester. The Choir-stalls, Bishop’s Throne and elaborate Reredos are all modern. The south-choir-aisle contains a number of interesting monuments. There is a monument to “Hodson of Hodson’s Horse,” killed in the Indian Mutiny. Under the cross is the King of Delhi surrendering his sword to Major Hodson, with figures of Justice, Fortitude, Temperance and Mercy and statuettes of Joshua, David, St. Thomas of India and St. George of England. Here is also the monument of Bishop Langton (died 1296) with mutilated effigy. Opposite is the curious monument to Sir John Stanley of Pipe, the effigy representing the knight naked to the waist, and the legs in armour. It seems that Captain Stanley had been excommunicated for some offence, and, after atonement, had been allowed burial here on condition that evidence of his punishment should appear on his effigy. The most famous monument of all, however, is that of The Sleeping Children, by Sir Francis Chantrey in 1817. It established his fame and is an early example of the natural style just coming into favour. It represents two young daughters of William Robinson, Prebendary of the Cathedral, sleeping in each other’s arms. We must notice in the north-choir-aisle one window in which King David is teaching the singers of the House of God. The glass is old Flemish. Now we have the Lady-Chapel, the gem of the “In shape it forms a symmetrical extension, both in height and width, to the choir, but without aisles; and it has an octagonal apse—the only example, it is said, of such a termination in the country. It is lighted by nine high windows, with Decorated tracery. This tracery has recently been restored in the style of that in the three end windows; until this was done most of the windows contained Perpendicular tracery. “The windows rest on an arcade of very beautiful design. The arcade may be said to consist of a series of small decorated canopies, supported by shafts with carved capitals, and separated by ornamented buttresses. The canopies, which bow forward, have trefoil ogee arches, surmounted with crockets and finials. Above the arcade is a similar embattled parapet to that in the choir, with a similar passage round the chapel behind it. “The vaulting of the roof is like that in the choir; the same number of ribs diverging from the slender shafts which run right down to the bends of the arcade. Halfway up these shafts are niches, the brackets and canopies to which are beautifully carved. These are old, but until recently were empty, and no authentic record remained as to what were the characters represented.”—(A. B. C.) In 1895 ten virgin saints and martyrs, by C. E. Kempe, were placed here. Of course, all the glass was crashed during the siege of Lichfield; and, therefore, the windows are filled with other than the original. The seven most eastern windows contain what is called the Herkenrode glass, originally in the Abbey of Herkenrode near LiÈge. The designs are supposed to be by Lambert Lombard of the Sixteenth Century. Two of the windows depict founders and benefactors of the abbey, and the other five, scenes in the life of Christ. The Herkenrode glass (340 pieces) was bought by Sir Brooke Boothby in Belgium in 1802, for £200, now valued at £15,000. What remained was used to fill other windows in the Cathedral. On the south side of the Lady-Chapel are three “Mortuary Chapels,” with groined roofs. In the central one lies the effigy of Bishop Selwyn (buried outside), Bishop of New Zealand, who organized the church in that far-away country. This accounts for the frescoes showing the Maoris. The two end windows are also old glass supposed to have come from the Low Countries. One is a symbolic picture of Baptism; the other, the legendary Death of the Virgin. We have yet to examine the Sacristy of the Chapter-House. The sacristy is on the south side (Early English). Its upper floor was the Chapel of St. Chad, which, as we have seen, was entered from the minstrels’ gallery (see page 211). The restored chapel was re-dedicated on St. Chad’s Day (March 2), 1897. “The Chapel of St. Chad, first Bishop of Lichfield, and, with the Blessed Virgin Mary, patron of our Cathedral Church, was destroyed in all probability when the rest of the Cathedral was laid in ruins in 1643, the siege beginning on St. Chad’s Day, March 2nd of that year. Little was left: the four walls remained in a broken condition, with the vaulting-shafts and caps for the springers of the stone groining, and the wall-ribs, to mark its original lines; also the very beautiful Early English windows—twelve lancets in groups of three—which, singularly enough, were little injured. Externally these are very plain, but internally they are full of interest, and there is nothing better of the kind in the Cathedral. The site of the old altar is clearly marked; indeed, a small portion of it has been preserved. The piscina also still remains. The aumbry remains in which antiquarians suppose that St. Chad’s relics were preserved.”—(L.) The Chapter-House and the vestibule leading to it were built about the middle of the Thirteenth Century (Early English). The vestibule contains beautiful arcading; the capitals of the pillars are finely carved. The entrance door into the Chapter-House is very handsome, with deeply cut mouldings, and capitals of the grouped shafts richly carved with leaves. Dog-tooth and trefoils are also used as ornamentation. The Chapter-House is octagonal. The central pillar, composed of clustered shafts with richly carved capitals of foliage, carries the eye upward, where the ribs spread out beautifully over the roof and bosses mark their intersection. The windows are Early English, of two lights. Below them runs a fine arcading. |
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