garth, 83 feet square. The roof of the walks is richly vaulted. The
glass in the windows in the south alley depicted the history and
miracles of St. Wulstan, but the glass was destroyed by the Puritans.
Beyond the south walk is the =Refectory=, a handsome building of red
sandstone, dating from about 1372. It is now used as a class-room of the
Cathedral School founded by King Henry VIII. The monks’ lavatory
occupies two bays in the north alley.
From the west walk we enter the =Chapter-House=, originally a Norman
building of the Eleventh Century. It was repaired about 1400, when the
Norman windows and vaults were supplanted by those we now see. The
present Chapter-House
“consists of ten bays, with a Perpendicular vaulted roof rising
from a central Norman Column. Each bay contains a light traceried
window, of which two are entirely, and two half, blocked up. Below
these is a series of slightly hollowed niches in grey, blue and
yellow stone in alternate courses, resting on three courses of
rough red masonry. These niches have slight traces of ancient
fresco painting; they are surmounted by an arcade of intersecting
circular arches containing smaller arches. Similar ornamentation is
to be found in the chapter-houses at Bristol and Rochester, and in
the external wall of Ernulf’s crypt at Canterbury.”--(E. F. S.)
LICHFIELD
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
[Illustration: LICHFIELD: WEST FRONT]
[Illustration: LICHFIELD: NAVE, EAST]
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 fully developed Decorated in
the Lady-Chapel and Presbytery.
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 vestments had accumulated in great number. In the
Fourteenth Century a document mentions “the head of Blessed Chad, in a
certain painted wooden case; also an arm of Blessed Chad; also bones of
the said saint in a certain portable shrine.”
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 in sympathy with the style
of the Fourteenth Century.
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 weather moulding in the form of a gable
on the top of which is a cross. The pillars on each side of the doorway
have finely carved capitals and dog-tooth ornamentation. The graceful
centre pillar consists of four slender shafts with carved capitals. Next
comes the octagonal Chapter-House; then the choir and presbytery; and
then the Lady-Chapel, entirely restored and with new saints in the
niches. On the south side of the Lady-Chapel are mortuary chapels.
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 also the string-course
that separates the triforium from the clerestory. The clerestory windows
are curious: spherical triangles enclosing three circles with quatrefoil
cusps. Dog-tooth ornamentation runs around the windows. A large circle
with five cusps ornaments the spandrels of most of the pier-arches
across which the vault shaft passes. At the intersection of the various
ribs (five ribs) are finely carved bosses. Much of the effect is
obtained from the size of the triforium.
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). Note the big
south window (Perpendicular) in which there is some Herkenrode glass
(see page 212).
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 here that these shafts did not reach the ground; and so Sir
Gilbert Scott, having discovered a portion of the sculptured wing
of an angel just above the dean’s present stall, decided upon
finishing the shafts with corbels in the form of angels occupied in
minstrelsy. Above each of these angels--which were innovations--he
placed, under richly crocketed canopies and standing on very
finely-carved brackets, the figures of six saints.”--(A. B. C.)
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 this relic to the devout in the aisle below. (See
page 213.) It is similar in style to the minstrel gallery of the
Mediæval halls: hence its name. A staircase in the wall leads to the
gallery.
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 whole Cathedral, rendered
exceptionally beautiful because of the old glass in the windows.
“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.