The cathedral is dedicated to St Chad and St Mary. Its internal length is 113m (371ft), and the breadth of the nave is 21m (69ft). The central spire is 77m (253ft) high and the western spires are about 58m (190ft) with the southern spire a little taller than the northern one. The stone is Mercian red sandstone and came from quarries close to Lichfield. The walls of the nave lean outwards slightly, due to the weight of stone used in the ceiling vaulting; some 200–300 tons of which was removed during renovation work in 1788 to prevent the walls leaning further.[2]
Lichfield suffered severe damage during the English Civil War, in which all of the stained glass was destroyed. In spite of this the windows of the Lady Chapel contain some of the finest medieval Flemish painted glass in existence. Dating from the 1530s, it came from the Abbey of Herkenrode in Belgium, in 1801. It had been purchased by Brooke Boothby after the abbey was annexed in 1795 by the advance of the French Revolutionary Army. There are also some fine windows by Betton and Evans (1819), and many fine late 19th century windows, particularly those by Charles Eamer Kempe.[2]
The Lichfield Gospels, also known as the St Chad's Gospels, dated 720–740, are the gospels of Matthew and Mark, and the early part of Luke, written in Latin with some marginalia in early Welsh. It is closely related[clarification needed] in part to the Lindisfarne Gospels.[3] The manuscript is on display in the Chapter House.
The Cathedral Close is one of the most complete in the country and includes a medieval courtyard which once housed the men of the choir. The three spires are often referred to as the "Ladies of the Vale".
Bede stated that Chad established his See at Lichfield; and the first cathedral would presumably have been on this site in 669.[4] When he died in 672, his grave site, near the church of St Mary, became a sacred shrine for many pilgrims.[5] In 2003, excavations under the east end of the nave revealed a grave cut into the sandstone bedrock which has been attributed to Chad. It was within the foundation of a tower-like building seven metres square.[6]
Offa, King of Mercia, resented paying allegiance[clarification needed] to the Archbishop of Canterbury in Kent, and in 787 he created his own archbishopric in Lichfield, and this archbishop then presided over all the bishops from the Humber to the Thames. This was with the consent of Pope Adrian and agreed at the Council of Chelsea, 787, often called the "contentious synod". Higbert, or Hygeberht was installed as the new Archbishop of Lichfield. In gratitude, Offa promised to send an annual shipment of gold to the pope for alms and supplying the lights in St. Peter's church in Rome. However, the Archbishopric of Lichfield lasted for only 14 years, ending soon after Offa's death, when it was restored to Archbishop Aethelheard of Canterbury.[7]
In 1854, a very large foundation, 1.5 metres wide and 1.7 metres high,[Doesn't sound very large.] was found under the choir and presbytery floor. This basilica-shaped foundation was recognised as the second cathedral.[8] The Victorians assumed this was a Norman cathedral, but its shape, dimensions and material (much concrete hard mortar) suggest otherwise. It has yet to be carbon-dated and a case has been made that the church was built by Offa for his archbishopric.[9] The date for construction of the present Gothic cathedral is unclear since all fabric accounts were destroyed in the Civil War sieges and early texts are ambiguous. The general opinion is that the cathedral was begun in the early 13th century. It was completed by the building of the Lady Chapel in the 1330s. The Choir dates from 1200, the Transepts from 1220 to 1240 and the Nave was started around 1260. The octagonal Chapter House, which was completed in 1249 and is one of the most beautiful parts of the cathedral with some charming stone carvings, houses an exhibition of the cathedral's greatest treasures, the Lichfield Gospels, an 8th-century illuminated manuscript and the Lichfield Angel stonework.[7]
Devastation of the English Civil War
There were three great sieges of Lichfield during the period 1643–1646 as the cathedral close was surrounded by a moat and defensive walls, which made it a natural fortress. Clergy followed Charles I, but the townsfolk generally sided with Parliament. Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke, led an assault against it, but was killed by a musket shot said to be from John Dyott (known as 'dumb' because he was a deaf mute) who along with his brother Richard Dyott had taken up a position on the battlements on 2 March 1643.[10] Brooke's deputy John Gell, took over the siege and the garrison surrendered to Gell two days later.
In April of the same year (1643) Prince Rupert led an Royalist expeditionary force from Oxford to recapture Lichfield. The siege started on 8 April. During the second assault Rupert's engineers detonated what is thought to be the first explosive mine to be used in England to breach the defences. Unable to defend the Close, Colonel Russell, the parliamentary commander of the garrison, surrendered on terms to Rupert on 21 April.[11]
The cathedral suffered extensive damage: the central spire was demolished, the roofs ruined and all the stained glass smashed. Bishop Hacket began the restoration of the cathedral in the 1660s, aided by substantial funds donated by the restored monarch, but it was not until the 19th century that the damage caused by the Civil War was fully repaired. Until the 19th century, on top of an ornamented gable, between the two spires, stood a figure of Charles II, by William Wilson. Today it stands just outside the south doors.[7]
Victorian restoration
Although the 18th century was a golden age for the City of Lichfield, it was a period of alteration for the cathedral. The 15th-century library, on the north side of the nave, was pulled down in 1798 and the books moved to their present location above the Chapter House. Most of the statues on the west front were removed and the stonework covered with Roman cement. At the end of the century James Wyatt organised some major structural work, removing the High Altar to make one long worship area of Choir, Presbytery and Lady Chapel and adding a massive stone screen with glass to the roof at the entrance to the Choir.[2]Francis Eginton painted the east window and was commissioned by the chapter to do other work in the cathedral.
The ornate west front was extensively renovated in the Victorian era by George Gilbert Scott.[7] It includes a remarkable number of ornate carved figures of kings, queens and saints, working with original materials where possible and creating fine new imitations and additions when the originals were not available. Between 1877 and 1884 the empty niches on the west front were given new statues, most carved by Robert Bridgeman of Lichfield: the statue of Queen Victoria on the north side of the central window was carved by her daughter, Princess Louise.[2]
Wyatt's choir-screen had utilised medieval stone-work which Scott in turn used to create sedilia with clergy's seats in the sanctuary. The new metal screen by Francis Skidmore and John Birnie Philip to designs by Scott himself is a triumph of metalwork art, as are the fine Minton's tiles in the choir, inspired by the medieval ones found in the Choir foundations and some still seen in the Library.[7]
In February 2003, an eighth-century sculpted panel of the Archangel Gabriel was discovered under the nave of the cathedral in and near the grave of Chad. The 600mm tall panel is carved from limestone from quarry at Ancaster, Lincolnshire. It was part of a stone chest, which is thought to have contained the relics of St Chad. The panel was broken into three parts but was still otherwise intact and had traces of red, black, yellow and white pigment from the period. The pigments on the Lichfield Angel correspond closely to those of the Lichfield Gospels which have been dated between 720 and 740. The Angel was first unveiled to the public in 2006, when visitor numbers to the cathedral trebled. After being taken to Birmingham for eighteen months for examination, it is now exhibited in the cathedral.[12]
On the 7 and 8 November 2022 a new shrine to St Chad was consecrated and a relic of the saint was translated from St Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham, at two separate services.[15]
Notable organists of Lichfield Cathedral include the 17th-century composer Michael East, and the musical educator and choral conductor William Henry Harris who conducted at the coronations of both George VI and Elizabeth II.
Priest Vicars Choral
The Precentor's Vicar: Vacant
The Dean's Vicar: Vacant
The Chancellor's Vicar: Vacant
The Treasurer's Vicar: Vacant
Lay Vicars Choral and Choristers
The Choir has six Lay Vicars Choral on staff and in 2021 reduced the full time equivalents from 9 to 6. In the front rows Lichfield has 18 boy Choristers and up to 18 girl Choristers.[19]
Manuscripts of Lichfield Cathedral—Digital facsimiles of the St Chad Gospels and Cathedral's Wycliffe New Testament; includes overlay viewer, multispectral images, historical images (going back to 1887), collation, and presently sixteen interactive 3D and RTI renderings—University of Oklahoma
A cathedral is a church that contains the cathedra of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and some Lutheran churches. Church buildings embodying the functions of a cathedral first appeared in Italy, Gaul, Spain, and North Africa in the 4th century, but cathedrals did not become universal within the Western Catholic Church until the 12th century, by which time they had developed architectural forms, institutional structures, and legal identities distinct from parish churches, monastic churches, and episcopal residences. The cathedral is more important in the hierarchy than the church because it is from the cathedral that the bishop governs the area under his or her administrative authority.
Salisbury Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England. The cathedral is the mother church of the Diocese of Salisbury and is the seat of the Bishop of Salisbury.
Chichester Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It is located in Chichester, in West Sussex, England. It was founded as a cathedral in 1075, when the seat of the bishop was moved from Selsey.
Lichfield is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated 18 miles (29 km) south-east of Stafford, 9 miles (14 km) north-east of Walsall, 8 miles (13 km) north-west of Tamworth and 13 miles (21 km) south-west of Burton Upon Trent. At the time of the 2021 Census, the population was 34,738 and the population of the wider Lichfield District was 106,400.
The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael, commonly known as Coventry Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England. The cathedral is located in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The current acting bishop is Ruth Worsley and the current dean is John Witcombe.
Repton is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, located on the edge of the River Trent floodplain, about 5 miles (8 km) north of Swadlincote. The population taken at the 2001 census was 2,707, increasing to 2,867 at the 2011 census. Repton is close to the county boundary with neighbouring Staffordshire and about 5 miles (8 km) northeast of Burton upon Trent.
The Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Truro, Cornwall. It was built between 1880 and 1910 to a Gothic Revival design by John Loughborough Pearson on the site of the parish church of St Mary. It is one of only three cathedrals in the United Kingdom featuring three spires.
The Lichfield Gospels is an 8th-century Insular Gospel Book housed in Lichfield Cathedral. There are 236 surviving pages, eight of which are illuminated. Another four contain framed text. The pages measure 30.8 cm by 23.5 cm. The manuscript is also important because it includes, as marginalia, some of the earliest known examples of written Old Welsh, dating to the early part of the 8th century. The art historian Peter Lord dates the book at 730, placing it chronologically before the Book of Kells but after the Lindisfarne Gospels.
Chad was a prominent 7th-century Anglo-Saxon Celtic monk who converted to the Catholic church three years before he died. He was an abbot, Bishop of the Northumbrians and then Bishop of the Mercians and Lindsey People. After his death he was known as a saint.
Hereford Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Anglican Diocese of Hereford in Hereford, England.
This article traces the historical development of the dioceses and cathedrals of the Church of England. It is customary in England to name each diocese after the city where its cathedral is located. Occasionally, when the bishop's seat has been moved from one city to another, the diocese may retain both names, for example Bath and Wells. More recently, where a cathedral is in a small or little-known town or city, the diocesan name has been changed to include the name of a nearby larger city: thus the cathedral in Southwell now serves the diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, and Ripon Cathedral was in Ripon and Leeds from 1999 until 2014. Cathedrals, like other churches, are dedicated to a particular saint or holy object, or Christ himself, but are commonly referred to by the name of the city where they stand. A cathedral is, simply, the church where the bishop has his chair or "cathedra".
The Diocese of Lichfield is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury, England. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Chad in the city of Lichfield. The diocese covers 4,516 km2 (1,744 sq mi) of several counties: almost all of Staffordshire, northern Shropshire, a significant portion of the West Midlands, and very small portions of Warwickshire and Powys (Wales).
The Metropolitan Cathedral Church and Basilica of Saint Chad is a Catholic cathedral in Birmingham, England. It is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Birmingham and is dedicated to Saint Chad of Mercia.
Southwell Cathedral, widely referred to as Southwell Minster and formally the Cathedral and Parish Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a Church of England cathedral in Southwell, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Southwell and Nottingham and the mother church of the diocese of Southwell and Nottingham; it is governed by a dean and chapter. It is a grade I listed building.
The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers 4,516 km2 of the counties of Powys, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Chad in the city of Lichfield. The Bishop's residence is the Bishop's House, Lichfield, in the cathedral close. In the past, the title has had various forms. The current bishop is Michael Ipgrave, following the confirmation of his election on 10 June 2016.
Hygeberht was the bishop of Lichfield from 779 and archbishop of Lichfield after the elevation of Lichfield to an archdiocese some time after 787, during the reign of the powerful Mercian king Offa. Little is known of Hygeberht's background, although he was probably a native of Mercia.
According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics (chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In the Catholic Church their creation is the purview of the Pope. They can be numbered, in which case they are provided with a fixed prebend, or unnumbered, in which case the bishop indicates the number of canons according to the rents. These chapters are made up of canons and other officers, while in the Church of England chapters now include a number of lay appointees.
The medieval cathedrals of England, which date from between approximately 1040 and 1540, are a group of twenty-six buildings that constitute a major aspect of the country's artistic heritage and are among the most significant material symbols of Christianity. Though diverse in style, they are united by a common function. As cathedrals, each of these buildings serves as central church for an administrative region and houses the throne of a bishop. Each cathedral also serves as a regional centre and a focus of regional pride and affection.
Robert de Stretton was Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield following the death of Roger Northburgh in 1358. A client of Edward, the Black Prince, he became a "notorious figure" because it was alleged that he was illiterate, although this is now largely discounted as unlikely, as he was a relatively efficient administrator.
The Lichfield Angel is a late eighth-century Anglo-Saxon stone carving discovered at Lichfield Cathedral in Staffordshire, England, in 2003. It depicts the archangel Gabriel, likely as the left-hand portion of a larger plaque showing the annunciation, along with a lost right-hand panel of the Virgin Mary. The carving is thought to be the end piece of a shrine containing the remains of Saint Chad to whom, with Mary, the cathedral is dedicated.
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