West front including the 'singing windows'

     Abstract

The west front has a resemblance to the west fronts of Wells and Salisbury cathedral, but the front is now Victorian Gothic and an eclectic mix of statues. The front has had multiple renovations, especially after significant damage in the Civil War. The original part of the west door, lower statues, possible slit windows for choristers and spires earn admiration and awe.

    Visitors to the cathedral are often surprised by the west front. Twin towers,[1] tall spires, a flat, symmetrical elevation, numerous aligned statues and the great west window combine to give an unusual welcome.[2] It is an ‘architectural screen’ similar to the cathedral façades of Wells and Salisbury.[3] Five layers of statues, 113 in total (153 around the whole cathedral), two pointed spires with many pinnacles encourage the viewer to look to the heavens; the Gothic objective. The original frontage was probably more spectacular with gilded statues, Cobb thought there were about a hundred figures all gilded,[4]  and stonework painted red and green. Erdeswicke in the 16th-century described “a great number of tabernacles containing statues of prophets, apostles, kings of Judah and divers’ other kings of this land.” The original top statue was Christ seated.[5] The story of a seated Christ statue, 2.1 m (7 feet) high and 13th-century, found at Swynnerton Church as being the lost statue is plausible, but unlikely.[6] Willis gave an approximate date for the front as c. 1275,[7] but this was probably the start of construction and it took several decades for completion.

 

W. Hollar’s etching, early 16th-century. Note how all the niches are filled with statues. This is the earliest known image of the west front. Hollar's engravings were presented by Ashmole to Fuller's "Church History," published in 1655. Thanks to Univ. of Toronto Libraries.

 

Almost the entire front of the cathedral was destroyed in the Civil War; mostly in the 1646 heavy bombardment. There was a partial restoration completed by 1666, further reordering in 1749[8], twice in the19th[9] and more work in the 20th centuries; all of which means little is original. The statues are the third set, very Victorian in composition, and undoubtedly different from the original decoration.[10] The top statue of Charles II, added with post-Civil War restoration, was removed between 1877–84 and by 1977 stored forlornly by the South Transept door.

 

Charles II

 

                                             West front showing Charles II statue and a mistaken hood stone for a cathedra.[11]

West front post-Civil War. S. Shaw, The history and antiquities of Staffordshire, Volume 1. (London: 1798) who copied from Gale, 1720.

          Much has been written on Joseph Potter’s addition of stucco[12] to the eroding statues on the west front, 1820–2, and then the removal of the grey figures begun by G. Gilbert Scott and finished by his son, J. Oldrid Scott, 1877–84. Almost everyone expressed disdain[13] at the early restoration and later gave praise for the current, reddish, sandstone, figures. Many of the new statues were copied from sepia drawings taken before the 1820–2 restoration,[14] but there is an obvious Victorian bias regarding which figures were included and how they were portrayed. The apostles in the lowest tier sculpted by Mary Grant are considered the finest. Other figures were sculpted by Gilbert Seale and Walter Rowlands Ingram of London and 63 were executed by Robert Bridgeman of Lichfield. The figure (probably just the head) of Queen Victoria, was sculpted by her daughter Princess Louise and added in 1885.[15] Princess Victoria visited Lichfield in 1832. The doorways had bushy foliage added around the arches in the early 19th-century and this was removed by Scott and replaced with small statues. The smaller doors were studded and the studs replaced with shaped, wrought-iron decoration. The large central doors had ironwork at the bottom replaced. Hinges and ironwork could be late-13th century and by Thomas Leighton an ironsmith.

 

West Front, c. 1845. Old statues have been removed and the old west window has still to be replaced. C. Knight, Old England: A Pictorial Museum of Regal, Ecclesiastical, Baronial, Municipal, And Popular Antiquities. 2 Volumes. (London: 1845). p252.

 

Great west window being replaced in 1869. Like all the cathedral windows after the Civil War it contained various effigies and coats of arms of bishops and other eminent men.[16] The west window had the arms of England and the Earl of Chester and Clare. The new window was furnished by Clayton and Bell and consisted of six lights filled with figures of the Archangel Gabriel, St. Joseph, the Virgin and Child, and the Three Magi; under which respectively are scenes representing the Annunciation, the Angel appearing to St. Joseph, the Birth, with angels adoring; the Journey of the Magi, the Magi before Herod, and the Flight into Egypt. It is sometimes referred as the ‘Nativity Window’. John B. Stone, A history of Lichfield Cathedral (London: 1870).

 

West Front restoration in the early 1880s. The south side and tower have been finished.

                                              West front post-Victorian Reordering.

Four statues on the top left are 14th-century and believed to be original. Three are shown. They could have been queens of the kings involved in the early construction of the cathedral (Edward I, Henry III and Richard II are possibilities). Other cathedrals with kings on the front include Canterbury, Exeter, Lincoln and York.

 

 

For a detailed exposition with images of the 113 statues see the website  https://statues.vanderkrogt.net/object.php?webpage=ST&record=gbwm025

The current eclectic mix of statues contains King Richard II, reigning 1367–1400, (immediately left of Chad) and thus well after the front had been completed.

 

Confusion on the Early Medieval (Anglo-Saxon) kings to the right of Chad.

There was much uncertainty on who was being replaced from the second set of statues and there was also a deep Victorian bias. The line is: Peada, 655‑6, Wulfhere, 658-75, Æthelred, 675-704, Offa, 757-96, Egbert, king of Wessex, 802-39,

Æthelwulf, king of Wessex, 839-58, Æthelberht, king of Wessex, 860-65, Æthelred, king of Wessex, 865-71, Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, 871-86 and then king of the Anglo-Saxons to 899, Edgar the Peaceful, 959-75, Cnut 1016-35,

Edward the Confessor, 1042-66. Including the Wessex line of kings, 839‑886 is inexplicable, unless it was believed Æthelwulf’s father, king Ecgberht of Wessex, defeated and completely subdued the Mercians in battle in 825. If so, why is Ecgberht not figured. Why is Æthelstan, king of all Britain (rex totius Britanniae), 924‑39, missing? Woodhouse thought the figures removed in 1749 might have included Æthelstan.[17] There is a case for king Coelwulf II, 874‑880s, who consolidated the Mercians after defeat by the Vikings (Danes), and even Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, c. 881‑911 who maintained the sub-kingdom and prepared the way for Æthelstan. The downgrading of Æthelstan and the lauding of his grandfather Alfred is a bias from medieval times repeated by many Victorian narratives.[18] 

           Work in 1878 included the lowering of the ground across the whole of the front of the cathedral. At one time there were railings across the front of the cathedral. Also, there has been an entire restoration of the southwest tower, exclusive of the sculpture.[19] Another bout of conservation is imminent.

 

Conjecture on Great Window extending above the stone vault

The top of the Great West window cannot be seen from the inside of the cathedral; the stone vault roof cuts off the top of the window. This has led to much speculation on whether the stone roof was added later and whether originally the window was so large. The plausible view is the window was built to be admired from the outside and being foreshortened internally was considered not a problem.

 

‘Singing Windows’

The west fronts of Wells, Salisbury and Lichfield Cathedrals[20] have statues with windows behind them. Behind these openings are passageways in which it is contended choristers, and maybe trumpeters, sang and played so that worshippers outside could hear and be welcomed on Palm Sunday.

 

St Chad with slit windows each side.

 

Gallery with ten slit windows, each now with glass.

 

Wells has four groups of three round holes plus two narrow slits in the middle. All are now glazed.

 

Salisbury has nine small quatrefoil windows almost hidden behind the sculptures. All have been filled in with cement.

 

Ascending spiral staircases in the west towers lead to a doorway below the level of the triforium. This opens with steps leading down into a passageway built into the wall, 1.8 m high (6 feet) and 0.6 m wide (2 feet). The chamber is lit by ten slit windows each 500 mm high (20 inches) and 75 mm wide (3 inches). Higher up the staircases, above the triforium and level with the sill of the west window, is a second passageway.[21] Having two passageways, also seen at Wells and possibly at one time at Salisbury, cannot be explained.

          The lower passageway has been equated with the ‘trumpet openings’ at Wells Cathedral and thought to be for broadcasting responses and perhaps music outwards to processing worshippers standing below on Palm Sunday. It is a re-enactment of the entry into Jerusalem.[22] The liturgy[23] specified seven choristers were to be ‘elevated’ and to sing ‘Gloria, laus, et honor’[24] as the congregation approached the west front of the cathedral, having processed both inside and around the outside of the cathedral taking in the cloister and the lay cemetery.

The company of angels is praising you on high; and we with all creation in chorus make reply. The people of the Hebrews with palms before you went; our praise and prayer and anthems before you we present.   ‘All Glory Laud and Honour’

 

Conjecture on the existence of ‘singing windows.’

At York, the same liturgy was used with the choristers elevated on a temporary platform raised on the front of the Minster.[25] At Wells the openings are at different heights from the floor suggesting it accommodated two heights of choristers. The hidden voices would appear as if coming from the angels sculptured on the front. At Salisbury there was an elaborate procession.[26] Passages, both internal and external, exist elsewhere,[27] but the majority, especially northern churches, do not appear to be churches that used the Sarum liturgy prepared around 1210. Consequently, singing from the gallery has been questioned.[28] Furthermore, the procession relied on the particular layout of the cathedral and since this varied, it cannot be assumed the procession stopped at the west door at the right time in the Missal. Mahrt thought the opposite and worked out the Gloria would be sung at Wells just as the procession reached the west door.[29] Another objection is it would have made the procession ‘dither under the west front.’[30] Finally, the construction of a passageway and openings for one service seems extravagant. Especially since the voices would sound muffled and echoey when compared with being in an open space. If singing windows are mythical, it raises the question why build two passageways with openings? If they are for some kind of maintenance, why make them so small? Explaining the purpose and function of the singing windows at Lichfield depends on linking them with the Sarum liturgy used at Wells and Salisbury Cathedrals. If it was used, it strongly suggests the original façade of the west front, that is pre-Civil War, had angels in the arcades where the slit windows occur. The procession was entering the New Jerusalem with heavenly angels singing. It also links with Chad’s death when ‘the song of joyful voices was heard descending from heaven’[31] and that opens a new context for the use of the windows on March 2 and a figure of ascendent Chad surrounded by singing angels.

 

Conjecture on a date for an earlier lower west front

Rodwell, 1989, examined the stonework below the internal lower passage and conjectured it was Romanesque and earlier than the 1320s.[32] Moulding profiles and mason’s marks led him to believe a date of 1220‑30 was more appropriate. It might also explain the two buttress foundations under the pavement and either side of the central door. If true, it means an earlier nave front was contemporary with that at Wells cathedral and earlier than Salisbury. It also gives doubt to the dates of the nave.

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[1] There are differences between the towers which has led to the speculation they were built at different times. It is more likely they were built by different masons and the lower ground on the south side was a complication. Furthermore, the south tower held the heavy bells and clock. The south side spire is a little taller than the north side spire. The first recorded bell in the southwest tower was in 1477. This ‘Jesus Bell’ was destroyed in the Civil War and removed in 1653. It was replaced after the War, but had to be recast again in 1688.

[2] J. Leland, 1540s, wrote ‘the glory of the church is the work of the west end which is exceedingly costly and fayre’. T. Fuller, Church History of Britain. Vol. 1. (London: 1842), Book 4, 499, wrote ‘the west front is a stately fabric adorned with exquisite imagery’.

[3] J. P. McAleer, The west front of Lichfield Cathedral. A hidden liturgical function. 52nd Friends Annual Report held in cathedral library. (1989), 26–9. There are similarities between the southwest spire of Lichfield Cathedral with the central spire at Salisbury Cathedral.

[4] G. Cobb, English Cathedrals: the forgotten centuries. Restoration and change from 1530 to the present day. (London: 1981), 140.

[5][5] Noted from Hollar’s etching, early 17th-century, appearing in Thomas Fuller’s book, Church history of Britain. Volume 1. (London: 1842).

[6] It depends on a Royalist climbing the front and retrieving a very heavy statue in the middle of a siege. That assumes it avoided damage from cannon and musket and could be taken north without discovery. In contrast the statue is in a stone similar to that used for the cathedral and it has red paint on the sleeve; the cathedral was painted in red and green.

[7] R. Willis, ‘On foundations of early buildings recently discovered in Lichfield Cathedral’. The Archaeological Journal, (1861), 18, 1–24. Willis visited the Cathedral in 1849 to examine window tracery. In 1854 he was invited to forward a drawing for the restoration of the choir area. Before publication Willis gave a lecture reported in The Gentleman’s Magazine, March 1861, Vol. 210, 296‑300.

[8] Several statues in a poor state were removed. R. J. King, Handbook to the cathedrals of England. (London: 1864), 271, claimed most of the statues were taken down.

[9] 1820–22 and 1877–84.

[10] Apart from four (two and six are quoted elsewhere) at the top left-hand corner where cannon and musket appear not to have reached out of a total of 113 now present. Wells Cathedral has 297.

[11] J. Gould, ‘Saxon cathedral or 17th-century niche in Lichfield Cathedral?’ South Staffordshire Archaeological and Historical Society transactions for 1976–7. (1976) 18, 69–72.

[12] A proprietary formula labelled ‘Roman Cement’ which was very hard wearing, had low shrinkage, but was brittle. Roman Stucco is made with a natural cement by burning limestone in a traditional kiln. 

[13] A. W. Pugin wrote a censorious letter in 1834 describing brown, (grey?) cracked cement and heads devoid of expression. The letter was published by B. Ferrey, Recollections of A. W. Pugin and his father Augustus Pugin. (1861), 85–6.

[14] R. Prentis, The restoration of the west front, 1877–1884. Unpub. article in Cathedral Library (2007), 11.

[15] Possibly Chad with a resemblance to a previous archbishop. 

                 

[16] T. Harwood, The history and antiquities of the church and city of Lichfield. (London: 1806), 51.

[17] J. C. Woodhouse, A short account of Lichfield Cathedral. (London: 1885), 38_­‑42 (8th ed.)

[18] S. Foote, Æthelstan. (New Haven and London: 2011), 234‑42.

[19] G. H. Holderness, ‘The cathedral a hundred years ago.’ (1977). Unpub. article in cathedral library.

[20] These are the only medieval cathedrals without any Norman architecture. Lichfield differed from the other two in having its frontal twin towers in line with the nave aisles so the west half of the cathedral is a rectangle. At Wells and Salisbury, the towers project out on the sides of the west end.

[21] J. P. McAleer, The West Front of Lichfield Cathedral: A hidden liturgical function. Friends of Lichfield Cathedral 52 Annual Report. (1989), 26–9.

[22] P. Z. Blum, ‘Liturgical influences on the design of the West End at Wells and Salisbury’. Gesta (1986), 25, 1, 145–150.

[23] It was a reformed liturgy first used at Sarum cathedral during Bishop Osmund's prelacy. 1087-1099. It was commonly used throughout southern England and most likely included Lichfield.

[24] It is possibly a 9th-century hymn and a modern translation is the hymn ‘All Glory, Laud and Honour’.

[25] H. Gittos and S. Hamilton (eds) Understanding Medieval Liturgy. Essays in interpretation. (London and New York: 2017), 228.

[26] According to N. Orme, Going to church in Medieval England, (New Haven and London: 2022), 274–5. The procession started in the choir with the carried cross, candle holders, incense bearer, someone holding the relics, the holy sacrament inside a pyx, clerks with palm branches, clergy and then the laity. They left the church, and in the churchyard heard the Gospel of Luke describing Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. They re-entered the cathedral with the choristers singing Gloria, laus, et honor. In a description of the procession, 1542, it stated the Gospel was read beside a Palm Cross. After the hymn was sung the cathedral doors were opened only when the priest banged on the door with the foot of the processional cross. Another account has people being given palms which were taken home and attached to their house-door believing this would drive away the Devil.

[27] Examples include Lindisfarne Priory, Rochester, Colchester, Arbroath, Holyrood, St Andrew, Kelso and Elgin. See note 2. Kilkenny has been since added.

[28] C. Hohler, The Palm Sunday procession and the west front of Salisbury Cathedral. Private letter written early 1990s and considered by M. S. Andås, Ø. Ekroll, A. Haug and N. Holger (eds.), ‘Architectural and ritual constructions. The Medieval Cathedral of Trondheim in a European Context’. Ritus et Artes (Turnout, Brepols: 2007), 3, 279–284.

[29] W. P. Mahrt, Review of Façade as Spectacle: Ritual and ideology at Wells Cathedral. (Leiden and Boston: 2004).

[30] M. Spurrell, ‘The procession of Palms and west-front galleries’, The Downside Review. (2001), 415, 136–7.

[31] Historia Ecclesiastica Book 4, chapter 3. J. McClure and R. Collins, Bede: The ecclesiastical history of the English People. (Oxford: 2008), 176.

[32] W, Rodwell, ‘Lichfield cathedral. Notes on the gallery and other features at the west end of the nave.’ (1989), Unpub. article in the cathedral library.

A sacred landscape for the first cathedral

Abstract

The first cathedral location was selected by the Mercian king and a top bishop and approved to be the distinguished centre of the new kingdom of Mercia. Its layout with two churches, a shrine and cemetery had a resemblance to the Constantine church in Jerusalem with the Holy Sepulchre. It was a significant pilgrimage centre. 

Known facts.

•  King Wulfhere of Mercia and Bishop Wilfrid of Ripon and Hexham ‘prepared’ a site for a church at Lichfield.[1] Wilfrid’s involvement with Mercia and his understanding of churches in Italy, Ripon and Hexham indicate he planned a sacred landscape at Lichfield.[2] Hill titled her paper on Wilfrid’s build of Ripon as, ‘Rome in Ripon: St Wilfrid’s inspiration and legacy’[3] and would also have applied to Lichfield.
• Chad was buried near the church of St Mary on the site of St Peters.[4] Paired churches dedicated to a major apostle and St Mary occurred at Canterbury, Glastonbury, Hackness, Lastingham, Lindisfarne, Malmesbury, Monkwearmouth and Whitby.[5] This appears to be the conventional layout.
• Rodwell excavated Chad’s shrine at the east end of the nave (2003) and surmised whether Early Medieval (Anglo-Saxon) walling found in the north (1994) and south (1992) choir aisle was an early church. He said these foundations fall into a pattern of churches, chapels, tombs, standing crosses, wells and other liturgical features and have a near alignment.[6] He did not state what this alignment was.
•  Notable kings and saints were generally buried east of the main church and in a line. This is known at Bradford-on-Avon (possibly), Glastonbury, Gloucester, Hexham, Repton, Wells (probably), Whithorn, Winchcombe and Worcester. Blair identified that where a church was dedicated to an apostle and paired with St Mary, the lesser St Mary church often stood due east of the apostolic church and this followed Continental practice.[7] Gittos expressed it as many chapels were situated in an easterly position when within a group.[8]
• Early medieval liturgy was performed in a sequence of small compartments (churches, chapels and shrines) around holy sites.[9] Churchmen, especially Northumbrians who had visited Rome, were interested in processions between buildings as part of their liturgical practices.[10] This procession followed a ‘Sacred Landscape’.

 

Evidence from elsewhere.

Adomnán (Adamnán), born c. 625 in Donegal, probably a relative of Columba, joined the monastery at Iona c. 669, and ten years later became the ninth abbot. Around 680, he wrote De Locis Sanctis,^[11] ‘On the Holy Places’, describing Jerusalem, Bethlehem and other holy cities. He was impressed by the layout of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem constructed by Emperor Constantine, c. 325.^[12] 

Reconstructed sketch of Adomnán’s layout for the church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, taken from a 9th century drawing in Paris. There are similar drawings archived in Vienna, Brussels and Zurich. It has 4 circles representing the rotunda; the Vienna drawing has 5. The church of St Mary was at the end of the Via Dolorosa; the path Jesus took to his crucifixion.

                                     

                                                                                                                                                 

Route of pilgrims through Constantine’s church of the Holy Sepulchre. Note this route is from East to West. The courtyard was at the foot of a rock of Golgotha which held a large silver cross.

 

 Adomnán gave his book to the king of Northumbria who wanted it circulated in his kingdom. In 702‑3, Bede wrote on the Holy Sepulchre complex,[13] using the same title as Adomnán’s book, but with changes, and later adding a description in his Historia Ecclesiastica, book 5 chapter 16.[14] The ground plan of the church, though inaccurate, must have become familiar to many throughout northern Europe;[15]  it was now a model for emulation.[16]  Centres in Ireland[17], on Iona and at Lindisfarne have been cited as good copies. Possible sites in England have been reviewed.[18]

1.     Iona

A sacred landscape at Iona was first suggested in 2001.[19] Adomnán, when the abbot of the monastery, listed the buildings and recent archaeology has revealed such a landscape[20]. On the day before his death, Columba compared Iona to Jerusalem.[21]  

Pilgrimage route envisaged at Iona. The site has a 7th and 8th century formidable inner and outer vallum, a mid-7th century shrine chapel probably to house the relics of St Columba, and the floor of a burnt wattle building (3.8 m x 2.8 m internally) on a rock known as the Tòrr an Aba. This building is now thought to be the hut where Columba wrote and oversaw the community.[22]

 

Pilgrims arrived on the east shore of the island and entered a southern gate through the double vallum boundary, simulating the walls of Jerusalem. They entered the early monastic church (thought to be under the Nave of the Benedictine Abbey, but still has to be located). From here, they moved westwards to the plateola, equivalent to the Jerusalem courtyard, in which stood high crosses, prayer stones and a well that might have been used for baptising. The south side was connected to a 7th or 8th-century paved roadway known as the ‘Street of the Dead’ linking three chapels and having alongside at least 7 standing crosses. Finally, the pilgrim reached Columba’s shrine chapel, of which only the lower courses have survived, reminding them of Christ’s tomb. Pilgrims who visited several times saw it as equal to a journey to Jerusalem.

      2.     Lindisfarne

A similar sacred landscape is thought to exist at Lindisfarne substantiating its name of Holy Island. Pilgrims arrived by boat on the east side of the island and then moved to the church. Isolated sculptured stones found in and around the remains of the Norman priory (1080) could mean the early St Peter’s church is located within or by the priory.[23] This church built by Finan, 651 x 661, held the relics of Aidan and Cuthbert. To the west of this possible church now stands the parish church of St Mary and perhaps this is over the earlier church that held Cuthbert’s relics. Between the two churches is an early cross base within an open place. This is fragmentary evidence for two churches, holding important saint’s relics being in an east-west alignment with an open place (plateola?) possibly containing standing crosses.

 

          Pilgrimage route at Lindisfarne

 3.     Ripon and Hexham

          The crypts at Ripon and Hexham were the work of Bishop Wilfrid.[24] They are said to resemble catacombs in Rome seen by Wilfrid on his pilgrimages, but there is another explanation. They allude to the rectangular tomb of Christ in Jerusalem;[25] Adamnan’s drawing has a rectangular grave surmounted by a rotunda. The crypt could have been entered from either the west or the east. There is a first room and then a main chamber. This chamber is vaulted, big enough to hold nine people, and has a low roof. Wall to wall dimension is c. 7 feet and this is the attested length of Christ’s tomb.[26] Bishop Wilfrid when in Rome between 703 and 705, had every opportunity to participate in the new papal processions across a sacred landscape and presumably from 706 imitated this at Ripon and Hexham.[27]

    Wilfrid’s crypt at Hexham      

 

Wilfrid’s shrine at Ripon is thought to have been at the east end of the church. The relationship of the crypts to the early church at Ripon is unknown.[28] Consequently the pilgrimage route, whether starting from the east or west end is unknown. It is much the same at Hexham. It is possible Wilfrid ignored the direction of travel in Jerusalem (east to west) and instead built his linear churches to accommodate the conventional travel of west to east in England.

 

So how does this impact on the layout at Lichfield

If each of the first eight bishops at Lichfield and Bishop Wilfrid were connected with and familiar with Lindisfarne, Iona, Ripon and Hexham,[29] then a similar layout would be plausible.  Did Wilfrid arrange a sacred landscape numinous to pilgrims and ensure the enduring cult of St Chad?

In 2003, archaeological excavation in the nave revealed foundations to three sides of what appeared to be a shrine tower and inside which offset to the north was the grave of Chad. It has a similarity to Christ’s tomb within its rotunda. For evidence this was almost certainly Chad’s grave see the post ‘Making sense of Chad's grave, St Peter's cathedral, St Mary's church and a shrine tower’. The findings in 1992 and 94 of early medieval walling in the choir aisles might be remnants from elaborate graves; a tiered grave was found close-by in the south choir aisle. In 2000, a 2m wide band of mortared rubble was found between the pillars at the west end of the nave.[30] Some have conjectured whether this is a floor or foundation to the main church of St Peter, that is to the west of the shrine.

 

                                        Summary of archaeology under the cathedral floor.

Speculative layout of a ‘sacred landscape’ at Lichfield.

The great difficulty is not knowing whether early medieval pilgrims entered the minster complex in the 7th and 8th century from the east end, like Jerusalem, Iona and Lindisfarne, or from the west end like many church complexes in England. This means there are two alternatives. 

1. Entry from the east end.

In which case the minster might have looked like the following.

 

2.      Entry from the west end.

 

This layout chimes with the layout for the following two cathedrals. It also accords with the main thoroughfare being along St John and Bird Street. It does not fit if the entry to the shrine tower was on the east side; Rodwell thought the east wall could have had steps. It means the second cathedral could be built on the cemetery ground whilst the first cathedral is still available for continuing worship. It has been suggested St Mary’s church could have been an annexe on the south side of the second cathedral.[31] The position of a well is not far from where it is thought one once existed.

          It is now thought a sacred landscape was relatively short-lived and probably discontinued with the building of the second cathedral, if undertaken by King Offa, c.770. Offa vigorously promoted and paid for pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem.

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[1] Described in the biography of Bishop Wilfrid written by a monk at Ripon called Stephanus and published 712–3. Title was Victa Sancti Wilfridi I. Episcopi Eboracensis.

[2] See the post ‘Wilfrid of Ripon and Mercia’.

[3] J. Hill, Rome in Ripon: St Wilfrid’s Inspiration and Legacy, History, The Journal of the Historical Association, (2020), 105, issue 367, 603‑25.

[4] Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum published in 731, Book 4, Chapter 3. See J. McClure and R. Collins, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. (Oxford: 2008) 178. This translation has been explained in the post, ‘Two churches in 672 and a shrine.’

[5] H. Gittos, Liturgy, architecture and sacred places in Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford: 2013) 94‑7.

[6] W. Rodwell, Archaeological excavation in the nave of Lichfield Cathedral. (Unpub. report held in Lichfield Cathedral Library) (2003), 6. Also W. Rodwell, J. Hawkes, E. Howe and R. Cramp, ‘The Lichfield Angel: A spectacular Anglo-Saxon painted sculpture, The Ant. J. (2008), 88, 50–1.

[7] J. Blair, The church in Anglo-Saxon society (Oxford: 2005), 200.

[8] See note 5. H. Gittos, (2013), 100.

[9] See note 6. J. Blair (2008), 201.

[10] See note 5. H. Gittos, (2013), 107.

[11] British Library, Imago mundi (part II, 1r–78r); Adomnán, De Locis Sanctis (part II, 78v–93v). It is part of Cotton MS Tiberius D V, part II, ff 1–93 and was copied in the 4th quarter of the 14th century.

[12] Thought to have been described to Adomnán by a Gallic bishop, Arculf or Arculfus, from his pilgrimage to the Near East, 679–682. Hundreds of pilgrims set out from Europe to the Holy Land between 385 and 1099 AD, but of these only eighteen wrote descriptions which have survived.

[13] G. H. Brown, A companion to Bede (Woodbridge: 2009),71. Also P. Darby and D. Reynolds, Reassessing the ‘Jerusalem Pilgrims’, the Case of Bede’s De locis sanctis, Bulletin for the Council for British Research in the Levant, (2014), 1, 27-31,

[14] J. McClure, and R. Collins, Bede. The ecclesiastical history of the English People (Oxford: 1994), 264. Bede’s abridged account had a few minor differences with Adomnán’s version, see P. P. O'Neill,     'Imag(in)ing the Holy Places: A comparison between the diagrams in Adomnan’s and Bede's De Locis Sanctis', Journal of Literary Onomastics.(2017), 6, 1, 42–60.

[15] T. O'Loughlin, Adomnán and the Holy Place (London: 2007), 175–203.

[16] See note 6. J. Blair, (2005), 201.

[17] D. Jenkins, Holy, holier, holiest. The sacred topography of the early Irish Church. In Studia Traditionis Theologiae. (2010) Brepols Publishers,  claimed at least four early Irish monasteries resembled Jerusalem.

[18] See note 4 H. Gittos, (2013) 19–54.

[19] A. MacDonald, 'Aspects of the monastic landscape in Adomnan’s Life of Columba', in J. Carey, M. Herbert and P. O' Riain (eds.) Studies in Irish hagiography: Saints and Scholars (Dublin: 2001),15–30.

A recent Statement of Significance for Iona Abbey given by Historic Environment Scotland 2019, states Adomnán’s work provides a framework for understanding how the planning and development of Iona and its liturgical landscape was conceived as a reflection of the heavenly Jerusalem.

[20] E. Campbell and A. Maldonado, ‘A new Jerusalem 'at the ends of the earth': interpreting Charles Thomas's excavations at Iona Abbey 1956—63’, The Ant. J. (2020),1–53.

[21] ibid. T. Ó Carragáin (2003), 144.

[22] ibid. 20. It has been suggested Columba’s shrine chapel was the first of its kind and built mid-8th century, see T, Ó Carragáin, 'The architectural setting of the cult of relics in early medieval Ireland', The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, (2003), 133,130–176. This date could indicate the time of construction for Chad’s shrine.

[23] D. Petts, D. ‘A place more venerable than all in Britain: The archaeology of Anglo-Saxon Lindisfarne', in R. Gameson (ed.) The Lindisfarne Gospels: New perspectives (Leiden, 2017), 7.

[24] T. H. Turner, ‘Observations on the crypt at Hexham Church, Northumberland’, Archaeol. J. (1845),  2, 240–1. J. Walbran, ‘Observation on the Saxon crypt under the Cathedral Church at Ripon,  commonly called St Wilfrid’s needle’, Royal Archaeological Institute, York Meeting 1846 (1848), 4.

[25] See Conant (1956), Krautheimer (1971), Biddle (1994) and Wilkinson (2002) all quoted by R. N. Bailey, ‘St Wilfrid – a European Anglo-Saxon’, Wilfrid Abbot, Bishop, Saint. Papers from the 1300th Anniversary Conferences, ed. N. J. Higham (Donington, 2013), 120.

[26] Ibid. Bailey (2013) 121–3.

[27] É Ó Carragáin and A. Thacker, ‘Wilfrid in Rome’, Wilfrid Abbot, Bishop, Saint. Papers from the 1300th Anniversary Conferences, ed. N. J. Higham (Donington, 2013), 227–8.

[28]A. Clapham, English Romanesque Architecture, Vol. 1. Before the Conquest. (Oxford: 1930), 156.

[29] Diuma (Irish), Ceollach (Irish or Scottish), Trumhere or Trumheri (Yorkshire), Jaruman or Jurumannus (possibly Irish), Chad or Caedda (Northumbrian), Wynfrith (Chad’s deacon and probably from the same background), Headda (associated with Yorkshire), Wilfrid (Northumbrian), see R. Sharp, Drawn to the light. A history of dark times, (Studley: 2018),109, 113.

[30] W. Rodwell, Revealing the history of the Cathedral: 3. Archaeology in the nave. Unpub. paper in the Cathedral Library, (2000), 23.

[31] M W Greenslade, ed. 'Lichfield: The cathedral', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14, Lichfield. (London: 1990). The funerary church may have stood where there was later a side chapel on the south side of the Early Medieval (Norman) presbytery; that chapel was replaced in the earlier 13th century by one with an altar dedicated to St. Peter.