Castle wall, 1640

     Some kind of protective wall was built around the Cathedral Close in the 12th-century, organised by Bishop Roger de Clinton, 1129-48,[1] and the Close was described as a castellum, c. 1200,[2] meaning a small fort. In the 17th-century it was described as, Castrum Lichesfeldense muniendo villam vallo vallendo milites; that is, ‘The soldiers fortified the castle of Lichfield and fortified the town with a rampart’.[3] The word ‘castle’ is ambiguous with some writers suggesting a castle was within the town and not about the Close.[4] Taylor described it as a rather vaguely worded document.[5]  Harwood thought the whole settlement was entrenched, that is, Clinton fortified the castle, to have made a rampart round the village, and to have enrolled and mustered the soldiers.[6]  It is now believed there was only some kind of fortification of the Close[7] and it was probably rudimentary. The Victorian County History could only conclude the Close appeared to have been fortified.[8]  So what sort of early fortification was built? It was around three sides of the Close, 300 m long and 250 m wide. The south side river or stream had been dammed and the pool protected this side.

Suggested topography of the Close around the year 1100.[9] The enclosure could have been a ditch and embankment, but it might have used the bedrock to give a more substantial vallum.

 

         

In 1299, around 30 years before completion of the cathedral, Bishop Walter de Langton obtained a licence to strengthen and crenellate the boundary walls.[10] Another account has he refortified the Close with a stone wall.[11] Harwood has he cleaned the ditch around the Close, and surrounded it with a stone wall.[12] He added, the Close, was surrounded by water, and fortified by walls and bastions, and was a place of considerable strength.[13] Victoria County History has Langton constructed a stone perimeter wall with massive gatehouses at the south and west entrances.[14] In a seminal work[15] on the Civil War sieges it claimed “Langton fortified the Close by surrounding the whole of it, including the south side, with stone walls, built in a handsome manner and strengthened with towers and turrets. To the west and south of these fortifications were gates (the southern gate was a postern), each furnished with a portcullis and a drawbridge to give access over a moat.” Two thick oak doors, one internal and one to the outside guarded each entrance. Probably the walls had to be reinforced soon after the age of cannon began in the 1330sThe twin semi-octagonal towers at the Dam Street entrance were completed after 1322 and the west gate c. 1355 with a portcullis added 1376. The northwest tower was known as the dean’s tower and the northeast was the bishop’s tower. The east wall had three interval towers with two within the bishop’s palace[16] and one where there is now Selwyn House. Whether all fortification was completed in the 14th century, or more added in the intervening 300 years to the English Civil War is unclear.[17] The fortified cathedral must have appeared like a castle and entrance to the Close, especially to the bishop’s palace would have been impossible.       

Appearance of the fortified cathedral on a map by John Speed dated 1610[18].

 

Langton’s rise in the church was assisted by his uncle who in 1265 became Archbishop of York and by his close friend Robert Burnell who became Bishop of Bath and Wells. The walls, gatehouse and moat at Wells were added after 1329, which was after Langton’s death in 1321, but around the same time as the building of the Lichfield ramparts. Since it is known the layout of the church and particularly the choirs at Lichfield and Wells were similar,[19] the hall in Langton’s palace matched the size of Bishop Burnell’s at Wells,1292,[20] and the west fronts of the two cathedrals have similarities, it is possible the two moated walls have resemblances.

 Maddison explained the fortifying was a response to Edward I’s marshalling for his three campaigns of 1277, 1282 and 1294,[21] and chimes with the building of castles.  Alternatively, the fortification of Lichfield Close might really be because of the fortification of the bishop’s palace and chimes with the building at Wells.

Aerial view of the bishop’s palace at Wells.

There are 3 uncertainties concerning this fortification.

1.     Was the moat wet or dry or a combination of both?

          The substantial ditch which enclosed the whole complex was known to have been cut or re-cut in c. 1130. It was dug into the underlying sandstone and presumably acted as a convenient quarry for buildings within the Close. It was around 30 m. wide and 5 m. deep.[22] There is no evidence at the time of construction the ditch contained water. Lomax said the Close was nearly surrounded by water.[23] Speed’s map of 1610 does not show a moat around the curtain wall.

Thorpe’s (1950)[24] plan of the Close showing a moat on part of the east and west sides of the fortified cathedral.

Tringham’s plan (1985)[25]  of the Close from surveys in 1649 and 1660, showing a moat on two sides of the Close. He followed the layout shown on John Snape’s map of Lichfield drawn in 1791.

          It is plausible the water course along the east wall extended as far as the bishop’s palace, because it could then drain waste from the palace. Likewise, it extended three-quarters along the west wall and drained waste from the houses along Beacon Street and perhaps from the west gate. The north dyke being at a higher elevation (8m higher than the pool) would not be fed with water from the southern stream, but could have filled with rainwater or from a spring. The bedrock of Mercian red sandstone has a relatively low permeability and can hold water.

          So was the whole Close surrounded with a moat at the time of the Civil War, 1643-46. An artistic impression accepts this to be the case.

The fortified cathedral at the time of the third siege in the Civil War as reconstructed by Mike Kilfoyle, 1995. Lichfield Cathedral Library, 0580.

          Prince Rupert arrived in Lichfield on April 6 1643 to retake the Close from the occupying Parliamentarian Army. His Royalist forces surrounded the Close and began to pound the walls, but this did not work. So, he recruited men to mine tunnels under the wall. It is written miners from the Cannock Chase coal mines were used, but they would have been sympathetic to the Parliamentarian cause. Instead, there were men around from Leicestershire with experience of mining. According to Clayton, “Before they could start undermining the walls the top moat (north side) had to be drained of water, and this was probably done by diverting the springs that fed the moat from the higher ground”.[26] The Parliamentarians, under Colonel Russel, thought 3 or 4 tunnels were being dug. It is presumed the diggers were under some shield to prevent being shot from the ramparts.

The fortified cathedral at the time of the second siege and after undermining the northeast tower with gunpowder. Note the shielding around the northwest tower to protect the miners. Second siege of Lichfield; Mike Kilfoyle; 1993; LCA 0576.

          Griffiths Higgs was the dean of Lichfield and wrote a first-hand account of events in the spring of 1643 in Latin, which have been recently reanalysed.[27] Higgs was a Royalist and he wrote, Rupert for the second siege moved his machines and catapults, providing mantlets (protective iron shields) for the siege-men. He used battering rams, hurled rocks and constructed underground mines. He fixed ladders to the walls and built a bridge across the moat. After the Close was taken by the Royalists, Richard Bagot of Stafford was declared governor and he had water brought back into the moat. This describes a wet moat particularly on the north side.

 

          It is clear and obvious why Rupert tried to breech the wall on the northwest corner. This has the highest elevation and presumably the lowest water level. If so, it adds to the notion by 1643 the whole of the Close had a wet moat.

 

2.     Did the south side have a wall or was the Minster Pool and backs of houses sufficient protection?

          John Speed’s map, 1610, appears to show houses along the south boundary of the Close. So does a hand-drawn view of the Close from the south by William Dugdale.

Dugdale’s drawing, Ashmole MS 1521 of 1643 (should be 1646).

If the walled Close was primarily to protect the bishop’s palace, then its own high wall south of the palace was sufficient. Entry through the southeast gate would be restricted and probably only allowed the bishop’s carriage and staff to pass through. No southern wall was repeated in Mike Kilfoyle’s drawings and in Tringham’s layout for the mid-17th century.  Ellis and Atherton stated the Close was protected by the Minster Pool on the south (or city side) and had a ditch on the other three sides.²⁵ Thorpe’s plan, 1950, however, has a definite curtain wall along the Minster pool. At the Dam Street end there is a portion of a wall still existing. Was this a true wall, or a long back to a row of houses now removed?

Painting thought to be mid-17th century by an unknown artist shows a square west gate and no southern wall. 

At the end of the garden to No. 19 The Close is a length of walling which would have given protection.

Reconstructed view of the south side assuming there was a curtain wall. This parallels the walls around the bishop’s palace at Wells cathedral.

At both the southeast and southwest corners a house was incorporated into the wall and had a defensive turret. It is an indicator of houses being part of the defensive wall.

St Mary’s house with defensive turret.

There is an intriguing statement in the Calander of Patent Rolls,[28] that as part of his work on fortifying the Close with a stone wall and gates, Langton stopped a right of way which evidently ran along the road south of the cathedral. Does this mean the southside had walls or houses with limited access?

Conclusion appears to be the southside had a combination of wall and backs of houses, probably strengthened with access to their roofs, along the edge of Minster Pool and this was sufficient deterrence to any incursion by an enemy.

3.     What was the shape of the ramparts?

 

West Gate[29]

A drawing exists of the west gate before its final demolition in 1800. [30] It shows three shields, a rampant lion with chequered square (left), the arms of the see of Lichfield (centre) and the arms of Charles I (right). This is the centre of the gate and gives no clue as to the shape of the side towers.

West gate drawing before its demolition in 1800

An etching by Henry White[31] shows a west gate that is tall and square. There are no octagonal towers. The remains of the side tower still visible in the left wall to the entrance to the Close suggest a large tower block. 

Henry White etching. Lichfield Cathedral in 1640, William Salt Library.

 

Southern Gate opposite Dam Street

Early guides stated the southeast gates were of massive oak, studded with iron, having a wicket for the passage of people on foot.  The water from Minster Pool was bridged by a draw-bridge before flowing to Stowe Pool. The gateway was flanked by towers, projecting from the walls of the Close into the fosse, one of which on the east side was used as a dwelling, and called the turret house.[32]

 

Corner Towers

The corner towers appear octagonal and this is apparent in the remnant of the northeast tower and the foundation of the tower in the southeast.  

Foundation to southeast tower showing it has octagonal sides

                                                            Northern ditch, wall and northeast tower showing it was octagonal.

 

There are uncertainties in the shape of the curtain wall, especially the shape of the towers alongside the gates. The probability is the west-gate had tall, square side towers, whereas the south-east gate towers were octagonal. The height of the castellated wall appears to vary considerably, with the north wall being higher than the south or east wall.

 The ramparts in 1640 might have looked like the following updated Speed map. The bishop’s palace and other Close houses are omitted.

 

[1] H. Wharton, Anglia Sacra (1691), 434.

[2] M. W. Greenslade, 'Lichfield: The cathedral close', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14, Lichfield, (London, 1990), 57-67. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol14/

[3] H. Wharton, Anglia Sacra, i. 434; S.H.C. 4th ser. xi. 8.

[4] The site was reputed to be close to the street named ‘Castle Dyke’, between Frog Lane and Wade Street. Leland wrote, “There hathe bene a castle of auncient tyme in the southe ende of the towne, but no parte of it standithe. The plote with the dikes is sene, and is yet caullyd The Castle Felde; but in my coniecture the more lykely place wher it shuld of very auntient tyme have stond is the very close of the palace. That ground is somewhat castle like. L. Toulmin Smith, The Itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535–1543. (London: 1907–10), 99.

[5] C. C. Taylor, ‘The origins of Lichfield, Staffordshire’, South Staffordshire archaeological and historical society transactions for 1968-9, (1969), 10, 43-52.                  

[6] T. Harwood, The history and antiquities of the church and city of Lichfield. (London: 1806), 10-11, 288, 292, 295.

[7] W. Pitt, Topographical history of Staffordshire. (1817).

[8]  M. W. Greenslade (ed.), 'Lichfield: History to c.1500', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14, Lichfield, (London, 1990), pp. 4-14, note 46.

[9] T. R. Slater, ‘The topography and planning of Medieval Lichfield. A critique. South Staffordshire archaeological and historical society transactions for 1984-1985. (1986), 26, 11-35.

[10] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward I: Vol. 3, 1292-1301, 409. See note 5, John Leland (L. Toulmin Smith) page 102. The whole closse of the cathedral churche was newly dikid and waullyd right strongely by Bysshope Langton, and he made one gate of a majestic, and great strengkith at the west parte of the close, and anothar but a lesse gate at the southeast parte of the close.

[11] See note 3, Wharton, 1691, volume 1, 442.

[12] See Harwood note 5. Harwood (1806), 10.

[13] Ibid 20.

[14] Ibid 11, note 404.

[15] H. Clayton, Loyal and Ancient City. Lichfield in the Civil Wars. (Lichfield: 1987).

[16] For a plan of the palace see N. Tringham, 'Palace of Walter Langton in Lichfield Close', Medieval Archaeology and Architecture at Lichfield, ed. J. Maddison (1993), 88.

[17] Coventry had greater fortifications with 20 towers, 12 gates and walling 2 miles (3.2km) long. Started in 1355, it took 180 years to complete.

[18] By the mid-17th century, it was called the Dimple or Dimble, a name meaning a deep hollow filled with trees or bushes. 

[19] 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.

[20] D. Lepine, ‘‘Glorious confessor’: the cult of S Chad at Lichfield Cathedral during the later Middle Ages’, Staffordshire Archaeological and Historical Society-Transactions, (2021), 33.

[21] J. Maddison, ‘Building at Lichfield Cathedral during the episcopate of Walter Langton, 1296–1321.’ In Medieval archaeology and architecture at Lichfield, XIII, British Archaeological Association (1993), 66.

[22] T. R. Slater, (1986), 15. See note 9. Current cathedral ditch has been measured to be 42 m (139 feet) wide, around 6 m (20 feet) deep and with a bank around 2 m high.

[23] T. Lomax, A short account of the City and Close of Lichfield. (Lichfield: 1819).

[24] H. Thorpe, ‘Lichfield: a study of its growth and function.’ Collections for a history of Staffordshire, 1950-51, 137-211

[25] N. J. Tringham, ‘Two seventeenth-century surveys of Lichfield Cathedral Close, South Staffordshire Archaeological and Historical Society transactions for 1983-84. (1985), 25, 35-49.

[26] H. Clayton, ‘Loyal and Ancient City. The Civil War in Lichfield’. (Lichfield, self-published: 1987), 43.

[27] N. Ellis and I. Atherton, ‘Griffith Higgs's Account of the Sieges of and Iconoclasm at Lichfield Cathedral in 1643, Midland History, (2009) 34:2, 233-245.

[28] Calander of Patent Rolls 1348–50, 56.

[29] It is thought Langton’s master mason was Henry de Ellerton, active as the master of the King’s Works 1304-22. He took over the building of Caernarfon Castle in 1323. The King’s Gate might have a resemblance to Lichfield’s west-gate. 

[30] The pen and ink drawing by C. E. Skinner in March 1800 prior to the demolition of the gate.

[31] T. Harwood (1806), 307. See note 5.

[32] T. Lomax, (1819), 210. See note 18.