The notion that Christians at the sacred site of Lichfield’s three historic cathedrals have observed and worshipped God in the same way over its 1355 years is false. Religious practice has changed over time together with changes in the cathedral building. From early times priests had to facilitate worship and organise a welcoming church and over time customs of worship changed. This gave different ages of Christian practice and an evolution in church building. The problem is to know what were the prominent factors deciding a particular age and custom of worship. The following is an attempt to describe these ages and 7 are suggested.
1. The age of saints.
The 7th-century in Britain and Ireland was marked by faith leaders building local churches and then travelling distances to build new churches, forming new faith communities and eventually being revered as saints. Often these saints were of noble birth, sometimes the youngest sons and daughters of kings.[1] Sainthood, holiness and perfection were decided by the local community and their work memorialised with folklore. Consequently, their place of burial, often in a dedicated shrine building, became sacred. Bishop-saints often visited Rome and made detours to continental monasteries. Those following the Roman tradition of worship often followed Martin, the Hungarian bishop of Tours, 316 or 336‑397, and those of a Celtic persuasion knew all about Patrick in Ireland, c. 432 and Columba (Colm Cille), 521‑597, at Iona. In time, many more saints became role models and their place of burial became revered.
Chad was most likely from a noble family in Yorkshire, became mentored by royalty, travelled to Ireland, was admired for his piety and humility, became a bishop in Northumbria and eventually the fifth bishop of Mercia.[2] He was a Celtic missionary, who became a Roman bishop, and seen as an important saint known through Bede’s history book written in 731.[3] His grave within a shrine tower was discovered in 2003.[4] His churches, St Peters and St Marys, would have been simple and with little decoration. The cathedral-church of his bishop elder brother, Cedd, is still standing at Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, and must be a good likeness of his church at Lichfield. Chad’s shrine appears to be a simple 7m x 7m building with thick walls suggesting a tower appearance. The roof could have been shingles from a Roman site. In the age of saints, a simplicity seems to be the architectural style.
Exterior and interior of Cedd’s chapel of St Peter on the Wall, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex. It was built on the edge of a Roman shore site south of the river Blackwater. Chad’s church might have had materials purloined from the Roman site of Letocetum, Wall.
At some time in the late 7th or early 8th-century the simple buildings at Lichfield were placed in a linear layout resembling the layout at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Such a sacred landscape has been identified at Iona, northwest Scotland, possibly at Lindisfarne, northeast Northumbria and several centres on the continent. Both a saint and their church-shrine were now venerated. Early pilgrims were visiting a numinous site resembling their idea of the site where Christ’s tomb lay. The sacred layout is thought to have existed for several decades.[5]
2. The age of procession and status in Anglo-Saxon times.
In the late 7th and early 8th-centuries churches began to have a long nave and at the east end was added an extension in the form of an apse. This allowed priests and nobility to process the length of the church and occupy areas assigned to them. Priests sat in the apse, choirs and nobility sat in the east end of the church often separated by three arches and others were kept to the west end of the nave. Patrons used the church to show off their status and to join priests and make a small journey from the outside to the cross. There is some evidence the second cathedral, now only a foundation under the choir and presbytery, was Anglo-Saxon and showed this arrangement.[6]
Brixworth Church, Northamptonshire and the choir-apse foundation revealed under the cathedral in 1854. Both were associated with King Offa of Mercia.
Kings were buried outside the church walls and bishops began to be buried in a porticus chamber on the side of the nave. Over time all the high-status individuals wanted burial near the high altar.
By the late-8th and 9th-century towers were added usually at the west end and then increasingly over the high altar. There can be only one purpose for towers and that was to store something valuable and give protection from thieves. By the late Saxon period turriform or tower churches appeared and these gave protection to priests from marauding plunderers.
Evolution of the shape of a church in the first millennia. ‘A’ is a roundhouse, oratory or beehive and could be made from earth, timber and wattle or stone. ‘B’ is the simple longhouse made from timber and brush. Altar was against the wall. ‘C’ and ‘D’ are stone rectangular buildings with an apse or a square chancel. An apse the same width as the nave could be as early as 8th century. Many see the square chancel as being later in time. Square chancels are seen more in early northern churches and apses are commoner in early southern churches. It has been suggested the altar table had a space behind for the clergy when it Romanised. ‘E’ has the feature of a separate anteroom or narthex for those who were not confirmed, or it was possibly dividing women from the men. The altar table is on the diameter of the apse circle. At the early churches of Reculver and Winchester the altar could have been at the end of the nave. ‘F’ is cruciform in shape with side chapels or porches (porticus). Also, it had a tower either at the west end or over the chancel. ‘G’ is a tower church with perhaps a baptistery. ‘H’ is the very late Saxon church with aisles, side Chapter house, buttresses and sometimes a crypt. There could be three towers, presumably showing the trinity. Side chapels might contain the remains of high-status individuals so they were buried close to the altar, but not part of the nave.
3. The age of pilgrimage with monumental (power) building in Norman times.
There is no evidence this new architecture occurred in Lichfield; the church was not a power-base.[7] Victorian writers romanticised the idea of construction of a formidable Norman church, but this conflicts with historical and archaeological evidence. Two bishops left Lichfield for another see and Lichfield was marginalised for 3 centuries. Despite this the cult of Chad with attendant pilgrimage kept the downgraded cathedral important in Staffordshire. Saving the souls of pilgrims, redeeming penitents and offering prayers in diverse chantry chapels became the mainstay of worship.[8] It is plausible this form of worship saved the cathedral-church from demise.
4. The age of points, pinnacles and spires. Gothic architecture, 1210‑1330.
For the origin, characteristics and features of Gothic building at Lichfield see the post, ‘Gothic cathedral’. The underlying questions is why build this way? A number of reasons have been conjectured and probably all contain some truth. The first reason was many tall lancet windows let in extra light and worship could now be seen in a way not possible before. Some have linked this with the fourth Lateran Council, 1215, in which many theological changes were made to church organisation including infallibly defining transubstantiation as the centre of the Eucharist. This rite was now paramount and easier to watch. It enhanced the chancel which was extended, squared off, had an ambulatory and given sedilia for more priests to sit close to the altar. A piscina (for washing the sacred vessels) and a cupboard or aumbry (for storing the vessels) appeared. A second reason was it encouraged worshippers to look upwards to heaven. Height was not the greatest feature of early Gothic, but it became the defining feature of improved Gothic. All the points and pinnacles encouraged this raising of the eyes. Three spires reminded all of the Trinity. Bosses on the ceiling showed significant biblical events. Stained glass, placed high up, gave full account of favourite biblical stories. Polished stone subliminally stated a vision of heaven. The elevated external gargoyles scared away evil and made the cathedral a safe space. Internal grotesques reminded all of the diversity of nature. Statues looking down on the parishioners had natural poses and gestures, full of tender feeling and strong emotion. Column capitals showed beautiful arrangements of leaves, reminiscent of the tree of life (Genesis 2 v9). A third explanation was it expressed the hierarchy of the church. The Angevin kings and bishops (often related) were frequently in tandem and all wanted to own a magnificent house of God, especially for their own glory or for an ancestor’s memory. Statues and sculptured heads showed who mattered. The cathedral had a Consistory Court and a Chapter House to enforce their rules and law. Under-crofts could hold felons for a short time. All behaviours were being determined by biblical explication and the church became an autonomous, self-regulated community. Everyone was reminded to live a good, Christian life or sin would be punishable. For the ordinary town citizen this meant frequent prayer, attendance at church and taking Communion at Easter.[9] Now the church was built to accommodate various classes and had worship with occasional sung accompaniment.
Sedilia within the current sanctuary. Originally it was part of the reredos at the east end of the cathedral in the Lady Chapel in the 17th-century. It was much repaired by Scott and placed on the side of the high altar. It is neo-Gothic and shows a multitude of pinnacles and points.
5. The age of reformation
Reformation at Lichfield meant the cathedral became Protestant with the monarch its supreme head. Break with Rome gave the king power to administer the English Church, tax it, appoint its officials and control its laws. Other consequences included the abolition of the Catholic Mass,[10] the use of English language in services,[11] and for both English and Latin Bibles[12] to be available. Away went Church processions, the use of holy water, lighting votive candles before images of saints, displaying images on the rood loft and reciting the rosary. Altars were replaced with communion tables, chantry chapels were closed by 1547, shrines and relics were destroyed, pilgrimage was discouraged and there was a removal of the showy elements of Catholicism, especially images by 1548. For a full account of how the well run, settled cathedral changed in the thirty years of Reformation, 1534 to 1560s, see the post, ‘Reformation.’ Savage expressed it as, ‘through all these distresses the old normal life of the cathedral was, as far as possible, maintained.’[13] However, all would have had to learn and accept new ways of worship. The new understanding must have been profound especially changing in a short time.
6. The age of simplicity and gloom.
Destruction of the cathedral in the three sieges of the Civil War, 1643‑6, meant a new reordering of worship in the years of repair and restoration followed.[14] By 1670, the frame of the cathedral, spires and windows were restored, but the interior was still in a poor state. The choir, presbytery, separated from the lady chapel by a stone screen, and chapter house were used like a separate church, but the nave and aisles were poorly maintained. The cathedral was cold (between 1645 and 1715 the weather was frequently bitterly cold), showed signs of age and there was still much requiring restoration. Only an inner church functioned.
In March 1787, work began under James Wyatt to increase the size of the choir area and make it more comfortable for clergy, choristers, and congregation. Whenever, there was a sermon on the second Sunday in the month all the listeners in the choir stalls had to move to the nave where the pulpit was positioned. They joined parishioners from the town, many having attended worship in their own churches.[15] The nave now became an empty area with only the font present. The seating in the choir area was then extended into the Lady Chapel, which meant the removal of a stone screen. Wyatt plastered in the arches of the choir and presbytery, removed statues and now formed a long inner church from the crossing-choir screen of stone and glass to the lady chapel altar. The inner church was unfurnished, long, dark and gloomy and this was said to give a better sense of God. Wyatt treated the cathedral as an artistic whole by unifying the separate areas into one space and uncluttering to give emphasis on the monumental space and not the monuments. His critics mourned the loss of historical artefacts, such as medieval chapels, tombs, statues and rood screens. It was a return to architectural purification[16] and a simpler form of worship.
Choir looking westwards to crossing-choir screen, 1820, from Britton.
7. Age of Neo-Gothic Revival
Between 1854 and 1898, the cathedral was comprehensively repaired, altered and returned to what was thought to be like its original medieval Gothic form.[17] This is more-or-less its layout seen today. In recent times, tombs, the font and statues have been moved, a chapel to remember the fallen has been added and painted icons placed around the cathedral. The nave altar sits on a platform that can be raised. A shrine for Chad with one of his supposed bones kept in the centre of a cross has been added to the retrochoir. The organ has been much enlarged. The cathedral once again welcomes pilgrims, since 1860, and is now open to all faiths. Its structure is adaptable to be the venue for concerts and exhibitions. Worship is now frequently recorded and transmitted on the internet and, perhaps this is the beginning of a new 8th Age of spirituality in which worship is observed on a screen.
Christian worship has been disrupted on at least 3 occasions.
1. The Vikings came and almost certainly plundered the cathedral early in 875.[18] Bishop Eadberht from this date is not mentioned and the next bishop, Wulfred, is named 8 years later.
2. Bishops do not appear to be attending the cathedral in the 12th-century, though canons are mentioned. There are indications the cathedral was poor in state and lacking funds. Early in the 13th-century the current, third cathedral was built and worship within a small area, thought to be the three western bays of the choir, must have been challenging.[19] Then there were plague and famine. Reformation and the destruction of a shrine changed the ways of worship.
3. Attendance during the Civil War, 1643‑6, must have been minimal and absent during the three sieges.[20] After destruction of the cathedral there is mention of worship in the Chapter House since it was the only area with an intact roof. Worship fully began after the rebuilding of the cathedral; Bishop Hacket led the re-consecration on December 24 1669.[21]
This record of continuity is remarkable when considering what happened to other cathedrals. It is testimony of the site being seen always as sacred and this must largely depend on the cult of Chad, his relics when present (lost to the cathedral from c. 1541) and the appeal of pilgrimage (absent from 1538‑1860).
[1] R. Sharp, Drawn to the Light. A history of a dark time. (Studley: 2018), 86.
[2] See the post, ‘St Chad. Biography fact and fiction.’
[3] . McClure and R. Collins, Bede. The Ecclesiastical history of the English People, (Oxford, 2008). Book IV, Ch. 3, 174. The edition of McClure and Collins is based on the translation by Bertram Colgrave for the Oxford Medieval Texts first published in 1969.
[4] See the posts, ‘Chad’s relics’ and ‘Two churches in 672 and a shrine’.
[5] See the post, 'A sacred landscape for the first cathedral'
[6] See the posts, ‘The incomparable apse of the second cathedral’, and ‘Why the second cathedral must be Englisc or Early Medieval.’
[7] See the post, ‘There is no historical evidence for a Norman second cathedral.’ Also 'Second cathedral has a short-perch layout. It is Early Medieval.'
[8] See the post, ‘Chantries.’
[9] In many rural areas pagan belief systems persisted. It is now thought in parts of the country with few churches indifference to following religious practices was more or less as common as today.
[10] The Mass founded on a priest consecrating bread and wine to become the body and blood of Christ through transubstantiation. The priest offered to God the same sacrifice of Christ on the cross that provided atonement for the sins of humanity. It also offered a prayer by which the living could help souls in purgatory.
[11] The changeover from Latin to English in services must have caused some turmoil. A writer in 1554 remarked ‘who could twenty years ago say the Lord’s Prayer (Pater Noster) in English.
[12] The Matthew’s Bible was available by 1537 and Henry’s Great Bible in 1539. The King ordered copies of the Great Bible to be placed in all churches; failure to comply would result in a £2 fine.
[13] H. E. Savage, The Cathedral and the Chapter 1530–1553. Unpub. articled in the cathedral library, (1927), 11.
[14] See the post, ‘Civil War damage and restoration. ‘
[15] See the post, ‘James Wyatt's restoration, 1787-92.’
[16] M. J. Lewis, The Gothic Revival, (London: 2002), 41.
[17] See the post, ‘Victorian recovery,’
[19] See the post, ‘Dating the cathedral.’
[20] See the posts, ‘First Civil War siege of the Close, March 1643,’ ‘Second siege 7-21 April 1643,’ and ‘Third siege March 8 - July 16 1646.’
[21] See the post, ‘Civil War damage and restoration.’
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