The chapterhouse is an elongated octagon consisting of two long and six shorter sides. The vaulting indicates it is really an irregular decagon. It is 15 m (49 feet) long, 11.3 m (37 feet) wide and 7 m (23 feet) high. It has a ten-celled roof vaulted from a central pillar with a decagonal base. The wall is bordered with 49 richly ornamented arcades having head sculptures above stone benches for seating many. A single, central column from which the vaulting spreads outwards is like Wells, Lincoln and Westminster Abbey.
Wells chapter house
Lichfield’s chapterhouse is unique by having two similar storeys.[1] The central pillar continues upwards through the upper floor which is very similar to the ground level. The upper room was probably originally dedicated to be a library and treasury, perhaps also a sacristy; but is now the cathedral library.
Plan of Chapterhouse. Despite similarities to other
chapterhouses its architecture is unique.[2]
Its shape might have been the model for the Lady Chapel.[3]
The chapterhouse was used for
meetings called ‘chapters’ for conducting cathedral business.[4] The
early history of the Lichfield chapter was turbulent and it centred on its link
with the monastery at Coventry. When the see was transferred to Chester and
then Coventry, Lichfield lost status and self-government. It especially lost
its sole right to elect a bishop. The monks of Coventry denied the canons any
right of representation and in 1149 Walter Durdent became the bishop despite objections
to the Papal Court by the chapters of Lichfield and Chester.[5] Lichfield
spurned the new bishop in 1183. This conflict continued until 1228 when Pope
Gregory IX decreed all future elections should be made jointly. The canons and
monks should meet alternately; the first to occur at Coventry with
both chapters sitting together and the next time at Lichfield; this
continued for around a hundred years. A further refinement was added in 1255
when it was agreed that at future elections the two chapters should be represented
in equal number. The agreement meant Lichfield needed
a chapterhouse large enough to accommodate both chapters. In
1295, the monks of Coventry and the dean and canons of Lichfield assembled in
the chapterhouse to unanimously elect Walter Langton as bishop.[6]
Chapterhouse
with alarmed cabinets for St Chad’s Gospels and the Lichfield Angel.
Chapterhouse
vaulting.
An archaeological investigation
of the floor in 2011 found three burials. Parts of two skeletons aligned
east-west, thought to have been wrapped with shrouds, appeared to be under the
chapterhouse foundation and therefore within a pre-1240s graveyard.[11]
Fragments of tile were found and it was evident the original medieval tiled
floor lay 0.1 to 0.15 m below the level of the c.1860s floor.
Dean
Heywood, 1457–92, paid for the glazing of the chapterhouse windows,
then in 1819 some windows had heraldry and finally windows with narratives
connected to Chad were begun in 1887.
Chapterhouse
1864 showing all windows with heraldic shields.[12] Note also the platform with table.
Windows with
heraldic shields and the story of Chad.
During and
immediately after the Civil War the chapterhouse was used for services since it
was the only part of the cathedral with an intact roof. Excavation under the
floor in 2011 found a possible dais that was post-Civil War.
It is clear
the chapterhouse has been used in many ways. At the start it was a way for
Coventry monks and Lichfield canons to meet and conciliate and this continued
until the Reformation. It then became a centre for the bishop to meet the
cathedral clergy and lay chapter whenever he visited Lichfield. Occasionally it
was used for court appearances. In and after the Civil War it was a place of
worship. In recent times it has held exhibitions and today is where displays of
treasures occur.
Various
heads from around the wall. The last one is known as the ‘Boy Bishop’ and harks
to the ritual of one day in the year being given to the least amongst the
brethren. After election on 6 December, feast of St Nicholas, the boy dressed
in full bishop's robes with mitre and crozier, and other boys dressed as
priests, entered the town blessing the people. The day was usually held on the
feast of Holy Innocents, 28 December. It was abolished in the Reformation.
Capitol showing remains of red and green paint that once adorned the whole cathedral.
East end
arches. Note the cat holding a kitten in its mouth (ringed) in the arch where
the bishop or dean would have sat. This is sometimes referred to as the cat and
mouse. From J. Britton (London:1820).
[1]
Norwich and Chichester cathedral’s chapter houses might have originally been two
storeys. Wells is on two levels with a lower undercroft. The cathedral priory
at Rochester, Beverley and Westminster have two levels, but each level is different in architecture.
[2]
H. E. Savage, The Chapter House, Unpub. paper in Cathedral Library.
(1919), 19.
[3]
Ibid. 20.
[4]
Originally called a chapterhouse because every day, a chapter from the Rule of
St Benedict would be read out to the monastic community.
[5]
H. E. Savage (1919),15. When Bishop Durdent came to
be installed at Lichfield, the chapter closed the Close gates and refused him
entry. Savage gave a full account of the friction between the two cathedrals.
[6]
J. Jackson, History of the City and Cathedral
of Lichfield. (London: 1805), 76.
[7]
H. E. Savage (1919),19.
[8] R. Willis, ‘On foundations of early
buildings recently discovered in Lichfield Cathedral'. The Archaeological
Journal, (1861), 18, 1--24. Also J. H. Harvey, English Medieval Architects
(Art/architecture). Revised edition. (Stroud: 1987). The dating is
based on the architectural style.
[9]
H. E. Savage (1919), 20.
[10]
H. E. Savage (1919) 19.