Summary. Around
1237 a Franciscan Friary was built on St John Street. After a fire in 1286, it was
rebuilt in stone. It was demolished with Dissolution in 1538.
The
Franciscans were founded in 1209 by St. Francis of Assisi, 1181–1226, and early
on Friars came to England. It was a mendicant order meaning it relied solely on
alms to survive. It was probably Bishop Alexander Stavensby,1224–38, who instigated
a Franciscan Friary, c. 1237,[1] in
the town by giving free burgage plots for
the friars to set their house on. The bishop supported King Henry III who
favoured Franciscan monks. The king allowed oaks to be cut from neighbouring
forests to build a church. The Sheriff of Lichfield was authorised in 1241 ‘to
clothe the Friars of Lichfield.’ In 1286, Edward I provided eight oak trees
from Cannock Chase for further building, and this is thought to have been the
completion of the church, most likely wooden.[2] Soon
after a fire destroyed much of the town and some believe it included the original
church on 4 May 1291.[3] The friary was rebuilt in stone and with extra
buildings expanded over an area of 12 acres. Presumably builders in the last
stages of constructing the cathedral helped or advised on building the large
friary church.
Location of the Friary site. It was adjacent to Bird Street and
St John Street, formerly known as Lichfield Street.
Wall plaque giving approximate dates.
The Franciscan ‘Grey Friars’[4]
were noted for poverty, simple living and caring for the unwell in the
Community, which earned gratitude from the residents of the town. Many
donations for the upkeep of the friary were recorded, but not everyone agreed with this
view. Richard Fitzralph was dean of Lichfield, 1335-46, who became Archbishop
of Armagh and was invited by the pope to review mendicant friars. He concluded
they abused their stance of being poor. He claimed Christ never begged but
worked as a labouring carpenter, and to survive by alms was not Christian. It
also undermined the work of clergy helping in the community.
The friary was unusual in having
two cloisters, a small one off the choir and a large one off the nave.[5] It
also had a bishop’s lodging,[6]
though it is unclear whether the cathedral bishop or another stayed on the
site. A cemetery is thought to have existed north and east of the choir.
Possible layout for Lichfield Friary. The church had a similar unusual
compass inclination as the cathedral. It is presumed the tower and spire were
at the crossing, with a spire similar in height to the cathedral, c. 60 m. Its
length is estimated to be 60-70 m. The right to pipe water was given in 1301
and the water was given for free. It is thought the water passed through wooden
(alder) pipes. Three tanning pits have been found and either they preceded the
Friary or were part of the friary workshops.
Artistic reconstruction of the Friary as depicted on Lichfield District
Council city visitor board.
Much of the Friary was demolished after Dissolution[7] in
1538. Notice was served on August 7 and an inventory showed the friary was in
debt. The friars were dismissed five days later, claiming they had nowhere to
go. It was placed in the hands of a Richard Wetwode and constables of the town.
A group of eight men bought the associated buildings on the understanding they
defaced the tower, cloister, choir and church within four months and pull down
the lot within three years.[8] The
land was sold cheaply for £68 in 1545 to the Master of St Mary’s Guild, who
turned it into a private house and garden. The only buildings to survive were
the dormitory on the west range and a house known as ‘Bishop’s Lodging’ in the
south-west corner. The city took over the management of the friaries’ water
supply forming the Lichfield Conduit Lands Trust. In 1920, 11 acres of the
Friary estate were bought by Richard Ashmole Cooper, who gave it to the city to
develop housing and lay out a new road across the site. The former school and
library on the south side of the road almost certainly includes fabric from the
cloistral ranges.
Drawing of
surviving buildings known as The Friary,[9]
AI rendition of a 1638 Map of the Friary site.[10]
Bassett
believed the Friary site interrupted an important through-route along Bore
Street which was diverted along one end of ‘Friars Alley’ before returning to
its original line.[11] The
church lay along this important route and it was suggested this originally
straight route was the high-street of the town.
AI gen view of the church and adjacent cloister with Franciscan monks or Grey Friers.
In 2016, an excavation found a
boundary wall with a ditch. From this much 13th and 14th-century pottery sherds
were found, as well as two fragmentary shoes. Excavations at the site also
recovered large quantities of ornamental floor tiles and two metal gaming counters
with a 14th-century date. A portion of the north nave wall still stands to a
height of c. 0.8 metres. A doorway could be original and would have allowed
access to the nave from Friars Alley. It would allow public access to the
church nave, but avoid entrance to the rest of the friary precinct. The church
site has still to be examined archaeologically in a systematic way.
AI rendition of a 1782 drawing of the remains of the Friary
buildings viewed from the southeast.
Another AI rendition of an early drawing
A 1934 drawing of the possible layout on the Friary Road
site. It shows a large cloister on the side of the choir. There appears to be
no great tower. There is an opinion that the 1930s archaeological examination
was imperfect.
[1]
Some accounts have 1229. There is no certainty Bishop Stavensby gave the land
for a friary, see G C Baugh et al, 'Friaries: The Franciscan friars of
Lichfield', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3, ed. M
W Greenslade and R B Pugh (London, 1970), 268-270.
[2]
T. Harwood, The history and antiquities of
the church and city of Lichfield.
(London: 1806), 481 was of the opinion it had a fine Gothic appearance, with
massive gates, thick walls, and windows of coloured glass. Three fields or
pastures on the west part of the Lodging were commonly called the Barr Plecke,
the Colyers Plecke, and the Orchard. A watercourse ran from a place called Poole-furlong(e)
to the Crucifix (water outlet) in Lichfield Streete. The water pipes and outlet
still exists, though rebuilt. Poole furlong could be at Aldershawe or more
likely along the Trunkfield brook. Another source of water mentioned was
Fowlewell, near Aldershawe.
[3]
H. Wharton, Anglia Sacra, Volume 1. (London: 1691), stated ‘the city of
Lichfield and the entire house of the Friars Minor were burned’. Harwood
(1806), see note 2, wrote most of the town was destroyed, but not the church.
Bassett (1980), 105, note 18, indicated that Harwood could have been correct.
The church was some distance from the rest of the town.
[4]
They were later called Grey-Friars, from their habit, which, in imitation of
their founder, was a long grey coat down to their heels with a cowl or hood and
a cord or rope about their loins, instead of a girdle. The friar’s cowl was in
the shape of a bag, narrowing towards the end. It was fastened to the upper
part of the coat behind and was hung ready to cover the head, or to fill with
provisions, or with whatever they might receive in their supplications from
house to house. Harwood (1806), 481 see note 2.
[5]
A. R. Martin, Franciscan architecture in England, (Manchester: 1937),
29.
[7] Letters and Papers Henry VIII Volume 13, part 2
August 1538 section 6-10. By the time of the Dissolution of the religious
orders in the 1530s approximately 189 friaries had been founded for a number of
different groups of friars, each with their individual missions.
[8]
C. Upton, A history of Lichfield, (Stroud: 2001), 42.
[9]
H. Snowden Ward, Lichfield and its cathedral: A brief history and guide. (Bradford:
1893), 18.
[10]
J. Hill map from plate 7 in Harwood (1806), 480, see note 2.
[11]
S. R. Bassett, ‘Medieval Lichfield: A topographical review’. Staffordshire
Archaeological and Historical Society Transactions, (1980), 22, 104.
