Victorian recovery

Summary. After the damaging Civil War, the frame of the cathedral was restored, but the interior remained in a poor state for nearly two centuries. G. Gibert Scott and others from the 1850s comprehensively repaired the whole cathedral. The dark, isolated choir-presbytery was replaced with an open interior. Larger windows, underfloor heating, new statues, a new library, a high altar with reredos were added together with many more reparations. The cathedral is essentially a Victorian Revival building appropriate for high Anglican liturgy.

     In the late-18th and early 19th centuries cathedrals were in an uncertain, precarious state (J. Morris, A People’s church. A History of the Church of England. (London: 2022), 140). They were poorly lit, cold and usually closed during the day; they were not valued. Yet they were wealthy especially with the landed estates around the church owned by priests. Some thought priests seemed privileged, remote and of little relevance to the Church at large. It needed The Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues Act of 1840 to carry out an extensive overhaul of cathedral organisation and finances. One consequence was now a dean and four residential canons constituted a reduced Chapter. Funds were diverted, dioceses revised and extensive restoration undertaken.   

    By the late-18th to early 19th-century Lichfield Cathedral was in a moribund state. Reformation had stripped its wealth and the Civil War had wrecked it. Despite this Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited the cathedral in 1843. In the 1851 religious census the cathedral had 395 seats for worshippers and an average of 200 attended the morning service and 210 in the afternoon. This was less than half of the attendance at St Mary's church in the Market square. By 1850s, many cathedrals began to make a comeback. Worship was made open to all, music improved and preaching enhanced with the opening of the Theological College in 1857. Visitors were now welcomed. Canon G. H. Curteis preached a sermon in February 1860 on Cathedral Restoration and claimed the cathedral was again a place where pilgrimage occurred. He said every modern appliance and the highest modern skill was being used to restore the cathedral’s ancient beauty.

    Between 1856 and 1894 extensive restoration of the cathedral was undertaken, initiated by Canon John Hutchinson, agreed by Deans Henry Howard and Edward Bickersteth and overseen by G. Gilbert Scott, his son J. Oldrid Scott and grandson Giles. The many changes were recorded by Canon John Lonsdale.[1] He wrote in 1895 the cathedral had gone through a complete revolution so that the building would hardly be recognised from that which stood forty years previously.

Before 1856, almost the whole interior, floor to ceiling, was covered in ‘uniform, dead, yellowish whitewash many coats thick’.[2] In 1666 and1691, contracts were given to re-whitewash the whole of the interior walls; this being easier than removing the original layer. For two centuries the appearance of the inside of the cathedral had remained little changed[3] from the Parliamentary army despoliation and the subsequent minimal internal restoration.[4] There was very little in the transepts and, apart from the font up a corner, nothing in the nave. Both were little used. Services were held in the isolated choir; a dark, cold church within the outer cathedral. The choir aisles were unlit and never used. A heating flue passed down the middle of the choir, but it rarely worked. Any parishioner in the nave could hear the worship, but not see it. In the 1851 census of churches the cathedral recorded it had 395 seats. Considerable stonework was in need of urgent repair, much was in a shoddy state.

 

Plan of the cathedral, 1820.[5]

View of Choir, 1820, Note the lack of statues and wall decoration. When the plaster was removed cinque-foil decoration was revealed.

 

View of Lady Chapel, being used as the chancel, 1820. Note the absence of statues in the niches.

             From 1856, around 20-30 workmen laboriously chiselled off the whitewash (at Wells cathedral it was called the Great Scrape), removed considerable underlying plaster and began to repair much of the stonework. Brick flues carrying hot air were built under the whole floor. During this work historic foundations of the first two cathedrals were found and then surveyed and analysed. Old tilework was discovered. New floors were laid. Woodwork was replaced. Almost all the windows were altered and new glass installed. Some windows had brick infill removed. New statues[6] were added both internally and on the west front and east end. After scraping the choir vaulted roof, bands of red, blue and green paint were uncovered. A minimal amount of new paintwork was added. A larger, modern organ was installed. A metal screen, designed by Scott, between the choir and crossing was much discussed and finally manufactured by Francis Skidmore of Coventry. Skidmore was asked, 1860, to make two large brass standards holding gas lights for the end of the choir and six more brass standards for the choir. This was the first introduction, completed 1862, of gas lighting into the cathedral. 

The choir in 1858. All furnishings have been removed. The scaffolding was for placing new statues on the walls.

    

The possibility of making the entire nave roof out of stone was considered, but difficulties prevented this happening. A new reredos was added to the end of the choir and before Chad’s shrine with most of the work done by John Birnie Philip.

Drawing by G. G. Scott of proposed reredos for the high altar.

 It has statues made from alabaster obtained near Tutbury. They are not shown in the proposed drawing. The section behind the altar table was given red marble from Newhaven, Derbyshire. Inlay included red jasper, blue john and malachite green stone. The tiles, designed by Scott, were given by Minton of Stoke and the inserted roundels were innovative.[7] Woodwork, including the bishop’s cathedra, was executed by William Evans[8] of Ellastone.[9]  A new pulpit in the nave was made by Skidmore. Iron grilles at the end of the choir aisles were made by Atterton of Lichfield. The eagle lectern was by John Hardman. All this was a celebration of Midland’s craftsmanship. A new font designed by William Slater and executed by James Forsyth was placed in the north transept. The sedilia canopies by the current reredos were formed from stonework obtained from the early screen and reredos of the cathedral with some repair necessary. 

The choir in 1860. Wyatt’s marble paved floor is being replaced by Minton tiles. The mobile scaffold was used to remove the limewash from the ceiling and walls.

Substantial repair to the Chapter House roof was needed. Many of the stone heads inside were refurbished. The altar platform, or dais, at the east end was removed. Restoration of the consistory court revealed early stonework which baffled Scott and has since been the object for fanciful speculation. The current library was constructed in the treasury room above the Chapter House and an adjacent chapel and its contents sorted. The south transept monuments in remembrance to fallen soldiers were reordered and a metal grille separating the chapel was installed. Bishop Selwyn’s monument on the south side of the Lady Chapel was completed by 1892. 

Early photograph of Selwyn’s monument

A new reredos in the Lady Chapel was made at Oberammergau and accepted to show Tyrolean figures (see the post Lady Chapel reredos). The stonework of the Lady Chapel windows was comprehensively repaired together with rebuilding buttresses and southside chambers. This was repeated with the Chapter House windows. Finally, the central tower and spire had to have considerable restoration. During this work it was found that stonework in the transepts needed rebuilding. Indeed, a buttress against the north transept collapsed. This is an abridged list of changes made to mostly the interior and shows the Victorian clergy and builders improved and conserved almost the whole building. The cathedral had a fundamental reconstruction.

            The notion the cathedral was returned to how it more-or-less looked in the Middle Ages has been a common abstraction, but is more aspirational than achieved. The wonder is that from the ashes of the Civil War a beautiful (Victorian) church has been recovered. According to Cobb[10] the recovery from 1856–1908 cost £98,000.

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[1] J. G. Lonsdale, ‘Recollections of the work done and in upon Lichfield Cathedral, 1856–1894’. (Lichfield: 1895), 1–38.

[2] Ibid, 7.

[3]  The architects James Wyatt, 1788-95, and Sydney Smirke, 1842-46, made small changes and some restoration, but arguably kept the cathedral as it was post-Civil war. 

[4] Restoration had concentrated on the frame of the cathedral, especially repairing almost every roof.

[5] J. Britton,The history and antiquities of the See and cathedral church of Lichfield. (London: 1820), 75.

[6] There were no statues in the choir before 1856, but they had been mentioned in the 18th century and used to model the current figures.

[7] Herbert Minton donated tiles to over 150 churches in the Lichfield diocese by 1858. Upon his death in 1858 he was succeeded by Colin Minton Campbell who donated the Minton tiles to the cathedral in this year.

[8] George Eliot’s uncle. Some state it was her cousin (H. Snowden Ward, Lichfield and its cathedral, (Bradford and London: 1892). It was reputed William Evans was the inspiration for Seth in her book ‘Adam Bede’.

[9] Woodwork carvings include figures of the Apostles with their emblems. On the right-hand side of the choir are: a figure of a king and a bishop with angels at the sides, then follow St Andrew with a transverse cross, St Jude with a club raised, St Philip with a cross, St Thomas with an arrow, St Bartholomew with a knife and St Simon with a saw. The carved panels at the ends represent Saul's jealousy of David, Miriam with a timbrel in her hand, Saul's daughter despising David and alternate groups of angels playing musical instruments. On the left-hand side of the choir is a figure of a bishop and a king with angels at the sides, then follow St James the Great with a pastoral staff, St Matthew with a box, St James the Less with a club, St John the Evangelist with a cup, St Peter with the keys and St Paul with a sword. The carved panels at the ends represent Jephtha's rash vow, David playing before Saul and alternate groups of angels playing musical instruments. Taken from J. B. Stone, A history of Lichfield Cathedral: from its foundation to the present time. (London: 1870), 68–9.

[10] G. Cobb, English Cathedrals the forgotten centuries. Restoration and change from 1530 to the present day. (London, 1980), 238. Cobb quoted J. E. W. Wallis and O. Hedley (Pitkin: 1974)), 24.