Civil War damage and restoration.

 Abstract.  The cathedral following three sieges was damaged so much it would been easier and cheaper to have demolished it. Much had been looted. The bishop’s palace was a ruin and much like many houses in and around the Close. Throughout the Commonwealth, 1649–60, the Close was inhabited by squatters. Charles II supported the rebuild of the cathedral and a new dean and bishop oversaw the work. In eight years, the frame of the cathedral was repaired, but much of the interior would take decades to restore.

    Lichfield Cathedral was said to be the most damaged of any cathedral in Britain. Carlisle and Durham also suffered much desecration. The damage done to the Cathedral alone was estimated at £14,000.[1] A survey of the cathedral in 1649 stated there was nothing of value. The whole fabric was exceedingly ruinated.[2] 

Damage to the cathedral by the end of 1646.

All wood, lead and iron had been stripped and taken. Browne Willis recorded 67 gravestones in the cathedral and all suffered in some way. There was not one piece of brass remaining. The middle spire had fallen, but surprisingly the west end towers and spires were intact.[3] Almost all the sculptured heads around the inside walls had either been knocked off or their noses removed.

Examples left after the restoration to show the wilful damage done to the sculptured heads.

 A survey in 1649 revealed extensive damage to property on the north side of the Close. At least 13 out of 34 houses in the Close were destroyed. The Bishop’s Palace was totally lost and completely looted. The deanery and library were ruined. Little remained of two canonical houses. Lead, iron and timber had been taken. The west gate and south gatehouse were badly damaged. Most of Beacon Street (over 50 houses)  and part of Dam Street was destroyed. They would have been timber framed, with wattle-and-daub walls and a thatched roof. The steeple of St Mary’s church was damaged together with the market cross. The chapel of St John’s hospital was badly damaged.

Three days after the surrender of the Close instructions were given to Sir William Brereton to demolish the walls around the close.[4] Walls and towers were reduced in height or removed completely and the heavily damaged gates with portcullis dismantled. The two gateways were allowed to remain. 

Remains of north-east tower after slighting.

      

South-east tower foundation.

In 1648, an order was passed in Parliament to sequester all the houses, rents, revenues, books, deeds and records belonging to the Dean and priests. Also, all money, pensions and revenues. A similar confiscation occurred at other churches in the diocese. In 1651, a proposal in Parliament was considered to demolish all the cathedrals and dispose of remnants for the use of the poor, but it was not passed. However, a troop of Parliamentarian soldiers arrived to strip off remaining lead from the roof. The twelve broken bells were taken away and sold. One was known as the ‘Jesus Bell’ and had been given by Dean Thomas Heywood in 1477. Why the demolition was ignored is unclear, perhaps the cost could not be met. The bishop’s palace at Eccleshall Castle had been given to Brereton.

A 1660 survey showed the Close was occupied by 111 or 112 squatters. Two squatters had set up a tobacco pipe making business. Six alehouses had appeared in the ruins of the Close.[5] A large number of widows and single women were recorded inhabiting the Close. Considerable looting from the remains of houses continued.

Throughout the Commonwealth, 1649–60, the cathedral and Close lay in ruins; the cathedral was described as a shell. Any worship, conforming to puritan rites, could only be held in the Chapter House. There were no stipends for clergy and many were dependent on charity.

Roundel in the presbytery floor showing a procession. It is said to represent the worship within the Chapter House at the beginning of the restoration.

Preparatory drawing of the roundel. 

     Soon after restoration of the king, Elias Ashmole told Charles II of the parlous state of the cathedral, June 1660. At this time an altar was set up in the Chapter House and regular worship began again. The arrival of Dean Paul in April 1661 marked the start of restoration of the cathedral and Close. When John Hacket, aged 69, was appointed bishop, two applicants having been turned down, a new determination to complete the restoration occurred. The authority of bishops was restored in 1662; and when Hacket arrived in the August there is a story (unverified) of him immediately starting to clear up. He raised £8000 from donors, and personally gave £3,500. The king allowed 100 or 200 tall trees[6] from his Royal Forest of Needwood to be felled for scaffolding and his brother gave money for a new west window. Christopher Wren was consulted and he possibly advised his friend Hacket in some ways (but the extent of his help is unknown) 

Hacket's reredos drawn by Wyatt. Reredos design has been attributed to Wren, but Dean Savage stated this was fiction. Remains of the woodwork were in the sacristy in 1813..

[7] In eight years, the cathedral was repaired; an impressive undertaking that must have used numerous masons and labourers.[8] The speed of rebuilding argues the masons were still familiar with medieval ways of construction.The Bishop led the re-consecration on December 24 1669. Hacket died the following year; it is said he died shortly after hearing the first ringing of a new bell. He gave six new bells in 1670s, which were then recast in 1688 with a peel of ten bells.

Bishop John Hacket the founder of a new cathedral.

Christopher Wren

Hacket window (1901) showing John Hacket at the table planning the restoration of the cathedral. The figure to his right is the Duke of York who gave money to restore the windows. Note the loss of the central spire, the lack of sculptures on the west front and the tall scaffolding.

 

A new bishop’s palace was built in 1687 and deanery in 1707. Ten new bells were ready by 1691. A statue of Charles II was placed high on the west front, but later replaced with that of Christ. Statues were once again added to the front[9], but the figures and appearance can only have been restored from memory. Around 1760, the cathedral library and an adjoining house were demolished, the ground of the cemetery was at the same time levelled and the tombstones were laid flat and some useless walls and gates were removed. The restored nave roof proved heavy and in 1788-1792 was replaced with a lighter weight wood and plaster roof covered in slate not lead.[10] In April 1800, the West Gate was pulled down to widen the road into the Close. Presbyterians were removed from the Corporation and Dissenters had difficulties worshipping in their way. The number of Catholics in the town increased and up to 1829 and Catholic Emancipation were dissidents. Many workers moved into the town from neighbouring rural areas and gradually the restored Cathedral and town began to prosper again. This time, however, the glory was not so much in its buildings, but in its residents. The revival came with local writers, poets, actors, scientists and clergy. The Age of Enlightenment was unfolding at Lichfield.

 

Lichfield’s 1950 coat of arms showing Chad with a Guild Master. Salve Magma Parens (Hail Great Mother) is Samuel Johnson’s exclamation for Lichfield. Lichfield shaped by priests, pilgrims, philosophers, privateers and Saint Chad.

 

The frontage of the bishop’s palace is 240 feet, the deanery is 120 feet and the frontage of the Canon’s house next door is 60 feet. This ranking post-Civil War rebuild is thought to resemble the pre-Civil War order. [11]

The Civil War in Staffordshire.

Appleby[12] has described the misery of people following the wars in Staffordshire. Between 1639 and 1652 hundreds of men left the County to fight in Ireland and Scotland as well as England. Well over half a million men, women and children are thought to have died in the wars. Afterwards, many families in Staffordshire depended on charity and war relief and this increasingly dwindled for maimed soldiers and war widows. This continued for decades and was particularly harsh for Royalist supporters who were still being called ‘enemies’ in the 1680s. Quarter session records also show widespread fraud involving pensioners and claims for relief funding.

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[1] A. B. Clifton, The Cathedral Church of Lichfield. (London: 1900) George Bell and Sons.

[2] H. Clayton, Loyal and Ancient City. (Lichfield, self-published: 1987), 136.

[3] W. Rodwell, ‘Lichfield’s Cathedral west front’. (2008) 36–44, deposited in Cathedral archive. This cannot be reconciled with J. Britton, The history and antiquities of the See and cathedral church of Lichfield. (London: 1820) who claimed the front two spires were nearly demolished.

[4] Alongside the battlements of Eccleshall, Tutbury and Dudley.

[5] Brewhouses and malthouses also appeared in the ruins of Winchester Cathedral.

[6] Accounts vary. S. Shaw, The history and antiquities of Staffordshire, Vol. 1. (London: 1798), said a liberal donation of timber.

[7] He is said to have helped with the architecture for the new spire, but there is no evidence. There is a statue to Christopher Wren on the east end, so the Victorians believed he played some part. Wren has been blamed for filling in the bay arches in the choir to avoid cold draughts.

[8] C. Bodington, Lichfield Cathedral. (London: 1899) said the restoration proceeded with incredible expedition. For a full account of the damage and restoration see T. Cocke, 'Ruin and Restoration: Lichfield Cathedral in the Seventeenth Century', In J. Maddison, ed. XIII Medieval archaeology and architecture at Lichfield. Leeds: The British Archaeological Association, (1993), 109-114.

[9] The statues on the west front were supposedly restored, 1820–22, using Roman cement, but that gave them a grey appearance and not in keeping with the dark sandstone of the cathedral. The current statues were restored by Gilbert Scott from 1850s.

[10] The work of James Wyatt. At this time, he also blanked off more bays in the presbytery with plaster.

[11] J. Britton, The history and antiquities of the See and Cathedral Church of Lichfield. (London: 1820), 25, stated, “the bishop's dwelling stands in the eastern corner of the north side (of the Close), and contains in length three hundred and twenty feet, and in breadth one hundred and sixty feet. The dean's habitation, adjoining the bishop's, contains half the dimensions of the former in length and breadth. The dwellings of the canons, built round the monastery, each contain half the dimensions of that of the dean.”

[12] D. J. Appleby, ‘Members of one another’s miseries: The culture and politics of war relief in seventeenth-century Staffordshire’, in Collections for a history of Staffordshire, fourth series. Staffordshire Record Society. (2022), 175–190.