The history of the cathedral has pointers which with extrapolation can give meaningful conjectures. Pursuing these bits of evidence might in the future direct understanding. Here are three.
1.
The earliest churches
were built on St Michael’s hill.
Diuma, the first Bishop of Mercia
died in c. 658 and the next bishop, Coellach, lasted a few months before
being removed by King Wulfhere. The next two bishops were more favourable to
the Mercian people and it is presumed they now had a church within the
Lichfield (Licetfelda) area, but where?
Savage
posed the question, ‘Why did Jaruman (this should be Trumhere the third Bishop
of Mercia) build his church in Lichfield’ and then speculated the location as
being on St Michael’s hill.[2]
He cited a copy of an anonymous manuscript held in the cathedral archive (its
provenance is unclear) called, ‘History of the church of Lichfield’ and dated
1575.[3]
This told the legend of Romans (Savage stated it could have been the heathen
Angles) slaying a thousand Christians and burying them in what is now St
Michael’s churchyard. The cemetery was said to have been consecrated by
Augustine, ‘The Apostle of the English’. Savage added it was ‘the tribal
burying ground of the Mercians’. Evidence of an Anglo-Saxon crouched burial was
revealed when excavations were made for a new vestry for the church in 1978,
suggesting an earlier history to the site. Gould and Gould[4]
wrote cautiously, perhaps it had early medieval origins. This tentatively points
to a Roman/Anglo-Saxon cemetery and presumably a church on the wooded hill and
fits with the idea of the first churches being constructed of timber and on
high, prominent ground.[5]
If true, why did the church for Chad
move across the marshy, wooded area, now Lichfield town centre, to the hillock
on which now stands the cathedral? Two reasons are presented; firstly, it was
nearer the stream or river for baptism and sanitation and secondly, it was on a
flat Mercian sandstone outcrop lined east to west in which stone was readily
available. Also, nearby clay from the stream bank could be used to mix with the
clay, dry in the sun, and construct walls. It might also be that King Wulfhere
and Bishop Wilfrid knew this site was spiritually untainted, unlike the
Anglo-Saxon pagan burial ground.[6]
It was superior topographically and spiritually.
2.
The first church said to
be built in the year 700 was instead the shrine tower around Chad’s grave. It
was a misunderstanding.
It has been a long-standing myth
that the first church was built by Bishop Headda around the year 700. This
ignores Stephen of Ripon’s statement and Bede’s assertion of a church for St
Chad when he arrived in 669.[7]
Yet, there is an authoritative statement, “The first church definitely known to
have stood on the site of the present cathedral was that built by
Bishop Headda and consecrated in December 700.”[8] This
unambiguous statement given in the Victoria County History, 1970, without a reference
somehow has prevailed? It appears to be premised on Bede stating he was buried
near the church of St Mary and the belief from the 13th century that his burial
was near the ‘monastery’ or ‘House of St Chad’ 700 m north-east of the
cathedral by the east end of Stowe pool at a place called Stowe.[9] The
website of St Chad’s church states there was a Christian community on this site
in the 7th century. All this comes from a narrative of Lastingham monastery,
Yorkshire, where Chad was the abbot before being Bishop of Mercia. From this it
was taken the first cathedral came later than Chad and was built in the time of
Bishop Headda’s episcopate.
Headda
holding the first cathedral; it looks like Escomb Church, Durham. The statue is
on the sedilia on the side facing the north sanctuary aisle.
This logic was recorded in the 14th century from a text that
is wholly unreliable. The text was in the Chronicon Lichfeldense, since
lost, but copied in Warton’s, Anglia Sacra – see note 3.[10]
The discovery of Chad’s grave at the
east end of the nave in 2003[11] now
completely contradicts this medieval story. Chad was not buried at Stowe.
Nave
excavation 2003 showing the position of Chad’s grave. The grave is marked in
red, a foundation to a shrine tower in blue and the midline of the cathedral in
yellow.
So why did medieval writers believe there was a first church
on the cathedral site, but 30 years later than Chad? The conjecture is they saw
the foundation of the shrine tower when retrieving Chad’s relics around the
time of building the current cathedral, early 13th century. They noted the
foundation, but did not notice the grave. They presumed the foundation was the
first cathedral. Its wall size, around 1 m thick, indicated a date of around
the beginning of the 8th century. Maybe they saw this foundation earlier since
a King Edgar silver penny was found in a pit during the 2003 excavation and was
dated to the 10th century.
King Edgar silver penny. Obverse has +EADGAR RE around
a small cross pattée within an inner circle. Reverse has INGEL-RI for the
moneyer Ingelrics based at Derby. He minted coins showing a rosette and with MO
in the field which means money, coin or die and is a feature of Mercian mints.
Little is known on this moneyer which makes it unusual. Thanks to Dane Kurth of
wildwinds.com.
The two records of Stephen of Ripon’s biography of Bishop
Wilfrid and Bede’s history book are relatively clear the first church was built
around 667‑9 when Bishop Wilfrid joined King Wulfhere to provide a
site for the new ecclesiastical centre of the kingdom of Mercia, but medieval
writers chose to ignore this and later writers never questioned the notion.
3.
The second cathedral
would have had a tower for keeping treasure and had sections to separate
worshippers, king and clergy.
The massive foundation for the second cathedral was revealed
in 1854 under the choir and presbytery floor.[12]
It has been argued with some evidence it is Anglo-Saxon and is best seen as
being built by King Offa for his archbishopric, but until it is carbon-dated
this remains speculative.[13]
Plan of the second
cathedral and abutting rectangular chamber superimposed on the plan for the
current cathedral.
If it
was the east end of Offa’s basilical cathedral, what would the rest of this
cathedral, particularly the west front, look like? There are few cathedral
foundations existing for the late 8th century to give guidance. It has been
argued the church close in time and structure was at Brixworth, Northamptonshire.[14]
The west end of this church has undergone much change, but some detail is known,
so if it is used as a model, remembering Offa attended both churches, then it
is reasonable to guess what the second cathedral looked like.
Imagined
Offa’s second cathedral using Brixworth as a guide.
Externally,
might the second cathedral have looked like this? 
Or this? Chad’s shrine tower would stand alone away from the west end,
One
reason for having a tower was to securely hold the treasures and artefacts of
the cathedral. With Lichfield that could have included everything found in the
Staffordshire Hoard.[15]
It could also have had a secure meeting room. This was also the time churches
were sectioned internally to serve various functions. The nave could have had
procession, the king and family might have sat separated from others, perhaps
in the presbytery/choir area, and the clergy would be in the apse. The altar
could have been in the presbytery. The church is now a line from the public
entrance at the west end to the high altar and clergy at the east end. The
three arches separates the secular from the sacred areas.
[1]
Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum. J. McClure and R. Collins,
The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, (Oxford: 2008) 132.
[2]
H. E. Savage, The church heritage at Lichfield, St Chad’s Day address
1914. Unpub. Article held in the cathedral library, 3.
[3]
It is difficult to know the origin of this reference. It is said to be a copy
made by Canon Whitlock made in 1569 of a previous lost ‘Chronicle’ manuscript.
It is likely the story was taken from the ‘Book of Alan of Ashbourne, Vicar of
Lichfield’ written in the 1320s, which has been lost, but a copy was made by
Canon Thomas Chesterfield, mid-15th century and then repeated by H. Wharton, Anglia
Sacra, (London: 1691). The manuscripts are in the British Museum and
Bodleian Library, Oxford.
[4]
J. Gould and D. Gould, ‘St Michael’s churchyard, Lichfield’, Trans, South
Staffs. Archaeological and Historical Society, (1975), 16, 58‑61.
[5]
William of Malmesbury wrote, ‘Lichfield was a tiny village in the midst of a
woody district on the banks of a brook’, William of Malmesbury’s ‘De Gesta
Pontificum Anglorum’, written early in the 12th century (Hamilton 1870, 307).
[6]
See the post, ‘Reasons why Lichfield (Licitfelda) had approval.’
[7]
See the posts, ‘Wulfhere and Wilfrid, and later Bede, name Lichfield’ and ‘Wilfrid
founder of church of Mercia.’
[8]
M. W. Greenslade and R. B. Pugh, House of secular canons - Lichfield
cathedral: To the Reformation, A History of the County of Stafford: Volume
3. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1970, 140‑166.
[9]
It has been suggested the location of Stowe was more likely to be at the west
end of Stowe pool. It cannot be assumed it is where his well and 13century
church are now located.
[10]
Originally it was titled ‘The book of Alan de Assheborn, Vicar of Lichfield’
and dated in 1320s. Alan of Ashbourne wrote a tangled history full of fabled
beliefs from c.1323 until his death in 1334.
[11]
W. Rodwell, ‘Archaeological excavation in the nave of Lichfield Cathedral’, (unpublished
report held in Lichfield Cathedral Library 2003) 1–17.
[12]
See the post, ‘The incomparable apse of the second cathedral.’
[13]
See the post, ‘Why the second cathedral must be Anglo-Saxon (Englisc).’
[14]
See the post, ‘Comparison shows an Anglo-Saxon (Englisc) second cathedral.’
[15]
See the post, ‘It has to be the Lichfield Hoard.’