Surely Chad's grave should be marked!

             An archaeological dig in 2003 at the east end of the cathedral nave,[1] prior to installing a rise and fall platform,[2] revealed a western end of a shrine tower and within it a grave; see the post ‘Two churches in 672 and a shrine’. The grave was empty of human remains. Rodwell published the outcome of the dig for the cathedral library and later in a magazine.[3]

Reconstructed diagram of the shrine tower and sunken chamber showing how it was offset to the north.

Photograph of the sunken chamber

     The sunken chamber was to the north of the mid-line of the current cathedral and 3.5 m from the inside base of the second column of the nave. It was approximately 2 m square, with the edge at the east end not well defined. The east end had a tongue of natural clay and it was thought there might have been steps into the chamber. The north, west and south sides of the chamber were clean-cut and vertical giving a depth of around 800 mm. This depth of grave might have been greater originally, but shallow graves were usual for this time. The size of the chamber suggested it had been lined, but there was no residue of timber and no presence of stone. Possible alternatives to a hypogeum or small burial crypt were considered, such as a baptistry.[4] A squarish grave was not thought to be unusual, especially if it was a crypt-shaped chamber like that at Repton.

Evidence the sunken chamber was a grave/crypt for Chad.  

·         Within and close to the chamber were three pieces of sculptured stone now known as the Lichfield Angel, see the post ‘St Chad’s shrine-chest.’ 

This left end of a shrine-chest has been widely considered to be placed over the grave and probably succeeded the ‘wooden house’ described by Bede; see the post ‘St Chad’s shrine chest’. The suggestion the Angel stone dates from King Offa’s reign would fit the notion the wooden house lasted 50–70 years before replacement. It would support the view of Offa having a respected saint buried in his ecclesiastical centre; a major centre for early pilgrimage. The head of the archangel Gabriel has a resemblance to the head of Offa on some of his coins. The tunic of the angel fits with the Romanesque fashion of Charlemagne’s time and Offa would have taken note.

The left end of the shrine chest over Chad’s grave.  

Offa’s head on his coins 

  

·         The sunken chamber was not cut by later graves. Indeed, around the grave were found many high-status graves contained in stone cists.[5] It would be plausible that the position of Chad’s grave was always known and priests would have wanted burial close-by. For example, the will of William Berford, who died in 1450, wished to be buried near his uncle Dean Thomas Stretton and near the tomb of St Chad. Rodwell noted broken fragments of incised floor slabs with indents of Purbeck marble and bluestone to show the high status of burials. This was a special grave site.    

·         A socketed sandstone block was found next to the sunken chamber and could have been the base to a standing cross.[6] Alternatively, it could have supported an eternal flame from an oil lamp; this has been noted elsewhere with saintly burials.     

·         The sunken chamber was offset to the north inside the shrine tower. This has a resemblance to the tomb of Christ in the cave preserved in Constantine’s church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. 

Adomnan’s 7th-century drawing of the church of the Holy Sepulchre  

 

 ·       The sunken chamber had been infilled with soil and rubble and a tiled floor laid across. On top was a board, possibly a coffin lid, and on this was a little twisted skeleton of an aged man. He was thought to have been a pilgrim and the depth of burial suggested 15th century. Across his pelvis and legs was a tree branch around 3cm thick thought to have been his staff. By his right side of his thigh was the remains of a large round bag and around his waist was a hint of a leather belt. It is either an odd coincidence or a deliberate burial of a pilgrim on top of Chad’s grave.    

·       Rodwell thought the date for this altered sunken chamber was early 14th-century and around the time of Bishop Langton constructing a new shrine to Chad in the retroquire. The date range of the tiles was 14th to 16th-century. This does not preclude the possibility the relics had been removed at an earlier time, but it does link in a way between the grave site and the medieval shrine.     

·         Perhaps the most persuasive feature was the grave inside a shrine tower. A tall building 7 m x ?7 m externally[7] and 5 m x 5 m internally. About two thirds of the western end of the tower was determined and being unable to complete the unearthing of the whole tower has led to speculation. Was the chamber longer and did it attach to a church? Shrine chapels associated with the cult of relics in Ireland were less than 12 metres squared.[8] The linkage in the life of Chad with Ireland might be apposite. Carver has summarised these buildings as tall, narrow, megalithic-like construction, steeply pitched roof of either stone slabs or oak shingles and rarely larger than 6 m x 4 m internally.[9] A single grave inside a shrine tower, probably early-8th century (by comparison with shrine chapels elsewhere), must be a mark for a special burial.[10]   

·         This sunken chamber is positioned in the centre of the current cathedral. If the early settlement had a boundary or vallum more-or-less where the current perimeter of the Cathedral Close lies (and the 15th-century moat), then it is close to the middle of the settlement. If the layout of the 7th-century church was a series of rings as seen in Irish-Celtic monasteries and thought to be at Iona, (see the post ‘Early Lichfield set out like Jerusalem’) then it is central. Bishop Wilfrid was an initiator and developer of the early church at Lichfield and his buildings were based on his understanding from pilgrimages to Rome. The layout of the early minster would be planned and numinous.

 Nave excavation showing mid-line of the cathedral (yellow), outline of the shrine tower (blue) and outline of the square, sunken chamber (red).

  

Rodwell[11] in 2006 wrote, “We now have fair reason to believe we have found the secondary burial place (that is after translation)[12] and shrine of St Chad. No one has disputed this conclusion.

 

Nave platform showing the position of the middle of the sunken chamber.

Surprisingly, the location of the grave has not been marked or noted in the cathedral. Visitors on a guided tour sometimes remark on this absence. Instead, pilgrims have finished their journey with prayers at the shrine at the east end of the cathedral. It would be significant to have a portable shrine, or eternal candle, above the site of the grave; clergy please note.

[1] An octagonal hole 7 m across.

[2] A four-lobed shaped area of floor, 38 m², can be raised 300 mm in two stages to form a platform for the altar table to be higher and seen from the end of the nave. The eight-tonne floor uses six electrically operated, precision, screw jacks, not hydraulics. The perimeter stone is 170 mm thick, but the inner stone is only 20 mm thick. Manchester Cathedral copied the mechanism.

[3] W. Rodwell, Archaeological excavation in the nave of Lichfield Cathedral. Lichfield, Unpub. report in Lichfield Cathedral Library. (2003). Also W. Rodwell, Revealing the history of the Cathedral. 4. Archaeology of the Nave Sanctuary. 67th Annual Report to the Friends of Lichfield Cathedral held in Lichfield Cathedral Library. (2004). Also W. Rodwell, ‘The forgotten cathedral.’ Current Archaeology, (2006), 18, 1 (205), 9–17.

[4] No lead was found.

[5] Around half of the 22 graves found were 13th to 15th-century. The youngest grave was 1810.

[6] Rodwell conjectured it was one of four uprights with a canopy on top, but this is very speculative. Finding one post-hole cannot justify claiming a canopy needing several supporting columns.

[7] The east end was not determined. The dimensions are deductions since the foundation walls varied in thickness due to weathering and age. The shape and size does accord with known shrine towers.

[8] T. Ó Carragáin, Churches in early medieval Ireland, (New Haven and London: 2010), 66.

[9] M. Carver, Formative Britain. An archaeology of Britain, fifth to eleventh century A.D. (London and New York, 2019), 569. Carver cites Iona (beneath St Columba’s House), Tighlagheany (Co. Galway), Teach Molaise (on Inishmurray) and St Columb’s (Co Meath) as examples, p. 570.

[10] The grave of Offa, an exceptional king, cannot be ruled out, especially if the second cathedral was his and this was the west end of his cathedral. His burial being like Pepin the Short buried, 768, outside the west end of his basilical cathedral of St Denis, Paris. That would mean the ‘Lichfield Angel’ shrine chest belonged to Offa. This all presupposes the second cathedral was built by Offa.

[11] See note 3, Rodwell (2006), 13

[12] Bede is clear the ‘constructa’ or wooden house was ‘ibidem’ on the same spot as the grave. Some Latinists of Bede have mis-translated this description. His relics would not have been taken into St Peter’s church, unless the church had side chambers and Chad was a minor saint.