Timeline of posts

 There cannot be a precise chronology of the Cathedral. The timeline is an eclectic mixture of references from documents, identification of architectural styles and plausible inferences from diverse sources best fitting the historical understanding.

 To access, Click on the statement in red and the post should appear.

  An early settlement in Lichfield

·         King Penda ruled, c. 626–655, a greater Mercian kingdom.

·         7th century Lichfield and the residents.

       7th-century medicine was not all superstition, potions and spirits.

·         Bishop Diuma became the first bishop of Mercia,656–8.·       

      King Wulfhere’s place, Tomtun

·         Wulfhere and Wilfrid, and later Bede, name Lichfield.   Lichfield recasts its name. Reasons why Lichfield (Licitfelda) had approval

      Lichfield’s founding myth

       Three conjectures on the early church 

·         Chad arrived 669 and accepted as the first bishop of Lichfield. By his death in 672, there was a main church of St Peters and a secondary church of St Mary.

      Chad’s appearance and priest's dress.

      Folklore involving Chad

·         Wilfred founded a minster with a vallum or boundary. He was bishop of the Mercians c. 690–692, but having much influence until his death in 710.

·         Miracle stories recorded by Bede initiate pilgrimage. Pilgrimage became important.

·         Chad’s bones were translated at his grave and kept in a ‘wooden house’, Bede’s description. The grave and shrine was surrounded by a shrine tower, probably late-7th century or early 8th-century. Surely Chad's grave should be marked!  Chad's relics

·         St Chad’s gospels were written, 720–740 and placed on the altar table of St Peters.

·         Early Anglo-Saxon churches at Lichfield were part of the prevailing culture. The church layout at Lichfield could have had a resemblance to the church in Jerusalem.

·         Offa enlarged Mercia, gained an archbishop and had a coronation of his son. This could be connected to the second cathedral, basilical in shape and remaining as a foundation under the choir and presbytery. The foundation has Anglo-Saxon dimensions; it was not Norman.  Archbishop Hygeberht, 787-803.

·         Offa replaced the ‘wooden house’ with a shrine-chest highly sculptured with an angel.

·         874 Viking marauders probably attacked Licetfelda; little is known.

·         The St Chad Gospels were taken to Carmarthen, Wales, for safe-keeping.

·         At the same time an archive of valuables is secretly buried 4 miles away and became known as the Staffordshire Hoard.

·         c. 960 the Gospels were returned.

·         Before the millennium, or 1033, the expected ‘End Times’, a collection of relics is archived. They were kept in a chapel, probably on the south side of the choir of the second cathedral. The remains of 3 Anglo-Saxon arches in the wall are still visible.

N   There is no historical evidence for a Norman second cathedral  The incomparable apse of the second cathedral.

      12th-century Lichfield

       Building the cathedral

·         Late-11th or early 12th-century another chapel was added to the east end of the second cathedral. This could have held for a short time the relics of Chad.

·         The west end of the choir was Early English in architectural style for late-12th or early 13th-century. The base of piers dates west end of the choir.

·         Late 12th-century, or more likely around 1215, the apsidal second cathedral was extended eastwards and made rectangular. The small chapel was reduced to a foundation.

·       Dating the cathedral

        Crossing tower

        The cathedral was built in a Gothic architectural style.

        East-west alignment

       Illumination

·         c. 1220 the lower part of the central tower and south transept of the third cathedral were built.

·         At the same time the chapel on the side of the choir was altered to give a small sacristy and treasury between the chapel and the transept.

·         Chantry chapels appeared in the cathedral.

      Anchorite-priest in the cathedral?

·         c. 1237 Franciscan Friary possibly started in the town.

·         c. 1240 the north transept was built together with the vestibule off the north choir aisle.  

      Pedilavium and washing feet, 1240s.

·         1249 the chapterhouse was added.

·         c. 1240–c.1285 the nave was built. Much was overseen by Bishop Meuland.

·         A two storied building on the north side of the nave was built to house the records of the cathedral.

·         Choristers were singing around 1265. 1325 Lay-Vicars added to the choir.

        Boundaries and walls.

·         1299 Bishop Langton completed a new palace in the Close.

·         c. 1307 Bishop Langton commissioned a new shrine for Chad. Langton gave much to the cathedral.

·         c. 1310 the west front and two towers were completed. Singing windows were built into the west front.

·         By 1323 the three spires are known to have been in place according to a pilgrim’s diary.

·         1320s third cathedral was completed. It is small.

·         1315–1336 the Lady Chapel was added to the east end. Beasts in the Lady Chapel

·         1349 outbreak of plague – Black Death. Further outbreaks followed.

·         Late 14th-century changes were made to the west door with an atrium built.

·         King Richard II visited Lichfield many times, 1397–9.

·         1410 John Wycliffe translated the Latin bible. A copy is in the cathedral library.

·         1482 first mention of an organ.

·          14th or 15th century Two frescoes in the south aisle

·         16th-century the lower room of the side chapel to the choir was used as a Consistory Court. Its undercroft was sometimes used for custody.

·         1538 King’s Commissioners removed most of Chad’s shrine and other valuables. Reformation.

·         1534–1550 the new Anglican cathedral changed forms of worship. Chantry chapels and icons were removed. Much belonging to the Catholic church was removed.

·         1550s dissidents were burned in the market square. Robert Glover, 1555.

·         1643 the first siege of the cathedral by Parliamentarians in the Civil War.

·         1443 April second siege by the Royalists.

·         1646 last of three sieges by the Parliamentarians wrecked the cathedral.

·         1661–1670 the frame of the cathedral was repaired with many parts rebuilt. Statues on the west front were added. Bishop Hacket, 1661–70, oversaw the restoration.

·         1670–1854 only the isolated inner church was in use.

       Mary Wortley pioneer, c. 1718.

·         1787–92 James Wyatt altered the cathedral including the choir and pews extended into the Lady Chapel.

·         1788 most of the nave roof was replaced with a light-weight alternative.

       South Staffordshire Regiments

·         1803 Herkenrode glass, 1532–9, was added to the mullions of the Lady Chapel.

       Medieval glass.

·         1818 Chantrey’s ‘Sleeping Children’ monument was placed in the cathedral.

·         1854–1907 much of the cathedral was reordered in a Victorian Gothic style. Pilgrimage restarted. The nave was restored in 1854.

·         1861 a metal screen between the nave and choir was installed.

·         1895 a carved reredos was placed in the Lady Chapel.

·         2016–2018 three icons were painted and displayed in the nave.

·         2022 a new shrine in the retroquire was added together with a Chad relic. 

           Pilgrimage defines the cathedral

      EXTRAS

 Pre-Reformation, 13th-16th century, worship

Baptism

Christmas

Mass

Penitence

Death and Burial 

Bishops 

Bishops Conquest to Reformation

Bishops Reformation to Commonwealth

Bishops Commonwealth to Recovery

 Staffordshire Hoard

It has to be the Lichfield hoard.

Cross for a bishop

Easter Hoard Cross and Bishop Wilfrid. Hoard Gold Cross: context, use and date

Cross stem with writing.

Mystery object is a handbell.