Tuesday 19^th March 2019

We left Harvey on his own today and took the bus into Lichfiled. The bus passed through South Fradley. Although classed as a village, this is in effect a small town, built on the site of the RAF Lichfield airfield. Our 12-year-old guide doesn’t even show it. The place is huge and is still being added to.

A guy we spoke to went to school with the person who designed the place and has known him ever since. He said he has always been a prat but until we went through the village we didn’t really know what he meant. While the houses are nice the roads twist and turn as a traffic calming measure and are so narrow that two cars can barely pass each other and the bus had to swing right over onto the wrong side of the road and kept mounting the kerbs. It seemed as though the roads were designed for nothing bigger than an old Mini. It didn’t make for a comfortable ride.

There is a small arcade of shops with a Co-op, a gym, chippy and an Indian restaurant but these were only built 2 years ago. No pub. Prior to that the only shop was the small Post Office in Fradley.

The bus then passed through Fradley Park Industrial Estate. This is massive, just seemed to go on for ever with lots of warehouse distribution centres.

We had been to Lichfield once before a number of years ago but didn’t have the opportunity to explore the place. The city centre is only small but it has a lot of history and a nice feel to it. Lichfield is known for its three spired Medieval cathedral and the centre preserves its historic character with over 230 listed buildings.

The birth place of Samuel Johnson and home of many famous people including Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles, David Carrick and Anna Seward, Lichfield was described in the 18^th century as “a city of Philosophers”.

We took a roundabout route and came across St. Johns Hospital. This was founded in 1135 to accommodate pilgrims travelling to visit the relics of St. Chad which were housed in the cathedral. Today the almshouses have been added to, to form sheltered housing. The caretaker was good enough to allow us in to the chapel, a tranquil place.

                                                                                              St Johns Hospital

After walking around we came to the Cathedral Close and the Cathedral itself. A very imposing building decorated externally with many statues. I had always wondered why Lichfield became the ecclesiastical centre of ancient Mercia when Tamworth was the seat of the King. St. Chad established his Bishopric here in 669 AD, and the first Christian King of Mercia, Wulfhere, then donated land for Chad to build a monastery.     

        

The cathedral is a magnificent, awe inspiring place. A guide, Gerald, spoke to us at length when we entered and gave us a very interesting, brief history.

Although on the site of earlier places of worship, building of the present cathedral was begun in 1195. The walls of the Nave noticeably lean outwards due to the weight of stone used in the ceiling vaulting, some 200-300 tons of which were removed during renovation work to prevent the walls leaning further. The eastern end of the cathedral is out of line with the rest of the building although it is not known why. If you stand at the western end and line up the ceiling, the end wanders off to the left.

There were many artefacts including the “Lichfield Angel”, a stone sculpture that was found in 2003 buried below steps in front of the altar. It is broken into three pieces, believed to have been damaged by Vikings who sacked Lichfield in the 9^th century.

The 8^th century St. Chad Gospels are on display. These bound manuscripts contain the Gospels of Matthew and Mark and the early part of the Gospel of Luke. They are believed to date from the year 730.

The windows in the Lady Chapel contain some of the finest Medieval Flemish painted glass in existence. Dating from the 1530’s, they came from Herkenrode Abbey in Belgium.

                           

                                                                                           Cathedral Interior                                                      

                                                                                         Lady Chapel Windows

                                                                                            St Shads Gospels                                                                              

                                                                        

                                                                             Lichfield Angel

 The wooden carved statues on the high altar are particularly detailed as is the mosaic tiled floor.

The South Transept houses memorials to the Staffordshire Regiment which includes a Roll of Honour and many Regimental flags.

The cathedral was extensively damaged during the English Civil Wars when the central spire was demolished due to bombardment and all the stained glass windows smashed.

After leaving the cathedral we wandered around some more and had some lovely, naughty but nice, chips done in dripping. We called into Debenhams for some clothes shopping and then caught the bus back.  

        

Lichfield City Centre

We took Harvey for a walk along the canal and for 100 yards or so along the thundering A38 to the nearest pub, the Fradley Arms. An 18^th century coaching inn, it has been extensively renovated and is now a Premier Inn cum Hungry Horse eatery. They wouldn’t let the dog in and so we had to sit outside listening to the traffic, we had just the one pint and left.

Weather: a nice pleasant day.