Lovely Lichfield

This charming Staffordshire city is one of Neil McAllister’s favourite places to visit . . .

IF I had to make a list of Britain’s prettiest places, Lichfield’s Cathedral Close would be near the top. We first visited a couple of decades ago whilst exploring Staffordshire’s delights for the “Friend” so, with an empty page in our diary and sunshine guaranteed, we set off to explore this splendid city.

We only live half a county away, so our early arrival meant we could park for free a short walk from the Cathedral Close.

To our untrained eyes, the attractive array of buildings show no signs of their Civil War battering. Back then, the cathedral authorities supported the King and itssiege left the close and cathedral severely damaged.

Divine intervention was suggested when Robert Greville, the roundhead leading the assault, was killed by a deflected shot – on St Chad’s Day.

When St Chad became Bishop of Mercia in 669 he moved to Lichfield and the church built to protect his bones grew to become the cathedral.

The spot became a pilgrimage site, leaving a unique literary legacy – the Lichfield Gospels.

This ancient illuminated text is just one historic marvel on display in the Chapter House, whose beautiful vaulted roof isn’t quite as solid as it seems. In 2016 a £2 million appeal was started to stabilise the ceiling.

Other Chapter House cabinets hold a few fragments of the county’s famous gold hoard, discovered nearby in 2009, and a unique broken stone panel depicting an angel, which itself was unearthed a few years earlier.

Work on the new altar revealed three sculpted stone fragments decorated with an angel – possibly part of St Chad’s shrine chest.