Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lichfield Part 1

Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lichfield.

by A. B. Clifton.

GENERAL PREFACE

This series of monographs has been planned to supply visitors to the great English Cathedrals with accurate and well ill.u.s.trated guide-books at a popular price. The aim of each writer has been to produce a work compiled with sufficient knowledge and scholars.h.i.+p to be of value to the student of Archaeology and History, and yet not too technical in language for the use of an ordinary visitor or tourist.

To specify all the authorities which have been made use of in each case would be difficult and tedious in this place. But amongst the general sources of information which have been almost invariably found useful are:--(1) the great county histories, the value of which, especially in questions of genealogy and local records, is generally recognised; (2) the numerous papers by experts which appear from time to time in the Transactions of the Antiquarian and Archaeological Societies; (3) the important doc.u.ments made accessible in the series issued by the Master of the Rolls; (4) the well-known works of Britton and Willis on the English Cathedrals; and (5) the very excellent series of Handbooks to the Cathedrals originated by the late Mr John Murray; to which the reader may in most cases be referred for fuller detail, especially in reference to the histories of the respective sees.

GLEESON WHITE, EDWARD E. F. STRANGE, _Editors of the Series_.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

Concerning any old Cathedral the ma.s.s of information is very great, and the authorities to be consulted many; and perhaps the almost total absence--as in this case--of a doc.u.mentary history of the building of the fabric, makes for a larger bulk of pamphlets and of communications to the antiquarian journals. Whether or no theory be wiser than fact, it is certainly more voluminous. Besides the books and papers mentioned in their place, I have especially to express my indebtedness to the work on Lichfield by the Rev. William Beresford, one of the "Diocesan Histories" Series, and to the "Handbook of Lichfield Cathedral" by the late John Hewitt, the well-known antiquarian. I have also to thank Mr R. R. Redmayne of Lichfield for much valuable information, as also Mr C. Harradine, the Princ.i.p.al Verger, whose interest in and knowledge of the Cathedral are well known in Lichfield; and the Photochrom Co. Ltd., Messrs S. B. Bolas & Co., and Mr F. G. M. Beaumont, for the excellent photographs they have allowed me to reproduce.

A. B. CLIFTON.

CHAPTER I

THE HISTORY OF THE CATHEDRAL

The cathedral of Lichfield, as we now know it, was built at various times in the thirteenth century and the early part of the fourteenth; and but for some comparatively slight and obvious alterations, it is therefore entirely in the styles known as Early English and Decorated. Unhappily nearly all the early archives and doc.u.ments belonging to the cathedral are lost, having been destroyed in the time of the Civil Wars by the soldiery who sacked the place after the siege of the close by the forces of the Parliament. The absence of all doc.u.mentary evidence as to the dates of the various parts of the cathedral has been much regretted by antiquarians, since it would be hard to find a better example of the gradual change which English church architecture was undergoing during the very busy period when this cathedral must have been built. Here we have the rigid simplicity of the Early English style in the transepts, giving place in the nave to the luxury of the Early Decorated, with its geometrical tracery; while in the Lady Chapel and presbytery we find an example, in some respects unique, of the gorgeousness of the completely evolved Decorated style. To know exactly when each part was built would be to add to our knowledge of architectural chronology; but instead, we must employ what knowledge we already possess, and by a process the very converse of what we could wish to have been able to use, we can arrive at an approximate history of the structure of the cathedral.

Not so long ago Oswy had the credit of having built the cathedral, and later it was set down to Roger de Clinton. Modern criticism as easily disposes of the claims of the latter as of the former, and there can be no doubt that no part of the present cathedral is of earlier date than 1200 A.D.

Much valuable information as to the cathedral, which Clinton may have had a part in building, was obtained in 1860, when, for the alterations which were then in progress, excavations were made in the choir. The result of his investigations Professor Willis published in an article in the _Archaeological Journal_ for 1861, ent.i.tled "Memoir on the Foundations of Early Buildings recently discovered at Lichfield Cathedral," and the theory which he there set out as to the history of the cathedral has been generally accepted by antiquarians. Nothing can be more interesting than this article, but it is too full of detail for anything beyond the bare results of Professor Willis's reasoning to be given here: these are set out in their place.

Of the early Saxon church which was erected on this site practically nothing is known, but it is supposed to have been built by Bishop Hedda at the close of the seventh century, and of stone taken from Roman ruins in the neighbourhood, though there is really no evidence to support this theory. The desire to find another instance of the waste material and sites once dedicated to a pagan religion being used by the victorious Christian church may have something to do with such a legend. Nothing except tradition is left of this church, to which it is said the bones of St. Chad were removed from Stowe. Probably in the four or five hundred years which elapsed before the Norman cathedral was built, several churches succeeded one another on or about the present site: whatever happened, we know nothing.

Our real knowledge commences with the Norman cathedral. The excavations already spoken of laid bare small portions of its foundations, and from these Professor Willis decided that the Norman choir had a semi-circular apse, and extended from the central tower to about the middle of the fifth bay of the present choir; while the exterior line of its side walls nearly corresponded with the interior line of the present aisle. The Norman building probably possessed transepts, but these certainly had no aisles; the rest is conjecture, but from other Norman cathedrals and churches which are in existence we can fairly well imagine what it was like. The altar probably stood over the centre of the semi-circle of the apse, while the bishop's throne was behind it, facing west, with the canons' stalls spreading out down the choir, and the choir stalls continuing them right down under the tower into the nave: or perhaps there were no seats for the choir in those days--we do not know; but there must have been a processional path round the altar. We can imagine, too, the ma.s.sive masonry of the pillars with their heavy capitals and circular arches. To think of a Norman church is to think possibly of Peterborough; and Lichfield Cathedral, no doubt, was like that minster, but on a very much smaller scale.

There is no record as to when the Norman church was built, but Robert de Lymesey, the bishop, is said in 1088 to have used a large quant.i.ty of silver, which he took from the church at Coventry, in extensive buildings in Lichfield; and Roger de Clinton is declared to have exalted the church as well in building as in honour, so he may have erected, or helped to erect, the Norman cathedral. Nothing whatever remains above ground of this building, which was probably taken down gradually while the cathedral which now stands in its place was being erected. Before this was done, however, there was added a rectangular chapel to the east of the Norman apsidal choir, which, with it, must have extended nearly to the end of the seventh bay of the present choir. Nothing is known of it beyond the fact that the foundations were discovered and examined by Professor Willis, who decided that it was probably built late in the twelfth century, and that its existence, if it was ever finished, must have been short.

Very early in the thirteenth century the first part of the present building was begun by erecting a rectangular choir just outside the walls of the Norman choir, which must have been then removed. This new Early English choir (including the presbytery) extended from the central tower to the end of the seventh bay of the present choir. It will be found that the eastern portion of this was subsequently removed, but the western half still remains, and can readily be distinguished from the Decorated part. The high altar of this period must have stood just to the west of the s.p.a.ce between the fifth piers, thus leaving the s.p.a.ce between the fifth and sixth piers as a processional path between the two side aisles; while against the eastern wall were four altars, one at the end of each aisle and two between them. At the same time that this choir was built, was also built on the south side the sacristy, with the room adjoining it: these both remain.

The next alteration took place about 1220, and was the erection of a new south transept in place of the Norman one, which, as has been said, almost certainly had no aisle; then followed in about twenty years the north transept and the chapter-house, with its vestibule, all these buildings being in the Early English style, though the difference in their times of erection is clearly marked in their details. Two royal licences to dig Hopwas stone for "the new fabric of the church at Lichfield" in 1235 and 1238 are evidence that work was going on about this time; and the desire of Henry III. (which is more fully set out in the description of the interior of the transept) to have a roof at Windsor like that of Lichfield gives an almost doc.u.mental certainty to the architectural theory that the transepts were built at the time above stated.

No historical doc.u.ment exists that can apply to the building of the nave; but that must have come next, and have been in progress almost before the north transept could have been finished. The west front was commenced somewhere about the beginning of the last quarter of the thirteenth century, and, including the two towers which form such an important part of it, must have taken a very long time to complete. From the thorough examination made when the recent restorations were in progress, it was decided that these towers were built in three distinct stages--the lowest, which just included the row of kings, being a.s.signed to about 1280; the next stage to 1300; and the upper part, including the belfry windows, to about 1330, while the spires were not finished till some time after.

Walter de Langton became bishop in 1296, and of him it is distinctly recorded that he commenced the Lady Chapel. From an old register in the Salt Library at Stafford, it appears that Langton left 80, 13s. 3d. for the building of the chapel. He died in 1321. And, in 1323, there is another entry showing that the chapter came to some agreement with his executor by which each party should pay half the cost of finding a quarry for the stone; so that it does not appear that building operations had proceeded very far at his death. It is interesting to note, as the same source shows us, that the money left by the bishop was partly on loan to King Edward II. for the expenses of his wars with Scotland, which wars had ended so disastrously at Bannockburn. In the following reign, Edward III. was asked by the chapter to repay what was still owing of this money.

The Lady Chapel was probably erected beyond the eastern end of the church as it then stood; and while this was being done, the Early English presbytery was taken down and rebuilt in the Decorated style to match the new Lady Chapel, and the old clerestory of the choir was also rebuilt in the same style. The main idea was to obtain uniformity; but as it apparently was not proposed to take down the sacristy on the south, nor the chapter-house on the north, it was not considered necessary to pull down the choir--_i.e._ the last three western bays--any lower than the triforium; for the lower parts would be hidden by these buildings from the outside, and inside various s.h.i.+fts were resorted to to obtain uniformity. The work almost certainly grew from east to west gradually, as the clerestory of the choir end is lighter than that of the eastern or presbytery end; so that no doubt the pulling down of the old choir clerestory was only done after the building of the eastern end made it seem better to alter the rest into uniformity. With regard to the inside effect, Professor Willis says: "The front half of their pier arches (those belonging to the three western bays), however was removed and mouldings given them corresponding to those of the new presbytery. Their piers also were slightly altered, although partially concealed by the choir stalls. By these arrangements the aspect of the whole interior of the choir and presbytery was made uniform." How far this theory is sound will be seen when the alterations early in the present century are considered in their place.

Bishop Langton also erected the shrine of St. Chad at an expense of 2000. This shrine stood behind the high altar in the most eastern bay of the retro-choir, and, as was usual, had on its western side an altar dedicated to the saint. A similar arrangement can still be seen in Westminster Abbey, where the shrine of Edward the Confessor stands behind the reredos. The s.p.a.ce behind the reredos, with the corresponding bays of the aisles, were in the past called the lady choir. This portion was separated from the rest of the choir by the reredos in the centre, and by screens in a line with the reredos in the aisles; there was a chapel in the lady choir at the end of each aisle, but to whom they were dedicated is doubtful. Stukeley, writing in 1715, says: "In St. Peter's Chapel, which is now a place to lay scaffolding and ladders, etc., was painted upon the wall St. Peter crucified with his head downwards, and two other apostles, etc. And in this place is the noted St. Chad's tomb, though defaced, removed from the lady choir to be put here since the Restoration." The same writer also tells us that: "Over across the middle of the said choir was a rood loft, finely carved and gilded, and St. Chad's shrine, but destroyed in time of war."

Professor Willis has pointed out the singular parallelism between the development of this cathedral and that of York. "The Norman Cathedral of York was built in 1080, and that of Lichfield at an uncertain date. Between 1154-1181, Archbishop Roger subst.i.tuted for the original chancel at York a long, square-ended choir, with the aisle carried behind the end. At Lichfield, during the same period, the large chapel was built at the end of the Norman apse; and about the beginning of the thirteenth century the whole Norman eastern termination was, as at York, replaced by a long, square-ended choir with the low aisles behind. Next, at York the Norman transepts were rebuilt in Early English: the south transept, 1230-1241; followed by the north transept, 1241-1260. Also at Lichfield the Norman transepts were rebuilt in Early English, beginning with the south and ending with the north. The Early English work of this cathedral is shown by the licences to dig stone to have been in progress in 1235 and 1238. York nave and Lichfield were next rebuilt in Early Decorated--the first in 1291-1324. Lastly, at Lichfield, the elongation of the eastern part was begun at the extreme east, beyond the existing choir by the Lady Chapel, in late Decorated under Bishop Langton, 1296-1321, and followed by taking down the choir, and continuing the same work on its site westward. The works at York followed in the same order, but forty or fifty years later, by first erecting the presbytery outside the existing choir, and then taking down the latter and continuing the work of the presbytery to form the new choir. The plans of the two cathedrals rival each other in the simplicity of their proportions."

One other important thing which Bishop Langton did was to fortify, or at any rate to add greatly to the fortifications of the cathedral.

He surrounded the close with a high stone wall and constructed "two beautiful gates" on the west and south sides of the close. Truly, had he been able to see the result of his fortification, he might have said with the Preacher: "All is vanity and vexation of spirit"; for if there was one thing which brought down on the cathedral the extremities of hatred and violence in the Civil Wars, it was that it proved able to be held as a fortress against those who came up against it.

Bishop Langton built also the palace, which for so long, with its towers and turrets, stood in the north-east corner of the close. It must have been a magnificent building, and we know that its hall was decorated with frescoes of scenes in the recent wars. It was destroyed after the siege of the close in 1643, and Fuller, writing about that time, speaks of it as the "invisible castle now vanished out of sight."

Roger de Norburg completed the Lady Chapel and the new presbytery, and was succeeded by Robert de Stretton, who (as we discover from a doc.u.ment dated 1390, four years after his death) completed St. Chad's shrine; for that is the only meaning which can be given to the wording of the bond, that the vicar's choral should offer prayers for, amongst others, "Robert Stretton, bishop, for making St. Chadd's shrine, and for giving them 24 to continue amongst them."

There has recently been discovered among the muniments of the chapter, an indenture dated in 1345 or 1346, and made between the sacrist on the one hand, and the dean and chapter on the other, for the safe custody of the goods in the sacristy. The "goods" are too numerous for a list of them to be given, but they include "the head of Blessed Chad, in a certain painted wooden case; also an arm of Blessed Chad; also bones of the said saint in a certain portable shrine." Then follows a list of the bones and relics of a large number of saints, including part of the sepulchre of Our Lord, and part of St. Peter's cross. There were also crosses, gold, and silver, and jewelled--a large number of many kinds, all set out separately--mitres, jewels, chalices, copes, and every kind of vestment of the most gorgeous description. Bishops and kings and queens had apparently showered their wealth and valuables upon the cathedral; and with the subscriptions of the diocese, known as Chad's Pennies, and the offerings of pilgrims, the riches of the cathedral seem to have been enormous. These "goods," in many cases with their donors' names, are all set out in the roll, which, it is interesting to notice, is dated in the year of the Black Death; possibly the enormous mortality of the time may have made it seem necessary that the mere memory of man should not be depended upon when so few seemed likely to survive. To read the list is to get some notion of the magnificence of the services; and it is no wonder that pilgrims came from all parts of the diocese, and of England, to wors.h.i.+p where so many relics were collected. The mid-Sunday in Lent was originally the time, afterwards Whitsuntide, for the crowds to attend the cathedral. They were shown the head of St. Chad, probably from the little gallery in the south aisle of the choir, and then they laid their offerings at the great shrine, on which were lying the other relics of the saint.

No doubt the early part of the fifteenth century was the period when the cathedral was most glorious within and without. Fuller, in his "Church History," published in 1655, from which quotation has already been made, after giving an account of the building of the cathedral, says: "But now in the time of the aforesaid William Heyworth, the Cathedral of Litchfield was in the verticall height thereof, being (though not augmented in the essentials) beautified in the ornamentals thereof. Indeed, the West front thereof is a stately Fabrick, adorned with exquisite imagerie, which I suspect our age is so far from being able to imitate the workmans.h.i.+p that it understandeth not the Historie thereof. Surely what Charles the Fifth is said to have said of the citie of Florence, that it is a pittie it should be seen save only on Holy-dayes; as also that it was fit that so fair a Citie should have a Case and Cover for it to keep it from wind and weather, so in some sort, this Fabrick may seem to deserve a shelter to secure it. But alas! it is now in a pittiful case--indeed, almost beaten down to the ground in our civil dissensions. Now, lest the Church should follow the Castle--I mean quite vanish out of view--I have, at the cost of my worthy friend here exemplified the Portraiture thereof; and am glad to hear it to be the design of ingenious persons to preserve ancient churches in the like nature (whereof many are done in this, and more expected in the next part of Monasticon), seeing when their substance is gone, their verie shadows will be acceptable to posteritie."

In the fifteenth century a library was built outside the door of the north transept, but a little to the west; it was quite separate from the cathedral. This was one of the gifts of Dean Heywood (1457-1493). It is recorded that he gave 40 towards the building of it, but died before it was completed, and this was done by his successor, Dean Yotton, who also contributed to its erection. According to the statement in "_Anglia Sacra_" it was finished in the year 1500. It is marked in the plan of Browne Willis, 1727, and was taken down about 1750.

Some time in this century saw a change in the tracery of many of the windows. It may be that the introduction of printing was responsible for this change, and that the greater amount of light admitted by the windows of the Perpendicular style made their insertion advisable; or it may be that the tracery of windows being naturally fragile, in many cases a renewal became necessary, and the new Gothic style was naturally considered the best. Whatever the reason, the new Perpendicular tracery was inserted in many of the windows just as it was in a large number of cathedrals and churches all over England.

In reading the history of the building of this fabric, we cannot help noticing that even the great Gothic builders could not leave well alone. Then, as now, Fas.h.i.+on was the ruling power. Having a Norman church, they altered it into an Early English one; then they pulled down a good deal of this to get a more Decorated building; and finally they changed the windows in order to give the whole a Perpendicular appearance: side by side with other reasons that actuated them, they did their best to keep their cathedral in the fas.h.i.+on.

In the sixteenth century, Henry VIII., the great destroyer of religious houses, made but little difference to the fabric of this cathedral, but he laid his hands on the valuables. The shrine of St. Chad was denuded of its jewels, and everything which could be turned into money was taken away, much of it was fortunately returned for the "necessary uses" of the cathedral, but the services and ritual must have been much impaired and their beauty diminished. During that century, however, the cathedral gradually recovered, and we know that early in the next the services were again very much on the same scale of magnificence as they had been when the good bishops Patteshull and Weseham directed the diocese.

The next event in the history of the building is one which is necessarily referred to many times in this book. The siege of Lichfield Cathedral is probably the most famous incident in its long career; not only on account of the immense injury done to the fabric itself, to its monuments and its decorations, but also on account of the "miraculous intervention" on behalf of the holy building, an intervention which, viewed with nineteenth-century scepticism, does not appear to have done the cathedral any obvious good, but which at the time appears to have been treated with all the deference due to a genuine miracle.

The great Civil War began on August 22, 1642, when Charles I. set up his standard at Nottingham. At Lichfield, as everywhere else in England, there were partisans of both sides. The cathedral group was naturally for the king, while others, for one reason or another, joined either the Royal Party or the Parliamentarian. After Edgehill, which was fought in the autumn, matters became more and more serious in the Midlands; and finally, in February 1643, the Royalists at Lichfield, hearing that at any moment an outbreak might take place, garrisoned the close, which ever since the days of Walter de Langton had been strongly fortified. They hoisted the king's flag on the great steeple, and waited the result. They had not long to wait. With March Lord Brooke, one of the fiercest of anti-churchmen, arrived in command of a strong body of Roundheads, and on the 2nd the siege commenced.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CATHEDRAL FROM STOWE CHURCH.]

Lord Brooke was a fanatic, and ever fierce against cathedrals: he had, according to the diary of Archbishop Laud, two years before, as he was pa.s.sing in a boat upon the Thames, said he hoped to see St. Paul's with not one stone left upon another. It was in this spirit that he set about the siege of the cathedral, and of his fate there are many accounts. Perhaps the following, taken from Dugdale's "View of the Late Troubles in England," is as good as any:--"This lord (Lord Brooke) being strangely tainted with fanatic principles, by the influence of one of his near relations, and some schismatical preachers (though in his own nature a very civil and well-humoured man), became thereby so great a zealot against the established discipline of the Church, that no less than the utter extirpation of Episcopacy, and abolis.h.i.+ng all decent order in the service of G.o.d, would satisfy him; to which end he became leader of all the power he could raise for the destruction of the cathedral of that diocese of Coventry and Litchfield. In order whereunto, when he had marched within half a mile of Litchfield, he drew up his army, and then devoutly prayed a blessing upon his intended works; withal earnestly desiring that G.o.d would, by some special token, manifest upon them His approbation of that their design: which being done, he went on and planted his great guns against the south-east gate of the close, himself standing in a window of a little house near thereto, to direct the gunners in their supposed battery; but it so happened that, there being two persons placed in the battlement of the chiefest steeple to make shot with long fouling guns at the cannoniers, upon a sudden accident, which caused the soldiers to give a shout, this lord, coming to the door (completely harnessed with plate armour _cap-a-pie_) was suddenly shot into one of his eyes; but the strength of the bullet, so much abated by the glance thereof on a piece of timber which supported a pentiss over the door, that it only lodged in his brains, whereupon he suddenly fell down dead; nor is it less notable that this accident fell out on the second day of March, which is the festival of that sometime famous Bishop S. Chad, to whose memory Offa, King of the Mercians, first erected this stately church and devoutly dedicated it."

Tradition has always a.s.serted that the shot which killed Lord Brooke was fired by one of the sons of Sir Richard Dyott, who, with the Earl of Chesterfield, was commanding the cathedral garrison. This son was deaf and dumb, and was known as "Dumb Dyott." The gun is preserved in the family, and they are supported by other historians, disagreeing with Dugdale, in their account that the shot was no accidental one, but that Dyott, who was an accomplished marksman, recognising Lord Brooke, aimed at him and killed him.

In those days--and indeed even to the present day--it was believed that one who was afflicted with dumbness, idiocy, or any natural disease which showed G.o.d's hand, was especially His agent. Dumb Dyott was looked upon as being the agent of divine vengeance, and the fact of its being St. Chad's Day strengthened the belief. Here is an extract from a very courtly letter written a few days afterwards by a young cavalier to Lady Dyer; in it the feeling that a miracle had been performed is clearly shown. The writer says: "We have had the honour in these parts to bring my Lord Brooke to a quiet condition. That enemy of our Church (March 2) was slain in his quarrel against our Church, by the G.o.d of our Church, with a shot out of the Cathedral, by a bullet made of Church lead, through the mouth which reviled our Church; and (if this be worth your reading) this Cathedral was dedicated to the memory of an old Saxon holy man (called Ceadda, commonly Chad); the blow of death came from St. Chad's Church upon St. Chad's Day. This, being a verity, is fit for a lady of rare worth." The incident is constantly referred to in contemporary literature, where the miracles claimed on behalf of the Royalist party are worthy of a better result. One more quotation will suffice. The celebrated preacher, Dr South, in his sermon on the text, "G.o.d hath loved the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob," says: "Nor is that instance to be pa.s.sed over of a commander in the Parliamentary army, who, coming to rifle and deface the cathedral at Lichfield, solemnly, at the head of his troops, begged G.o.d to show some remarkable token of His approbation or dislike of the work they were going about. Immediately after which, he was shot in the forehead by a deaf and dumb man; and this was on St.

Chad's Day, the name of which saint that church bare, being dedicated to G.o.d in memory of the same: where we see that as he asked of G.o.d a sign, so G.o.d gave him one in the forehead, and that with such a mark as he is like to be known by all posterity."

The house in which Lord Brooke was killed is in Dam Street, at a distance, it is said, of about 185 yards from the central spire of the cathedral; the late Mr Green caused the following inscription to be put up over the doorway:--

"_March 2, 1643._--Lord Brooke, a general of the Parliament forces preparing to besiege the Close of Lichfield, then garrisoned for King Charles the First, received his death wound on the spot beneath this inscription by a shot in the forehead from Mr Dyott, a gentleman who had placed himself on the battlements of the great steeple to annoy the besiegers."

The death of Lord Brooke was kept a secret as much as possible, for fear the soldiers should indeed take it for a sign; Sir John Gell was appointed in his place, and the siege continued. Under his direction "all such townsmen that had any sons, apprentises, or other servants within the close, and likewise all citizens' wives that had their husbands there, whether magistrates or other persons whatsoever," were collected together and put in the front of the soldiers against the close, but after a while, it not appearing to make much difference, they were all sent home again. The close meanwhile had been bombarded with cannon, and finally there arrived from Coventry a new engine, called a mortar, which cast burning sh.e.l.ls. Most of these fell into the mill pool or went over the close altogether; but it is said to have caused so much fright, no one there having seen such an engine before, that the Earl of Chesterfield, knowing also that his provisions could not last another day, and that there was little likelihood of their being reinforced, decided to yield the close on the best terms he could. These included free quarter to all, and on the 5th March, after a siege of three days, the close was yielded.

The damage that had been done was terrible; not only was the whole fabric much injured, and all the stained gla.s.s destroyed, but the great steeple had been blown down and had in its fall broken in the roof of the church in several places. But even now the work of desecration was not complete. The close having been taken, the Parliamentary forces and their prisoners were all housed in and round the cathedral, and the most sacrilegious conduct is attributed to the former. The wanton soldiers pulled down the curious carved work, and battered in pieces what was left of the beautiful old stained gla.s.s; they stripped the gravestones of their bra.s.ses, and destroyed the ancient records which were stored in the cathedral. These acts of destruction were no doubt due to the religious mania of the Roundheads against any form of ceremony or beauty in the House or Service of G.o.d; but their pa.s.sion became keener when they found what rich spoils were ready to their hands. It happened during their riotous proceedings that one of the soldiers raised the covering of the tomb containing the remains of Bishop Scrope, and found in it a silver chalice and a crozier of considerable value. This discovery naturally excited the soldiers, and every tomb was at once taken to pieces and its contents scattered; it is not wonderful therefore that the tombs that remain to the present day are few in number and these terribly mutilated. The crozier was afterwards sold to Elias Ashmole, the antiquarian, who took so great an interest in Lichfield. Nor was the sacrilege confined to destruction and spoliation. Dugdale tells us that "every day they hunted a cat with hounds through the church, delighting themselves with the echo from the goodly vaulted roof; and to add to their wickedness, brought a calf into it, wrapt in linen; carried it to the font, sprinkled it with water; and gave it a name in scorn and derision of that holy sacrament of baptism."

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANCIENT GATEWAY FORMERLY IN THE CLOSE.]