Lichfield Cathedral, St Chad’s Well, Linchfield

The Two Saints Way connects Chester and Lichfield, the last six miles of which can be walked from Gentleshaw Church as a one-day route to Lichfield Cathedral

‍Highlights

• Cathedral: St Chad’s shrine and icon, Saxon carved angel, Lichfield Gospels
• St Chad’s Church: immersion well, site of monastery
• St Mary’s Church: site of Reformation martyrs

An elaborate foot-washing arcade in Lichfield Cathedral tells you this place is special. A row of 11 stone seats runs along a corridor leading to the chapter house. People would sit here and have their feet washed as a Maundy Thursday ritual. Such a humble bathing tradition seems entirely in keeping with the spirit of the cathedral’s 7th-century founder St Chad, who used to immerse himself in a holy well half a mile to the north-east.

The curious stone seats, known as a pedilavium, belong to a much later age—the 13th century—when most of this appealing cathedral was built. St Chad’s memory has been greatly enhanced here in recent years, following the installation of a new shrine with an authentic Orthodox icon. It is displayed at the far end of the cathedral, beyond the high altar, in front of the Lady Chapel. The icon is displayed a few steps from the site of St Chad’s medieval shrine, marked by a plaque on the floor at the entrance to the Lady Chapel. There were candlestands on either side of the icon when I visited, lighting this prayerful place in a warm glow.

St Chad became the first bishop of Lichfield in 669, when he decided to move his cathedral here from Repton. He built a church where the cathedral now stands and was buried half a mile away after his death in 672. The saint’s relics were moved to the cathedral around 700 by St Hedda and were venerated in the cathedral thereafter. His bones were moved into new tombs each time this cathedral was rebuilt, until his final shrine was destroyed at the Reformation. Some of his bones survived and are now preserved at the Catholic cathedral in Birmingham.

In 2003, fragments of a beautifully carved angel were discovered under the nave floor during the construction of a new altar platform. This angel was kept in a glass case in the Chapter House when I visited, alongside the famous medieval Gospel book, described below. When it was first displayed in 2006, visitor numbers to the cathedral trebled.

Lichfield’s angel might be part of the saint’s Saxon shrine, carved around 800. The detail in the carving is still sharp and of exceptional quality, bearing considerable traces of its original paint. It is thought to show the Archangel Gabriel, perhaps one half of the Annunciation scene, with the Blessed Virgin now missing. The carving was broken up and buried sometime before the 10th century, perhaps damaged by Vikings or perhaps because the shrine was simply replaced by a new structure. The saint’s body was kept in a wooden casket, according to the Venerable Bede, but probably rested on a stone platform. Other stonework found under the nave floor by archaeologists suggests the angel was discovered on the site of this Saxon shrine.

The chapter house has another of the cathedral’s famous treasures on display, the Lichfield Gospels, also known as the St Chad Gospels among other names. This book was written in about 730 and contains eight illuminated pages, including images of St Mark and St Luke. A few marginal notes survive in the manuscript in Old Welsh, stating that it was once owned by the church at Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire (page 460).

There were originally two Gospel books kept in the cathedral, but one went missing during the English Civil War. It is a minor miracle this one survived, so severe was the damage inflicted by Cromwell’s soldiers. Every piece of the cathedral’s medieval stained glass was destroyed. The pedilavium or foot-washing arcade connects this chapter house to the north choir aisle. On the opposite side of the choir is a third site connected to St Chad’s veneration, an upstairs chapel with a balcony. This was used to keep his head shrine, carried out and held aloft from the balcony for the assembled pilgrims to see. It is now a chapel for private prayer, accessed up stairs in the south choir aisle.

The cathedral is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Chad. It has three spires, a symbol of the Trinity similar to Lincoln Cathedral (page 314). Its ornate west front was greatly restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott during the Victorian era, with statues including an effigy of St Chad himself. The cathedral is an inspiring place both inside and out. St Chad’s worthy successor Bishop Michael Ipgrave has launched an appeal to fund a new statue of St Chad for the town, standing outside the south-east corner of the building on The Close. And a new pilgrim route, St Chad’s Way, connects the city to Birmingham.

After visiting the cathedral, it is logical to visit St Mary’s Church next, a two-minute walk away, and then head over to St Chad’s Well and Church on the other side of Lichfield.‍

St Chad’s Well and Church

St Chad’s Church and holy well are half a mile from Lichfield Cathedral. The saint used this place as his monastic retreat, withdrawing here with a few companions. Part of his devotions included kneeling naked in the holy well outside to say his prayers. It became known as a healing spring and hence a site of pilgrimage, with a well-dressing ceremony on Ascension Day in the Victorian era. There is no chance of any kneeling here now, the well chamber being much reduced from its original design for immersion and also open to the churchyard. It used to be enclosed in an octagonal stone wellhouse, built in the 1830s, but this was demolished in 1949 and the current canopy roof installed.

The church itself was also rebuilt, the structure dating from the 12th century with no trace of St Chad’s original monastery surviving. He was buried here after his death in 672 but moved into the cathedral around 700.

The exact site of the well has changed over the centuries, although it has always been in this part of the churchyard. The saint used to kneel on a stone block when he immersed himself. This was supposedly built into the stone wellhouse that stood here, but it has now gone. The well chamber itself was rebuilt in the 1920s, lined with brick. The water flows into it from the same source that St Chad used and has a well-dressing ceremony each year on the second Saturday in September.‍

St Mary’s Church

A two-minute walk from the cathedral, this church continues the Christian story of Lichfield in a rather more sombre vein. It has a heritage centre at one end, which was closed when I arrived. Fortunately, its history is easy enough to experience from the market square outside. A series of plaques along the wall records a surprising variety of grim religious events.

Several of the plaques have the names of martyrs, both Protestant and Catholic, who were killed during the 16th and 17th centuries. Some were executed in this marketplace, while others had links to Lichfield but were killed elsewhere. One of them is St Edmund Gennings, who was born in the city. He was disembowelled while alive and then beheaded in London on 10 December 1591. He is one of the Catholic church’s Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

One person executed in this very marketplace was Edward Wightman, a radical Anabaptist who believed he was the saviour of the world. He was the last person to be burned alive in England, on 11 April 1612. Another plaque refers to George Fox, founder of the Society of Friends, who visited the city in 1651. It records that he stood in the marketplace without shoes on during the winter and ‘denounced the city of Lichfield’. Do Quakers really do that sort of thing? A statue of Dr Johnson, the 18th-century writer and son of Lichfield, sits on a plinth beside this row of plaques, looking suitably glum.

Directions

The Cathedral of St Mary and St Chad, The Close, Lichfield WS13 7LD

www.lichfield-cathedral.org

W3W: indeed.values.means

GPS: 52.6852N 1.8311W

St Chad’s Church, St Chad’s Road, Lichfield WS13 7EX

www.saintchads.org.uk

W3W: tables.submit.square

GPS: 52.6896N 1.8216W

St Mary’s Church, Market Sq, Lichfield WS13 6SN

W3W: sings.recent.hatch

GPS: 52.6835N 1.8276W‍

The cathedral is open Monday to Saturday 9:30am to 6:15pm, and on Sundays 12:30pm–5pm. Entrance is currently free, donations invited. A modern pilgrimage route between Chester Cathedral and Lichfield links the cities’ two great saints, St Werburg and St Chad, called The Two Saints Way. Full details on the British Pilgrimage Trust website: britishpilgrimage.org

The cathedral is open Monday toSaturday 9:30am to 6:15pm, and on Sundays12:30pm–5pm. Entrance is currently free, donationsinvited. A modern pilgrimage route between Chester Cathedral and Lichfield links the cities’ twogreat saints St Werburg and St Chad, called The TwoSaints Way. Full details on the British Pilgrimage Trustwebsite: britishpilgrimage.org.To walk to St Mary’s Church from the cathedral,leave the building and turn left, following theexterior round until you come to Dam Street onthe right at the far end of the cathedral building.Walk up here and you will reach the market placeafter 250m.St Chad’s Church is half a mile north-east ofthe cathedral, on St Chad’s Road. It is open daily8:30am to 5pm. The well is easy to find on the farside of the church, 40m north of the tower.