Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lichfield: A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Espicopal SeeClifton, A. B.
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lichfield: A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Espicopal See
Clifton, A. B.
Lichfield Cathedral
In the =South Aisle of the Nave=, at the west end, there is a monument
to Dean Addison, the father of the great essayist and poet; he died in
1703. His memorial slab is now under the Jesus Tower, but formerly it was
on the north of the west door. The glass in the window of the tower is
in memory of Dean Howard, during whose time as dean so much of the work
of restoration was done, and who so munificently aided the work. This
glass, which is by Messrs Burlison & Grylls, represents St. Michael and
the Dragon, and St. Chad. The other glass on this side is the window of
the fifth bay, by Messrs Clayton & Bell, the subjects being Our Lord and
Lazarus, Our Lord and Mary and Martha, and Mary Magdalene washing Our
Lord's feet; in the next bay the glass, by Messrs Ward & Hughes, shows
Faith, Hope, and Charity; in the seventh bay the glass is by Messrs
Clayton & Bell, and has David and Goliath for its subject, and is in
memory of the officers of the 64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment who fell
in the Indian Mutiny. There is in the eighth bay a window by Hardman in
memory of Helen, wife of Josiah Spode. Between the aisle and the nave
there is a brass in the floor in memory of the late Earl of Lichfield,
placed there in 1854. There are several other modern brasses and tablets.
In this aisle are two of the three semi-effigies to be seen in the
cathedral. These show only the heads and the feet. Britton says: "They
are said to represent two old canons of the church; and are evidently
of ancient date, as they appear to have been placed in the present
situation at the time of building or finishing the nave." One of these
is in a better state of preservation than the other, and shows in the
drapery the remains of colour.
=The Transepts= are earlier than the nave in style, having been built in
the beginning of the thirteenth century: the south transept first, and
then the north. It must have been for these transepts that Henry III.,
in 1235 and 1238, granted licences to the dean and chapter of Lichfield
to dig stone from the royal forest of Hopwas for the new fabric of the
church of Lichfield. Whether these ecclesiastics did more harm than the
king liked in digging on the first occasion cannot be said, but on the
second occasion they are permitted "fodere petram ad fabricam ecclesiae
suae de Lichefeld in quarrera de Hopwas; ita tamen quod hoc fiat sine
detrimento forestae nostrae"--that is to say, they were to do as little
damage as possible.
[Illustration: ARCADE, WITH SEMI-EFFIGY, IN SOUTH AISLE.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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