XI.—In 1786 the western tower collapsed, and Wyatt pulled down the westernmost bay of the nave and the whole of the triforium and clerestory, whether damaged or sound, and rebuilt both, together with the west front, in the Gothic of his day. About 1843 Cottingham did much work; rebuilding the east end of the Lady chapel and the upper part of that of the choir, and also securing the central tower. He found that the Norman piers which support it consisted of a thin ashlar casing, the interior of which was filled with a rubble core, composed of broken stones, loam and lime grouting. The ashlar facing and the engaged columns on the face of the pier, not being well bonded and deeply headed into the rubble cores, had split and bulged, and the cores, for want of a proper proportion of lime, had diminished and crushed to pieces. The gaudy choir-screen and coronal were designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, and executed by Skidmore of Coventry. [Illustration: FROM NORTH-WEST] The Cathedral Church of St. Chad and St. Mary, Lichfield. [Illustration: WEST FRONT.] This is how Lichfield presented itself to Mrs. Van Rensselaer. “Approaching it from one street or another, we see it suddenly across the silver stretches of its Pool, and it is hard to determine whether the shining water at Lichfield or the green lake of turf at Salisbury makes the lovelier foreground. Standing on the causeway which leads towards the western entrance of the Close, it is not merely a fine view that we have before us; it is a picture so perfect that no artist would ask a change in one detail. Perhaps accident has had more to do than design with the planting of the trees and shrubs which border the lake, and above which spring the daring spires. But a landscape-gardener might study this planting to his profit; and when we see or think of Lichfield from this point of view, we wish that the tall poplar may be as long-lived as the tree Yggdrasil—so pretty a measure does it give of the loftiness of the spires, so exquisite is the completing accent which it brings into the scene. If we come from the south-east, we cross another causeway, on either side of which the lake spreads out widely; and we see not only the spires, but the apse and the long stretch of the southern side. Enormously long it looks—longer almost, owing to its peculiar lowness, than those cathedrals which are actually greater. To the north of the church the ground rises quickly into a broad, terrace-like walk flanked by rows of large and ancient, yet graceful lindens; and beyond the trees, behind low walls and verdurous gardens, lies a range of canons’ dwellings. And in any and every aspect, but more especially when foliage comes near it, Lichfield’s colour assists its other beauties. Red stone is warm and mellow in itself; and Lichfield is red with a beautiful soft ruddiness that could hardly be matched by any sandstone of any land.”