“The close is not large, and of course, as Lichfield is a cathedral of the old establishment, there are no monastical buildings, no ruined cloisters. On the north side the ground rises rapidly in a grassy slope to a terrace, behind which are some of the canons’ houses. Opposite the north transept is the deanery, a substantial red brick house in the style of the middle of the last century; next to it, and farther east, is the bishop’s palace.”--(A. B. C.) Lichfield was built in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries and is, therefore, almost entirely in the styles of Early English and Decorated. The Early English may be studied in the transepts which were begun first; Early Decorated in the nave; and fully developed Decorated in the Lady-Chapel and Presbytery. There is a curious similarity between the building of Lichfield and York: “The Norman Cathedral of York was built in 1080, and that of Lichfield at an uncertain date. Between 1154-1181, Archbishop Roger substituted 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 licenses 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.”--(W.) Nothing definite is known of the early history of this Cathedral, as all records were destroyed during the Civil Wars. In all probability there was the same old story of a Saxon church in the Seventh Century succeeded by several other churches until the Norman Cathedral was built, probably like Peterborough, only smaller.