The Cathedrals of Great Britain: Their History and ArchitectureDitchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)
History
The Cathedrals of Great Britain: Their History and Architecture
Ditchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)
Cathedrals -- Great Britain; Church architecture -- Great Britain
At the Reformation Henry's commissioners carried off a vast store of
plate and jewels for "the king's use," and during the Civil War the
Cathedral actually endured a siege, the results of which were most
disastrous. We have recorded how Bishop Langton surrounded the close
with fortifications. The sacred precincts were garrisoned by the
Royalists, who awaited the attack of the Parliamentarians, led by Lord
Brooke, a fierce fanatic, who longed to pull down all cathedrals as
relics of Popery, and extirpate Episcopacy. On St. Chad's day they
began the siege, and Brooke prayed in the presence of his men that
"God would by some special token manifest unto them His approbation of
their design." The "special token" was manifested, but not in favour
of the Roundheads; on the second day of the siege a bullet fired by
"Dumb Dyott," the son of Sir Richard, one of the leaders of the
Royalists, struck Brooke in the eye, and caused his death. This signal
act did not save the Cathedral. The spire was struck by cannon balls,
and fell, and after three days the garrison made terms of surrender.
Desecration and spoliation raged in the once beautiful church. Carved
stalls, organ, stained glass windows--all shared the same fate. Images
were torn from their niches and broken; tombs were rifled, and the
ashes of holy men scattered about with barbarous indecency. Bishop
Scrope's tomb yielded a silver chalice and crozier of much value, and
a pandemonium of ruthless rage filled the church. Prince Rupert came
to Lichfield, and laid siege to the Cathedral, and after ten days
turned out the Roundheads. Here the luckless King Charles came, after
the disastrous fight of Naseby, and again, when the Royal cause was
well-nigh lost, the Parliamentarians besieged the place, and the
king's troops were forced to yield.
The Restoration of the monarchy brought about the restoration of the
Cathedral, which, according to Fuller, "was now in a pitiful case,
indeed almost beaten down to the ground in our civil dissensions."
Bishop Hacket, a worthy and zealous man, was appointed to the see, who
immediately began the stupendous work, and in eight years completed
it, when the church was reconsecrated with much solemnity. King
Charles II. gave "100 fair timber trees" for the restoration, and a
poor statue of the monarch was placed at the west end, and the Duke of
York gave the large window beneath it. Both have now been removed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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