The _West Front_ must have been one of the most beautiful in England, and has passed through many vicissitudes. It was commenced in 1275, and completed by degrees, the work being protracted for more than a century. The ball-flower ornament in the upper stages points to the later date of the highest part. There are three principal stages. In the lowest are three doorways, the wall being covered with a rich arcade of brackets and canopies and statues. The next stage has three rows of arcading, the lowest extending completely across the front. The west window divides the two upper arcades. There are windows in the tower fronts in the third stage, and the wall is covered with rich canopied arcade. The Puritan soldiers did much injury to the statues which filled these niches. In 1820 the broken figures were restored with Roman cement in a barbarous fashion. Sir Gilbert Scott in 1877 began to reconstruct the west front, and placed new statues in the niches, and endeavoured to reproduce an exact copy of its appearance in the days of its early beauty. A study of the figures will not be without interest. Small figures in central west doorway--on north side--genealogy of Christ according to St. Matthew from Abraham to the Virgin; on the south, according to St. Luke from Adam to Joseph. Notice fourteenth-century carving of Our Lord in Glory inside the porch. NORTH-WEST DOORWAY _On North_-- 1. Ethelbert, angel, with emblem of the Passion. 2. Edwin, orb. 3. Oswald, dove, with letter, and cross in his left hand. 4. Oswy, casket, with key and cross. [Illustration Lichfield Cathedral Herbert Railton Distant view of exterior] 5. Peada, embracing a cross. 6. Wulphere, model of a Saxon church, and a shield. _On South_-- 1. Bertha, cross in her hand, and her daughter kneeling at an altar. 2. Ethelburga, glass and comb. 3. Hilda, angel hovering over her, and pastoral staff in her hand. 4. Eanfled, priest with letter. 5. Ermenilda, laying down crown. 6. Werburga, pastoral staff, and crown at her feet. SOUTH-WEST DOORWAY The figures represent the two sources of English Christianity, the Celtic and Roman missionaries. _North Side_-- 1. St. Aidan, pastoral staff, and St. Chad as a boy in St. Aidan's School at Lindisfarne. 2. Finan, pastoral staff. 3. Diuma, pastoral staff and banner. 4. Ceollach, pastoral staff, and mitre at his feet, indicating that he resigned his bishopric. 5. Trumhere, pastoral staff. 6. Jaruman, pastoral staff, and model of a Saxon church. _South Side_-- 1. Gregory, young Saxon slaves at his feet, in the Market Place at Rome. 2. Augustine, crozier and model of Canterbury Monastery. 3. Paulinus, crozier. 4. Theodore, crozier and scroll. 5. Cuthbert, pastoral staff, and head of St. Oswald in his hand. 6. Wilfrid, pastoral staff, and treading on an idol. CENTRAL GABLE