This ancient City and Bishop's See is situated in a fine and fertile valley, 119 miles from London, and nearly in the centre of England. The origin of this city has occasioned much learned controversy, and a great difference of opinion among antiquaries, whose vague conjectures afford no conclusive arguments to the mind intent upon truth.
Bede, one of our most ancient writers, calls it Licidfield, or the Field of Carcasses, from a tradition that one thousand British Christians suffered martyrdom here in the reign of the Emperor Diocletian. This account is treated as a mere legend by sceptical writers, and, among others, by Dr. Stukeley, who traces the etymology of the name from lick, a Saxon word, which signifies a morass. But whatever may have been the origin of the name of this city, it derived its first importance from the Saxon Kings. When Peada, son of Penda, King of Mercia, married the daughter of Oswy, King of the Northumbrians, and restored tranquillity to the Mercian kingdom, he at his return from Northumberland brought four priests with him, and made Lichfield his residence. A few years afterwards, Cedda or St. Chadd, came to Lichfield, and devoted to a life of solitude, fixed his cell at or near Stow Church, where Bede says he was buried. St. Chadd was a Bishop, but at this period his habitation was more like an hermitage than a palace. It was surrounded with woods, a brook ran close to the entrance, and the spot was well adapted to prayer and contemplation.
Lichfield was erected into a Bishopric by Oswy, in the year 665, and undoubtedly it owed this distinction to the superior sanctity of Cedda. In the year 1075, Lichfield was by the synod held at London, considered too small for the residence of a Bishop. Prior to this period, the English Bishops were remarkable for their humility and self-denial. They generally travelled on foot about their diocese to instruct the people, and see that the inferior clergy lived according to the precepts of their great and humble Master. But the invasion and conquest of England by a Norman adventurer, and his banditti, changed the face of things. Instead of ancient simplicity, the luxurious manners of the Continent were introduced, and pride extended its influence from the court and the castle, to the hitherto sacred institutions of religion itself.
When the general survey of England was taken by the order of William I. and recorded in Doomsday-book, the lands of this See were not said to belong to the Bishop of Lichfield, but the Bishop of Chester, "who then held Lecefelle, with its appurtenances. The church formerly held it. Here are 25 hides and a half, and one virgat of land. The arable land is 73 carucates. In demesne there are 10 carucates, and 10 servants, and 42 villans, and 12 bordars, having 21 carucates. There are 35 acres of meadow, and two mills, rented at four shillings. It was formerly, and is now, worth 15 pounds. To it belongs a wood, eight miles and a half and seven furlongs in length, and six miles and a half and eight furlongs in breadth. To this manor belong three members, Padinton, (now Packington), the arable land is four carucates; and the two Hamerwiches, the arable land is five carucates; and Tichebroc, the arable land is one carucate; and Nortone and Werelia, four carucates of land; and Rowleia, one carucate of land: all are waste."
Lichfield first became a place of importance in the reign of Henry I. when Roger de Clinton was made Bishop. This rich and powerful prelate was a man of genius and enterprize, zealous to promote the glory of the church, and emulous of distinction. He added to the extent and beauty of the cathedral, environed the city with a ditch, fortified the Close, and enrolled and mustered a garrison. He also increased the number of prebendaries, but made no great addition to the buildings of the city, for his zeal for Christianity incited him to embark in the Crusade, and he died at Antioch. In the reign of King Stephen, according to William of Malmsbury, "Lichfield was a small village, much inferior to a city. The country about it was covered with trees, and a rivulet ran near it.
The Cathedral stood on a narrow neck of land; it was formerly famous for the abstinence of its members, but our Bishops are ashamed of the place, because the episcopal dignity is now to be supported in a different manner.'' In 1296, Walter de Langton was advanced to this See, and to his munificence Lichfield owes much of its present splendour. At this period, the city was intersected by three large pools of water, and Bishop Langton built the bridge over the Minster pool, cleaned the ditch which encompassed the Close, and fortified it with a strong stone wall. He also laid out £2000 in a monument for St. Chadd, the first Bishop of Mercia. The vicars' houses in the Close were a donation by him, and he made an addition to their salaries. Among other public-spirited efforts to improve the city, he obtained a grant from Edward I. to lay an annual tax on the inhabitants for one-and- twenty years, to pave the streets. A short time before his death, he began to build St. Mary's Chapel at the Minster, where he proposed to be buried; but not living till it was finished, he left money for that purpose. This great and good man died on the 16th of November, 1321, and was interred in the Cathedral. Among other benefactions, he gave the old house belonging to the Bishop to the vicars' choral. In the eastern part of the Close he erected a new palace for his successors, and along the north side of it he built proper houses for the Dean and Chapter. He gave a large quantity of plate for the use of the church, and more to the vicars, to whom and the canons he was a great benefactor.
In 1547, by a charter of Edward VI. Lichfield was elevated to the dignity of a City and Corporation. This Prince also restored the burgesses the privilege of sending representatives to Parliament, of which the city had been deprived from the year 1354, the twenty-seventh of Edward III. This charter was confirmed, and many additional immunities conferred on the citizens of Lichfield, by Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, James the First, and Charles the Second. When James II. in his arbitrary experiments on the feelings of Englishmen, required the surrender of the ancient charters of Lichfield, he granted them a new one, with some reservations. But in 1688 he published a proclamation, restoring to Corporations their ancient privileges: consequently, the new charter was rescinded, and the corporation reverted to the ample and satisfactory charter of Charles II. This charter is dated November 5, 1664. By it the King confirmed all the former charters granted by his predecessor, for the good government of the city of Lichfield, and conferred upon the citizens new and extensive privileges. In this charter, he appointed that two bailiffs should be elected annually on St. James's day; the senior bailiff to be nominated by the Bishop, and his colleague by the Common Council, consisting of one-and-twenty brethren, elected by the citizens. That the bailiffs, or any of the Common Council, should, upon ill behaviour, be liable to be removed by a majority of the body corporate, and upon the removal or death of any of them, others should be elected by the burgesses. That the bailiffs and Common Council should be empowered by law to buy and sell, to sue and be sued as a body corporate, by the name of the bailiffs and citizens of the city of Lichfield, and have a common seal: that they should have power to make bye-laws, and when reduced into writing, to punish offenders against them.
This charter further empowered the Corporation to elect a recorder and a high steward, who should be magistrates during life, and have power, together with the bailiffs and justices, to hold courts of gaol delivery, and award judgment of death, or other punishment, according to the nature of the offence, and that no other judges or justices should have power in the city. That the bailiffs and Common Council should elect one of their own body corporate to be coroner, who should have the custody of all records and writs, etc. That there should be four fairs held in the city, yearly; on Ash Wednesday, the Friday in the week after St. Simon and St. Jude, the Friday after Twelfth-day, and on the first day of May, old style; and that the bailiffs should have all tolls. That the bailiffs and Common Council should annually, on the feast of St. James, (July 25th,) elect any one of the citizens and inhabitants of this city, to serve the office of Sheriff of the city and county of Lichfield: and that the sheriff should, on the feast of the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, (September 8,) yearly perambulate the boundaries of the city and county of Lichfield, and the precincts thereof.
The sheriffs have from time immemorial perambulated the city and county, being a circuit of sixteen miles, with numerous attendants, as specified in the charters. Besides the court of gaol delivery, there are other inferior courts held in Lichfield, particularly the court of quarter sessions, pie-poudre court, and a court of record, held by the authority of the bailiffs, for the recovery of debts amounting to forty shillings and upwards. There are also three annual courts held in the city, namely, the court of the view of frank-pledge, the court of array, and the great portmote-court. Of these the court of array is the most remarkable, and worthy of record, as illustrative of the manners of our ancestors.
Early on the morning of Whit-Monday, the high constables of the city, attended by ten men armed with fire-locks, and adorned with ribbons, preceded by eight morrice-dancers, a clown fantastically dressed, and drums and fifes, escort the sheriff, town-clerk, and bailiffs, from the Guildhall to the Bower at Green-hill, a mount situated at the south-east extremity of the city, in the parish of St. Michael, where a temporary booth is erected for their reception. On this mount the title of the court is proclaimed by the common crycr; the names of all the householders in the twenty-one wards of the city, according as they are enrolled, are called over; and all persons owing suit and service to this court, called "the court of array, or view of men and arms," of the manor and lordship of Lichfield, are required to appear, under pain of fine and amercement. After this ceremony is ended, the constables, attended by the armed men, etc. take their leave, and march through the streets to the opposite extremity of the city, and summon the dozener, or petty constable of that ward, to attend. He immediately comes forth, bearing a flag or ensign, joins the procession, and the armed men fire a volley over every house in the ward. The inhabitants, on this salute, invite the constables into their houses and present them refreshments, while drink is given to their attendants.
The dozener then, bearing his pageant, attends them to the Bower, and the town-clerk from a roll calls forth the name of every householder in the ward. Those who answer to their names are invited into the booth, and regaled with a cold collation, and those who neglect to appear are fined one penny each. In this manner the constables go through the twenty-one wards, and perform similar ceremonies in each; consequently, it is late in the evening before they have performed their toilsome task. The Court of Array is then concluded, and the constables, preceded as before by the martial music, dancers, and armed men, and attended by the petty-constables, formed in two lines, with their gorgeous banners, conclude the festivity by a procession through the principal streets to the market-place, where on their arrival the town-clerk, in the name of the bailiffs and citizens, delivers a charge to the high-constables.
The purport of this address is to thank them for their attendance, and inform them, that in consequence of the firm allegiance of their predecessors, several charters and immunities were granted to this city, which it is hoped will stimulate them to the performance of their duty to the King and their fellow-citizens. He concludes with advising them to retire peaceably to their homes, and pursue the paths of industry and virtue, that they may always be worthy of the peculiar privileges they enjoy as free-born Englishmen, and inhabitants of this loyal and respectable city. The dozeners then deposit their colours under the belfry in the adjacent church of St. Mary.
The origin of the court of array has excited the inquiry of antiquaries, some of whom suppose that it was first instituted by Oswy, King of Northumberland, in memory of a victory obtained by him over Penda, King of Mercia, in a battle fought near this city. Others, with greater probability, trace its origin to an act passed the 27th year of the reign of Henry II. in the year 1181, by which it was enacted, that the high-constable of every town should oftentimes view the arms and armour of the men in their jurisdiction.
The Rev. Dr. Falconer throws great light on this institution, and on the manners and customs of our ancestors in the remote ages of ignorance and superstition. "By having recourse to the history of former times," says he, " it will be no difficult matter to account for this uncommon ceremony; it is a mixture of religious and civil institutions; the bailiffs are lords of the manor, and hold a court-leet at their Guildhall, on Whit-Monday, annually; but in former times, that room being too small for the accommodation of the number of inhabitants who were bound to pay suit and service to them, they adjourned the court to the more spacious place on Green-hill.
The town was then divided into distinct wards; the names of the inhabitants in each ward were enrolled, by which means it was known with certainty the number of inhabitants each ward contained; and by appearing personally, it was discovered how many of them were capable of bearing arms in defence of their country. To this was joined the religious institution: a representation of the tutelar Saint was formerly exposed to the view of the populace annually, to excite veneration, and likewise it was exhibited on some particular emergent occasions to ward-off some threatening evil. This being a time when all the inhabitants were assembled, it was deemed most proper to exhibit the effigy of their favourite saint ; and after it had answered the purposes of the day, what more proper place could be thought of than the belfry of the church, and where they might have an opportunity of holding a synod?
However absurd and ridiculous these ceremonies may appear in the eyes, and to the enlightened minds of the present age, they had undoubtedly their advantages; pageants and parades struck the minds of the populace with reverential awe and respect; they made them submit patiently to subordination; they afforded them an opportunity not only of discovering the number of inhabitants, but the number of effective men, to protect their rights and properties; and they promoted mirth and hilarity. Nor were these the only benefits to be derived from them; the neighbouring inhabitants partook of the advantages; the nobility and gentry resident within several miles round the town, before they had adopted the pernicious custom of deserting their native mansions, and mispending their time and substance in the debaucheries of the metropolis, thought it sufficient entertainment and recreation for themselves and their children to attend this Whitsun-bower gala. Crowds of them were used to flock in, and to increase their amusement there were displayed a variety of other exhibitions adapted to the taste of those times, such as bear and bull-baitings, interludes, flying-chain, legerdemain practitioners, wild beasts, etc. Uncouth as these amusements may be deemed by our modern refined taste, they had their charms and their utility; the novelty and dexterity of them excited admiration, they did not tend to promote vice and immorality, and they afforded an opportunity to all ranks of people to assemble and spend their time in innocent mirth and hilarity."
An inferior court, called Maudlin's Court, is annually held in Lichfield. It was anciently instituted for punishing drunkenness, and for the purpose of administering the oath of office to the dozeners or petty constables.
The inhabitants of Lichfield first sent representatives to Parliament in the 33d year of the reign of Edward I. 1304; and in the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 20th of Edward II.; and the 1st, 14th, and 27th of Edward III. From that period they were discontinued till the year 1547, the 1st of Edward the Sixth, when Lichfield was raised to the dignity of a city and corporation.
Since that era, so auspicious to the civil and religious liberties of Englishmen, Lichfield has been favoured with many immunities conferred by successive sovereigns. On the 10th of March, 1701, it was determined by the House of Commons, that the bailiffs, magistrates, freeholders, and all that held by burgage-tenure, have a right to vote in the election of citizens to serve in Parliament for the city of Lichfield. That such freemen only of the said city as are enrolled, and pay scot and lot, have a right to vote, etc. December 18,1718, it was further determined by the same authority, that the right of election of citizens to serve in Parliament for the city of Lichfield, is in the freeholders of forty shillings per annum; and all that held by burgage-tenure, in such freemen only of the said city as are enrolled, paying scot and lot there, and in the bailiffs and magistrates. The number of electors is about six hundred.
Lichfield has given the title of Earl to several families. The city is divided into three parishes, St. Chadd's, St. Mary's, and St. Michael's. The central part of Lichfield is occupied by St. Mary's parish; the parish of St. Chadd occupies the north-east part of the city and suburbs; and the parish of St. Michael includes the south- east division and its suburbs.
A distinct part of Lichfield is the Close, in which the Cathedral stands. This district is a separate jurisdiction, governed by the Dean and Canons, who are the only magistrates within its bounds, and entirely independent not only of the city but the county of Stafford.
Sir Frederick Morton Eden, Bart, collected many valuable facts illustrative of the state of the poor, etc, in England. His account of Lichfield, in 1797, is equally correct and interesting, being the result of the strictest inquiry and actual observation, "Lichfield," says this intelligent writer, "contains three parishes; viz. St. Mary's, St. Chadd's, and St. Michael's. The first has most houses and inhabitants, but no land; the other two have few houses, but a considerable quantity of land. In 1781, the number of houses in Lichfield was 723; and of inhabitants about 3555. It is supposed that, since that period, the population has considerably increased. In the whole city 408 houses pay the window-tax; the number exempted could not be ascertained. The prices of provisions are, beef and mutton, 5d. the pound; veal, 4 1/2d. ; bacon, 9 1/2d. and l0d. the pound; milk, 3/4 of a quart for a penny; butter, 11d. the pound; potatoes, 4s. the bushel ; bread-flour, 5s. the stone; coals, 6d. the hundred weight."
"The wages of labourers are from 9s. to 12s. a-week, according to the season; women for weeding, are paid 8d. a-day; for hay- making, l0d. a-day and victuals. Those who spin lint, earn from 4d. to 6d. a-day. There are 46 alehouses in this city; and five friendly societies for men, and two for women: from 100 to 200 members belong to each society."
"Land near the city lets from £3 to £4 an acre: the average is about 30s an acre. Farms are generally small: the principal articles of cultivation are, wheat, barley, oats, turnips, and clover. Tithes are mostly taken in kind. The total land-tax for the city is £420. 19s. 4d. The poor are maintained at their own houses; about 23 pensioners at present receive £2.17s. 6d. a-week; six of these are bastards. Several house-rents are paid, and casual reliefs are given to many of the necessitous."
"The rates in St. Mary's are about 3s. in the pound on the nominal rental; in St. Chadd's and St. Michael's half the rack-rents are assessed. St. Mary's and St. Chadd's have each a work-house. In St. Mary's work-house there are at present 41 paupers. They manufacture a little blanketing for the use of the house.''
Memorabilia.
In 1301, Henry Champanar, son of Michael de Lichfield, bell-founder, granted for the "use and solace of the fryars minor of Lichfield, his fountains in Frontewell, near Alreshaw." Queen Elizabeth visited Lichfield, July 30, 1575, and remained in this city until the 3d of August.
In 1593, March 21st, the top of St. Michael's steeple, and St. Mary's by the market-place, were blown down by a great tempest, which did the like damage at Stafford. This year, during the summer, there was a great plague in many cities and towns in England. In Lichfield there died upwards of eleven hundred, and the disease had not ceased its ravages on the 28th of November. At least one- half of the population of Lichfield must have been carried off by this memorable visitation; for it appears that in the taxation of the city during the reign of Henry VIII. the number of householders amounted to four hundred, which, at the rate of five inhabitants to a house, would give a total population of 2000.
The Alms-house in Bacon-street, was founded in 1504. The houses in this street were mostly burnt down in the war between the King and Parliament. Bridge-street, by mistake now generally called Bird-street, is at present the principal thoroughfare of the city, the road from Chester to London passing through it, which was formerly carried round by Stow church, through what was then the principal part of the town, now an obscure lane, called Frog-lane.
Modern Lichfield is an open handsome city; the houses in general are well built, the streets regular and spacious, with an excellent pavement and convenient foot-ways, and kept very clean. The principal inhabitants are gentry, mostly persons of small independent fortunes; the remainder consist of tradesmen and artificers. The general appearance of the city affords an idea of snugness, cleanliness, and elegance, and it is delightfully situated in a fertile spot, abounding with the most valuable productions of the agriculturist. Some of the public buildings have already been described, and others are still more worthy of attention, especially the Cathedral, the history of which will form a separate article.
The principal manufacture carried on in Lichfield is sail-cloth, which gives employment to a considerable number of hands. A society or company of saddlers and glovers was established here in 1620. There are two weekly markets held in Lichfield; one on Tuesday, which is inconsiderable; and another on Friday, for the sale of corn, cattle, meat, poultry, butter, and every useful article from the farm. At the market held on Friday, specimens of the improved live stock of several neighbouring gentlemen-farmers are occasionally exhibited.
The citizens are supplied with excellent water from the fountains at Aldershaw, according to the grant before-mentioned. This indispensable article of life is conveyed by pipes, free of expence, to the inhabitants, to four conduits; namely, 1st, the Crucifix; 2d, the Market-cross; 3d, Butcher's-row; and 4th, the Stone-cross.
The land in the vicinity of Lichfield, in a low situation on the banks of the rivulet which intersects the city, is generally meadow and pasture. The arable or garden-land is mostly on the sides of the hills, or in a high situation, and is a light sandy foil, producing plentiful crops of early pease; besides turnips, potatoes, and other roots and herbs belonging to horticulture. This soil is also productive of good wheat, barley, oats, and clover.
The Wyrley and Essington Canal passes near the city, affording a ready medium for the conveyance of coal, lime, and other heavy articles, and opening an extensive communication by the Grand Trunk, with distant inland towns and seaports.
A short tour through the principal streets, for the purpose of noticing remarkable objects, shall terminate this description of modern Lichfield.
The marketplace is in the centre of the city. Opposite the market-house, at the corner of Market-street, stands a stuccoed house, supported in the front by pillars, and memorable for being the birth-place of Dr. Johnson.
The market-house is a light and convenient building of brick, erected on the spot formerly occupied by the market-cross. In Boar-street stands the Guildhall. It is a neat edifice of stone, with a pediment adorned with the city arms, an escutcheon representing a landscape with three Kings, and many other martyrs slain, and a view in bass-relief of the Cathedral. The hall in front is spacious, and in the rear are apartments in which the members of the Corporation transact public business. Underneath is a gaol, in which debtors and felons apprehended within the limits of the county of Lichfield are confined.
The play-house was erected in Boar-street in 1790. It is a small structure, with some ornamental stucco-work in front, and is now the property of a society of gentlemen. At the south-west corner of this street is a free-school, founded and endowed by Thomas Minors, Esq. in 1670, "to teach thirty-four boys of this city to read the psalter and bible in English."
Westward of this school are the gates leading to the Friary, which was formerly a monastery belonging to the Franciscan Friars. It was founded in the year 1229, by Alexander Stavenley, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. This monastery was destroyed by a fire, which consumed the greater part of the city, in 1291, but the church belonging to the institution was preserved. In 1545, the monastery and church were totally demolished, and the present mansion erected. It has since been the residence of several of the most respectable gentlemen in this part of the county. In the reign of George II. this mansion was the seat of Michael Rawlins, Esq. and the Duke of Cumberland had his head-quarters here, during the time the army was stationed at Lichfield, in the Rebellion, 1745. On the east side of this mansion a curious monument was discovered, in 1746, of which Dr. Wilkes gives the following account: "October 14,' 1746, Mr. Michael Rawlins, living at the Friars in Lichfield, having occasion to build a wall, and set down a pair of gates, as he was sinking for the foundation of the former, and making holes for posts, on which to hang the latter, found a grave-stone, about six feet under the surface, with a cross-fleury standing on four steps, cut in the middle, and round the edges the following Monkish verses. There is no date; but a coffin, with bones in it, lay immediately under the stone, which he removed and fixed in an old niche of the building, which he has converted into a stable. By the letters, this stone seems to have been made not very long before the dissolution of the house, for they are an old English letter, and very legible.
The following translation appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine: "Richard the merchant here extended lies, Death like a step-dame gladly clos'd his eyes; No more he trades beyond the burning zone, But, happy rests beneath this sacred stone. His benefactions to the church were great, Though young he hasten'd from this blest retreat. May he, though dead, in trade successful prove, Saint Michael's merchant in the realms above."
Bridge-street, now called Bird-street, is a spacious handsome street, with several good private houses, shops, and the two principal inns. A bridge, at its northern extremity, affords a passage across the pool, and separates it from the precincts of the Close. Next to Bridge-street is Bacon-street, which was nearly all burnt to the ground during the sieges of the Close in the Civil war.
St. John-street is remarkable for two public institutions, both founded by Bishop Smith, in 1492. The first and most important of these is the Free Grammar School, with appropriate buildings, on which Henry VII. settled the revenues of the Hospital of Denhall at Wyrehall, in Cheshire. This school was further endowed by Edward VI. and is memorable for having been the Alma Mater in which Addison, Woolaston, Ashmole, and Johnson, received the rudiments of their education. The hospital of St. John, formerly a monastery, is situated opposite the school. It was re-built by Bishop Smith, who endowed it as an hospital for the support of a master, two presbyter chaplains, and ten poor men.
In Bacon-street, there is an hospital for fifteen poor women, re- built and endowed by Dr. Miller in 1504, on the site of an original structure erected by Bishop Heyworth, for the same purpose.
