Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Chad

This cathedral church dates primarily from the 13th and 14th centuries, with significant later restorations. The west choir arcade and aisles, chapter house and chapel, transepts and crossing tower were built in the early 13th century. Around 1280 the nave, aisles and west towers were added, followed between 1300 and 1350 by the Lady Chapel, east choir arcade and aisles, and choir clerestory. Major restoration campaigns took place in the 1660s, 1788-95 (continued by Joseph Potter Senior of Lichfield), the 1850s (by Sydney Smirke), and 1856-78 (by Sir Gilbert Scott, continued by his son John Oldrid Scott until 1905). The building is constructed of ashlar with graduated slate roofs.

Plan

The cathedral has a cruciform plan comprising a three-bay Lady Chapel, eight-bay choir with aisles, chapter house to the north with library above and consistory court to the south with the Chapel of St Chad's Head above, crossing steeple and three-bay transepts with east chapels, and an eight-bay nave with aisles and two west steeples.

Exterior

The Lady Chapel has a three-bay apse articulated by a plinth that is stepped at the end due to the slope of the ground. It features gabled buttresses with 19th-century statues, an enriched cornice with traceried and embattled parapet with pinnacles, three-light windows, six-light central windows to north and south with trefoil tracery, and three much-restored tomb recesses to the south with cusped arches, gables and pinnacles.

The choir has similar clerestory detailing, with gabled buttresses supporting flying buttresses and pinnacles, and angle buttresses bearing 19th-century statues. The aisle windows are three-light with Decorated tracery, while the clerestory has five-light windows with Perpendicular tracery (except for the east bay, which has Decorated tracery). The organ loft to the north-west features quatrefoil windows set within rich square frames, and there is a north-east octagonal stair turret with pinnacle. The chapter house is of elongated octagonal form with buttresses topped by tabernacles containing statues, windows with Y-tracery, and a vestibule with a Y-tracery north window and two-light plate tracery windows to the first floor. The consistory court and chapel have large octagonal turrets with shafts and pinnacles and two statues in niches, three-light windows with Perpendicular tracery, and first floor triplets of lancets.

The crossing tower has polygonal buttresses with crocketed pinnacles, lines marking former steep gables, two two-light bell openings within blind tracery settings, a traceried parapet and a spire with five tiers of lucarnes. The transepts have three- and five-light clerestory windows with Perpendicular tracery. The north transept features polygonal buttresses flanking a portal of five orders with rich arch decoration and flanking niches, an 1880s window of seven lancets, Y-tracery windows above, and four-light windows to the chapel north and west. The south transept has large 18th-century gabled angle buttresses flanking a portal similar to that of the north transept but much restored, a trefoil-headed arcade with 19th-century figures, a nine-light window with Perpendicular tracery and top Catherine wheel windows with flanking statues, chapel windows of three lights, a south tomb recess with cusped arch, gable and pinnacles, two pairs of lancets to the west, and a statue of Charles II for the west front gable (attributed to Sir William Wilson) attached to the south-west angle.

The nave has gabled buttresses supporting flying buttresses and pinnacles, enriched cornices and parapets with pinnacles, three-light aisle windows with Decorated tracery, and spherical triangle windows to the clerestories. The south side was restored by Smirke.

The west front features a gable between towers with large polygonal outer turrets. The central portal has a multi-cusped arch and inner doors with a 13th-century seated Christ over the trumeau, original doors with rich scrolled ironwork, and statues to the returns. Flanking portals of five orders have restored arches and similar doors. The six-light west window with Decorated tracery dates from 1868. The towers have two-light louvred bell openings, lozenge parapet and square crocketed pinnacles, and spires with four tiers of lucarnes. The facade is articulated with blind tracery and crocketed trefoil arches, corbelled 19th-century statues (with some medieval statues on the north tower), a trefoil-headed arcade with seated figures and a figure of Christ to the gable. Much ballflower ornament and crocketing is present, with this treatment continuing to the returns. Wind vanes and 18th-century rainwater heads are also present.

Interior

The Lady Chapel has a tierceron vault with ridge rib and bosses, wall shafts with 1895 canopied statues by Charles Eamer Kempe, and an applied arcade of nodding ogee arches with buttresses and pinnacles. The wall passage has a traceried and brattished parapet. The choir has similar clerestory detailing with quatrefoils to the reveals. The west arcades have stiff-leaf capitals and 1860 canopied statues by John Birnie Philip, while the east arcades have Decorated foliage capitals and applied cinquefoils. The aisles feature applied arcading—to the west, four trefoil-headed arches per bay; to the east, six cusped arches per bay.

The entrance to the vestibule has a triplet above and a three-bay quadripartite vault, with applied trefoil-headed arcade to the east and a similar arcade to the west forming a vaulted passage, probably a pedilavium for Maundy Thursday—a rare feature. The rich entrance to the chapter house has a 13th-century seated Christ over the trumeau. The chapter house has a vault with central pier and good figure corbels, and a trefoil-headed arcade to the wall bench. The library has similar features, and the pavement contains medieval encaustic tiles.

The Chapel of St Chad's Head has a gallery with traceried parapet on ribbed coving and a 19th-century vault with large bosses. The crossing has a star vault. The transepts have tierceron vaults and two-bay arcades to chapels with quadripartite vaults, and former external windows to north and south of the choir. The nave has arcades with good Decorated foliage capitals and applied cinquefoils, two two-light traceried openings to the triforium (blind to the towers), and a tierceron vault with 18th-century lath-and-plaster cells. The west window has a 1980s timber balcony on ribbed coving.

Fittings

The Lady Chapel contains an 1895 triptych altarpiece with high relief scenes from Oberammergau and a contemporary alabaster altar rail. The chancel has a complete ensemble of 1860s fittings representing a good example of High Victorian Gothic design: alabaster and coloured marble reredos and screen by Scott and Philip with statues to gabled niches, a crocketed central arch and pinnacle with cross; sedilia incorporating ex-situ 15th-century canopies; Minton tiles and incised medallions to the pavement; timber stalls with traceried and wrought-iron fronts and wrought-iron side grilles; wrought-iron and brass choir screen by Scott and Skidmore with some painting, a gabled central arch and angels—one of the best remaining examples; similar aisle gates; and a pulpit to the nave north-east.

The consistory court has three 1670s stalls with Baroque back panels, openwork front panels, and twisted columns to openwork canopies with Gothic touches. An ex-situ font to the north transept by Slater has early French Gothic detail and high relief scenes and figures. The south transept has an 1870s screen to St Michael's Chapel decorated with Zulu shields and assegais.

Wall paintings include a 14th-century Crucifixion to the piscina in the south choir aisle, a damaged circa 1400 Trinity to a recess in the south choir aisle, and a 14th-century Assumption over the entrance in the chapter house.

Monuments

A few pre-18th-century monuments survive, along with many good 18th- and 19th-century monuments and wall tablets. Notable examples include: Bishop Selwyn (died 1878) in a Lady Chapel tomb recess with effigy by Nicholls, decoration by Clayton and Bell, and tiles by William de Morgan; two medieval effigies of bishops in the south choir aisle, also Bishop Hacket (died 1670) with high sarcophagus and painted effigy; a mutilated tomb in a recess to possibly John Stanley (died 1515); the Robinson Children (1817) by Francis Chantrey showing two girls sleeping on a couch. Among later 19th-century tombs, those to Bishop Lonsdale (died 1867) and Dean Howard (died 1868) have re-used 15th-century canopies, while Major Hodson (died 1858) has a boldly carved chest tomb with high relief scenes. Bishop Ryder in the north choir aisle (1840 by Chantrey) is shown as a free-standing kneeling figure. The vestibule has a bronze bust by Jacob Epstein of Bishop Woods (died 1953). Dean Haywood (died 1492) has a mutilated base to a two-tier tomb with cadaver, and there are good 19th-century wall tablets. The south transept contains Andrew Newton (died 1808) by Richard Westmacott, also busts of Samuel Johnson and David Garrick from 1793, and a memorial to the 80th Regiment of Foot (1846) in the form of an Egyptian pylon by Peter Hollins. The nave has a good floor brass to the first Earl of Lichfield and a wall tablet to members of the Walmesley family (died 1751, 1785, 1786) by William Thompson, showing good work with coloured marbles, cartouches and putti.

Stained Glass

The Lady Chapel contains circa 1540 glass from Herckenrode Abbey installed in 1806, with other Herckenrode glass in the choir aisles. The west windows have 16th-century Flemish glass installed in 1895. The library contains 18th- and 19th-century heraldic glass. The south transept east clerestory has 1819 glass by Betton and Evans. Good later glass includes much by Charles Eamer Kempe, for example in the chapter house, Chapel of St Chad's Head and south transept south and east windows. Other 19th-century glass includes 1893 grisaille glass to the north transept north window and the 1869 nave west window by Clayton and Bell.

This is one of England's smaller cathedrals. Though much damaged during the Civil War, it retains much of interest and features very good 19th-century work.