[Music]
Hi, my name's Kevin Hicks welcome to my YouTube Channel The History Squad. Now today we're on
location in the town where I grew up, the city of Lichfield, Staffordshire,
England and I just wanted to show you the place, little building where I had my very first job.
Lichfield Cathedral and I'm going to show you one or two of the little secrets that I learned about
this wonderful cathedral which was also a bit of a fortress. Now you notice the cathedral has three
spiers, the main spire and the two smaller ones. Now there are two thoughts on this one is that the
stonemasons just went overboard, the other is that the main spire represents the ancient Archbishop
of Lichfield and the other two, the smaller ones the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of
York. The three P's of Lichfield it's known as locally. So when I first left school,
and we're going back a few years now, I worked for a stonemason company called Bridgeman and Sons.
I was never going to be a stonemason I was asking too many questions, I was always too busy so I
had to leave eventually and join the army, but they had me working on the top of the roof there
and I had to straddle the apex of the roof, go all the way along the top of the cathedral there
checking the flashing, checking for any cracked or broken slate and when we get to the far end,
the gaffer I was working for he leaned against the wall and he says "You do know
that that is the height of the original cathedral roof?" And I looked at him and says "Really?" He
says "Yeah because when the spire was fetched down during the Civil War, it came crashing
down through the roof, so when they rebuilt it they rebuilt a lower roof at a cheaper cost."
You can also see it on the north transept. I've walked that roof as well, and if you look
just in, where the building is, there's a tiny little bridge that is used by the masons
and the workers on the cathedral. There's lots of these little passages to and from
and if you backtrack along, all the way along, there's a tiny little door at the end and that
lets people who are working on the roof in and out in all the different ways that we can go.
Do you know there's been a cathedral on this site for over 1300 years? That's
amazing. 700 A.D Bishop Header was the guy who dedicated the first cathedral on this site,
it was to house the bones of Saint Chad. He was the guy, the first Bishop of Lichfield who brought
christianity to us heathens from around here the Mercians. He was actually from Lindisfarne,
way up in the north of Northumbria and the church, the cathedral was simply built to house his bones,
so pilgrims could come to the site and pay their respects. So for 400 years the pilgrims used to
make their way here and it became more and more famous. Apparently a priest would hold up the
skull in Chad's Chapel, or wherever it was in the church in those days, to show the pilgrims who
would then pray, and it is quite amazing because it just needed to have a bigger cathedral so the
Norman started one in 1085. So the Normans now they're taking over, they're building their
version of the cathedral but come the medieval times the 1140s the masons, here the stonemasons,
they dismantled the Norman church and began work on this Gothic Cathedral that we have today.
Some people say they went overboard, there are so many Gothic arches, there are so many
statues. There's one thing I love about this Cathedral is there are always a thousand eyes
looking at you. It doesn't matter where you are, somewhere, some statue, some eyes are looking
down on you. Everywhere you go the little heads carved, some of them laughing, some of them in
their medieval headgear, some are kings, but there are hundreds of them always looking down on you.
Now work only stopped uh 1349, the time of the Black Death, that actually finished the working
and the cathedral stands as testament to those masons of those days, those stonemasons. And
the statues, many of them that had to be replaced after the Civil War were made by the very company
that I worked for in my short career as a bit of a laborer for them. This is one of my favorite
spots on Lichfield Cathedral on the outside, we used to often come and sit here as a kid. This
is the entrance way to the North transept and the carvings here are absolutely unbelievable.
When you consider hundreds and hundreds of years ago the stonemasons working on these,
and also there is a statue of Saint Chad himself,
that's a much later addition but you can see there is a pigeon nesting on his shoulders.
In this Northwest part of the cathedral you have a couple of Kings. William the
Conqueror there he is with his sword the great conqueror and under his arm the Doomsday Book,
and next to him William II and I love this because he's got a bow in his hand, because on the 2nd of
August 1100 he was shot by accident with an arrow whilst hunting in the New Forest. That's just a
reminder of how you died, have a bow in your hand. Does make me smile I'm looking up here there are
gargoyles looking back, but what I like is all of the flying buttresses that on both sides of
the cathedral and they're a beautiful invention because they simply keep the walls together.
So one of the little secrets here, so I was brought to this part of the cathedral right at
the front by one of the old master stonemasons at Bridgemans and he said "Saint James the Less" This
statue there's a bit of a secret look at the broom handle he said when they tried to replace it with
stone it kept breaking, so they replaced it with a broom handle, which they just plastered over in
stone. Now I don't know if that's true or whether he was spinning me a yarn but after all these
years it still looks like a broom handle and when I was told the story that was over 50 years ago.
Now look at the incredible craftsmanship that's
gone into making the iron work on this door let's go and take a look inside.
We're in the Nave the central part of the cathedral, nowadays there are chairs
or wooden pews for people to sit on in the medieval times you had to stand I'm afraid.
This is quite incredible when you look down you can see the dividing screen that's just on the
crossing part of the cathedral, beyond that you have the choir and the Presbytery and the
altar the sacred part of the cathedral. But if you look up you will see the most wonderful ceiling,
it is a replacement after the Civil War due to the spire coming down and bringing the ceilings
with it but they are quite magnificent. Now on the left and right of the Nave you have
the North and South aisle and above them, as you can see through those dark windows,
you have a corridor. Now I've been into most of these corridors and rooms and I got into
big trouble in one of them because I found some broken shards of cannonballs and musket balls and
I'm about to move them out of the way when I am told "Leave them alone Kevin they've been there
300 years don't disturb them." That was my problem with Bridgemans I was always asking questions.
It's really sad when you see some of the effigies and the damage that's been done
to them it was done during the Civil War when the Parliamentarians had their Cathedral they
used their swords to hack pieces off some of the effigies, destroy things that we,
we would value today. But you look at these heads I just love them they are so, well....
They give you an idea what people look like at the time. I mean this guy here you look at his face
who was he? Was he a mason? Was he an old guy? Just look at the character in that face,
perfect. And then we have a knight, possibly a crusader there with his chain mail and then a
lady obviously a lady of wealth. A king looking character there, princes, you know there are so
many of these heads all over the cathedral it's said that it's impossible to count them all.
In the south transept of the cathedral you'll find the Zulu War or South African war memorial for the
Staffordshire Regiment. As a little boy I used to look up at these, you know I heard the story
seen the film Zulu I was told that the actual spearheads were original, but I'm not sure,
but I've run my fingers over the names of these men it really means something to me. Staffordshire
Regiment was the first cap badge I ever wore. And you can see the standards there, going all
the way back some of them at the top there going back to the 1800s at least, possibly even before
then. Quite incredible the amount of men who were fought and marched under those standards.
I'm going over to the north part of the cathedral to the chapter house, I suppose they're treasure
house because it contains some of the most wonderful treasures of the cathedral. And there's,
there's one piece here which is just so fabulous. It's a stone carving 200 years at least before
the Battle of Hastings in 1066, they think it depicts Gabriel yeah the Archangel and part of
the carving is missing which would have been Mary, Jesus's mother but if you look close he's I think
carrying an olive branch of peace and his hand is in the symbol of peace, Pax Vobiscum and all of
that. This was found in modern times underneath a floorboard so it was hidden well over a thousand
years ago they reckon. Quite wonderful when you consider this is a Saxon carving.
And what we have here are the St Chad's gospels, these are quite wonderful, they're younger than
the Lindisfarne gospels but older than the book of Kells I think they were written 730 A.D. A real
treasure indeed and as a little boy I remember looking at these and wondering how on earth
did the monks manage to write these, keeping their lines straight what a treasure indeed.
So here we are at the far end of the cathedral, the eastern end, The Lady Chapel with its imposing
altar. Just look at all of that stained glass it is quite incredible when you consider that
during the Civil War it was all blown through, but here we have the Herkenrode stained glass
these were taken from an Abbey that was defunct in the low countries in Belgium they were packed
away in crates ready to be sold and a passing Englishman Sir Brooke Boothby. He purchased
the lot for 200 pounds in those days, ten thousand pounds nowadays. Transported it across
and sold it to the Diocese of Lichfield at cost price, and here it stands absolutely wonderful.
You see that door there that can take you right the way up a spiral staircase or it
can bring you out on the balcony. I've walked along here and just marveled at
the color, the brilliance of these beautiful stained glass windows.
Tucked away in the South Choir aisle you have this medieval painting. It's the crucifixion, it's at
least 600 years old and when you see the condition of it it's quite lovely and these paintings were
all covered up after the Reformation so that this place would have been covered pre-reformation with
the most beautiful paintings but afterwards all whitewash walls. This is one of the paintings that
they've managed to uncover so just up from the crucifixion painting you have the remains here
of the Holy Trinity painting uncovered. You can see the color in it, I mean 600 years old it is
quite lovely. What I like also here you can see the remains in the wall of an archway that used
to go over this lovely painting. There are still things to be uncovered in the cathedral I'm sure,
and just above it you have a stained glass window showing the cathedral being repaired,
restored after the Civil War. It shows masons at work, stonemasons at work on the left panel,
then in the center panel you have the architects themselves looking at all of the business and of
course to the right you have the money, the people who are paying for the job to be done.
Oh let's go in here. Oh more heads look there they. Oh,
it's a little bit dark but let's explore. Follow me. Reputedly, this is where the priest would hold
up the skull of Saint Chad to the pilgrims gathered below. Where we are now isn't Saint
Chad's Chapel. Nowadays it's a place to sit and have a bit of peace, quiet and prayer.
So 1642 England was torn apart by the Civil War. It later became widespread Scotland,
England, Ireland and Wales was embroiled in this terrible Civil War, and Lichfield,
being in the center of England would play quite a prominent role. There were three sieges against
the Cathedral C lose. The first one 1643, was by the Parliamentarian Army who came from the
south there and attacked the close. Lord Brooke the commander from Warwick Castle was actually
shot dead by a sniper, Dumb Dyott, from one of the battlements. I've actually stood on the spot
they say where this is where Dumb Dyott Lord Brooke, apparently it was about a 180 yard shot
and people go 'yeah that's ridiculous' however Dumb Dyott, John Dyott I believe his name was,
was a game keeper so he would have been a crack shot, may have even
had a rifle piece. So Lord Brooke is dead the Parliamentarians do gain the cathedral and it
is then besieged April 1643 by the Royalists under Rupert, Prince Rupert of the Rhine.
So the third siege didn't happen until March 1646 Sir William Brereton's Parliamentarian
forces brought with them new kinds of artillery. Lichfield Close, the Cathedral had known relative
peace since April 1643 because the Civil War had moved around the country but now Parliament's Army
was back. The siege would last for four months and leave the cathedral in a terrible state. The
garrison there would only surrender when Charles I himself handed himself over to Parliament.
It wasn't until 1660 with the restoration of the monarchy that they began to rebuild the cathedral
after the destruction from the Civil War and the patron of it was no other than the Merry Monarch,
Charles II and they had this statue cut for him, but they made it out of rubbish stone and then
they stuck it on the top of the cathedral where he got very badly weathered. I understand it was the
19th century that they fetched him down and now he stands all weather-worn, that Merry Monarch. Okay,
well I hope you enjoyed that video our little visit to Lichfield Cathedral if you did, like,
share and subscribe and don't forget to turn on the all notification buttons because you
never know what's going to be down the line with the History Squad. Before I go,
a couple of mentions for our Patreons,
I've got it written down here, Michael Briggs and Zachary Miller. Hey guys thanks a million.