Lichfield Cathedral History of Lichfield Cathedral
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Just seventeen miles north of Birmingham, Lichfield lies at the heart of England. 1300 years ago, it stood at the centre of the ancient Kingdom of Mercia, and Bishop Hedda built a Cathedral here to house the bones of Saint Chad. Pilgrims have been coming here ever since, and today Lichfield Cathedral, at the heart of the Lichfield Diocese, is a focus for the regular worship of God, the life of a thriving community of Christians, and for the work of God in the wider world.

History

The history of Lichfield Cathedral starts in Saxon times, when Bishop Hedda built a small church to house the bones of St Chad. This small cathedral church was replaced by a large Norman cathedral in the twelfth century and this, in turn, by the present Mediæval cathedral, in the Gothic style, begun in 1195.

Much change took place during the Reformation, and it was severely damaged during the Civil War. Bishop Hacket restored the Cathedral in the 1660s, the Architect Wyatt made some changes to its ordering in the eighteenth century, and it was massively restored, to its Mediæval splendour, by Gilbert Scott during the 1800s.

The Cathedral today shows all the signs of this long history of a Christian community serving God and the world, and moving confidently into the twenty-first century.

©1997 Lichfield Cathedral