About Lichfield

The Midlands City of Lichfield holds a number of arts events during the year, which include the International Arts Festival, Shakespeare in the Park, The Medieval Market, FUSE - The Event in a tent and The Lichfield Folk Festival. These together with the city's history make Lichfield an ideal setting for the Mystery plays. Some facts about Lichfield history are given below.

In the seventh century, St Chad came to Lichfield to take up the post of Bishop of Mercia. There are many articles on the life of St Chad, but it seems fitting to note on a web site that the Church of St Chad had its fifteen minutes of fame during the American Presidential election last year when "Chads" were so topical.

The Doomsday Book in the Middle Ages indicates that Lichfield had fallen into relative obscurity. It was no longer the major ecclesiastical centre of the Midlands, since Mercia no longer existed. This began to change with the arrival of Bishop Roger de Clinton in 1129. Work on the Cathedral had already started, but Bishop Clinton probably completed much of it. He also set out the structure of the city that still remains to this day. The streets were laid out in a grid, with wider streets than usual. City planning like this is more often associated with post second world war new towns.

By the time of the Reformation, the Cathedral Close had been fortified with walls and even a moat. It was however besieged on three separate occasions and on one occasion the central spire was toppled by six days assault from cannon balls. The penalty for flying a royalist flag.

Finally it seems fitting that the Mystery Plays should be performed in a city that was the home of Dr Samuel Johnson whose dictionary was so important to the English language and David Garrick who was such an eminent performer.

If you want to know more about Lichfield, visit the Tourist Information site or there is a Tour of the City on another web site.


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