LICHFIELD, a city, county of a city, and municipal borough in Staffordshire, England, 118 m. N.W. from London. Pop. (1931) 8,508. The town is situated on a stream draining eastward to the Trent, with low hills to the east and south.
There is a tradition that "Christianfield" near Lichfield was the site of the martyrdom of 1,000 Christians during the persecu tions of Maximian about 286. At Wall, 3 m. distant, there was a Romano-British village of Letocetum ("grey wood"), from which the first half of the name Lichfield is derived. The first authentic notice of Lichfield occurs in Bede's history, where it is mentioned as the place where St. Chad fixed the episcopal see of the Mercians. After the foundation of the see by St. Chad in 669, it was raised in 786 by Pope Adrian to an archbishopric, but in 803 the primacy was restored to Canterbury. In 1075 the see of Lichfield was removed to Chester, and thence a few years later to Coventry, but it was restored in 1148. At the time of the Domesday Survey Lichfield was held by the bishop of Chester.
The lordship and manor of the town were held by the bishop until the reign of Edward VI., when they were leased to the corpora tion. Richard II. gave a charter (1387) for the foundation of the gild of St. Mary and St. John the Baptist ; this gild obtained the whole local government, which it exercised until its dissolution by Edward VI., who incorporated the town (1548). The only existing fair is a small pleasure fair of ancient origin held on Ash Wednesday; the annual fete on Whit-Monday claims to date from the time of Alfred. In the Civil Wars Lichfield was divided.
The cathedral authorities were for the king, but the townsfolk sided with the parliament, and this led to the fortification of the close in 1643. The close yielded to the parliament and was re taken by Prince Rupert ; but on the breakdown of the king's cause in 5646 it again surrendered.
The cathedral is small, and stands near the Minster Pool. The present building dates from the 13th and early 14th centuries. The fine exterior of the cathedral has a lofty central and two lesser western spires, of which the central, 252 ft. high, is a restoration
attributed to Sir Christopher Wren after its destruction during the Civil Wars. The west front is composed of three stages of ornate arcading. Within, the south transept shows simple Early English work, the north transept and chapter house more ornate work of a later period in that style, the nave, with its geometrical ornament, marks the transition to Decorated, while the Lady chapel is Decorated. The west front falls in date between the nave and the Lady chapel. Here is the "Sleeping Children," a masterpiece by Chantrey (1817). Among numerous monuments are memorials to Samuel Johnson, a native of Lichfield, and to David Garrick, who spent his early life and was educated here, and a monument to Major Hodson, who fell in the Indian mutiny and whose father was canon of Lichfield.
The bishop's palace (1687) is adjacent to the cathedral. The diocese covers the greater part of Staffordshire and about half the parishes in Shropshire, with small parts of Cheshire and Derbyshire. The church of St. Chad is ancient though extensively restored. There are many half-timbered and other old houses, among which is that in which Johnson was born. Brewing is the principal industry, but there is some metal-working, and in the neighbourhood are large market gardens.
or LYCH-GATE, the roofed-in gateway to churchyards (0.E. lie, "a body, a corpse"; cf. Ger. Leiche). Lich gates existed in England thirteen centuries ago, but comparatively few early ones survive, as they were almost always of wood. One at Bray, Berkshire, is dated 1448. Here the clergy meet the corpse and some portion of the service is read. The gateway served to shelter the pall-bearers. In some lich-gates there stood large flat stones called lich-stones upon which the corpse was laid. The most common form of lich-gate is a simple shed composed of a roof with two gabled ends, covered with tiles or thatch. At Berrynar bor, Devon, there is a lich-gate in the form of a cross, while at Troutbeck, Westmorland, there are three lich-gates to one church yard. Some elaborate gates have chambers over them.