The St Chad Gospels and Lichfield Angel display

In June 2011, the Cathedral's two great Anglo Saxon treasures were installed in new permanent display cabinets in the Chapter House.

The St Chad Gospels, an illuminated Anglo Saxon gospel book which dates from about 730 (which makes it older than the famous Book of Kells), were previously hidden away behind a pillar in a cabinet for over 30 years. The Lichfield Angel previously languished in the transportation crate in which it was returned to the Cathedral by the conservator in 2007. The treasures have now been installed in bespoke frameless glass cabinets, on specially engineered mounts and with tailored lighting.

The redisplay of these treasures is part of a £120,000 upgrade of the Chaper House, including its security, in preparation for the Staffordshire Hoard on Tour in August 2011. Funding for this project has been gratefully received from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Foyle Foundation, the Staffordshire Hoard Partnership, the Friends of Lichfield Cathedral, Lichfield District Council and members of the Cathedral community.

In October until the end of 2011, the Canterbury Tales and the Codex Juris Canonici will also be on display in the Chapter House. We are able to display them securely thanks to the cctv and alarm upgrade to the Cathedral made earlier this year in preparation for the Staffordshire Hoard on Tour exhibition. The exhibition cases were those purchased for that exhibition, which have now returned permanently to the Cathedral.

The Canterbury Tales display

This manuscript is one of the most stunning treasures in our Cathedral library. It was part of the bequest of 'one thousand volumes' which the Duchess of Somerset gave to the Cathedal after the death of her husband in 1670. the bequest coincided with the restoration of the Cathedral after the ravages of the Civil War and became the core of the new library collection after almost all of the contents of the Cathedral's medieval library had been lost in the seige of 1646.

The manuscript on display in the Chapter House, dates from about 1420 and is therefore a rare and early complete copy of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote the work in the late 1380s. It includes some lavishly decorated pages at the start of each new tale in the cycle.

The Codex Juris Canonici display

This volume is one of the oldest manusripts in the Cathedral library. It dates from about the year 1200. It is a book of commentary and interpretation on 'canon' or church law, with some intruiging decorations on each page which are the manusript equivalent of gargoyles - fantastical creatures.