Planned by Bishop Nonant, who wrote the first set of statutes of any English Cathedral, and so structured its life, the present Gothic Cathedral was built over a period of about 150 years, and shows all the major styles of Gothic architecture.  The crossing and western end of the choir date from 1200, and show both Norman Transitional and Early English work.  The nave is Geometric, the Lady Chapel and eastern choir in the Decorated Gothic style, and there are several examples of Perpendicular in the windows.

Simple elegance of Early English Gothic

Built around 1200, the western bays of the choir are the oldest part of the present Cathedral.  There are signs of Norman decoration on some pillars, the blind arcading is very simple, and several small, pointed Early English windows survive, most notably in the Chapels of St Michael and St Chad.  The building of the south and north transepts followed in1220 and 1240 respectively.  Again the simple elegance of Early English Gothic is seen in the blind arcading.  The great south window is in the later Perpendicular style, but that in the north transept is Early English, rebuilt by Gilbert Scott, in the 19th century, using the head stones of the 13th-century window, which he found during restoration work.

Before the Norman nave was replaced, important building took place to the north and south of the choir.  From the north choir aisle a vestibule was built to lead into the Chapter House, in which the Chapters of Lichfield and Coventry met to elect their bishop.  The most interesting feature of the vestibule is the unique medieval pedilavium, on the left hand side.  Here, it is believed, the foot-washing ceremony of Maundy Thursday took place.  The early Church followed the example of Jesus, recorded in St John’s Gospel, and washed the feet of the poor, just before Easter.  It is recorded that the kings of England did the same.  King John, for example, is known to have taken part in the ceremony in 1213 at Rochester, and to have given thirteen pence to each of thirteen men.  There are thirteen arches on the left in the vestibule, and it is thought that the bishop would have followed the custom of the king, each poor person being supported by a friend, standing in the passage behind the seat.  Although the Queen did not wash feet when she carried out the Maundy at Lichfield in 1988, footwashing does still feature in the Easter ceremonies of the Cathedral.

The Chapter House and Library

The Chapter House, which opens off the vestibule, was renovated, in 1982, in memory of Bishop Reeve.  It was completed in 1249, and is an octagonal building, both unusual and beautiful.  Over its entrance is one of the Cathedral’s three medieval wall paintings.  The Assumption of Our Lady is shown, and there is a quite remarkable face of God.  The windows depict the life of St Chad.  He baptises the sons of the king, studies under St Aidan, instructs his own disciples and is seen in prayer as angels sing to herald his death.  Medieval carvings include Adam and Eve on the east wall and a cat with a mouse over the bishop’s seat.

The library, above the Chapter House, is an almost exact replica of it and contains one of the Cathedral’s memorable features; a late 13th-century tiled pavement lies as it was set. The tiles look worn but still beautiful, and the designs were imitated by Mintons, when they provided the tilework for the choir in the 1850s.  The greatest treasure of the library is The St Chad Gospels, on show in the Chapter House.  The manuscript dates from around AD 730 and contains the Gospels of Matthew and Mark and the early part of Luke.  Written in Latin, in the Lindisfarne style, the two volumes, one of which is now missing, survived a period in Wales, the Reformation and the Civil War.  The medieval library was destroyed or dispersed during the Civil War, and the other fine manuscripts and early printed books, now in the library, were the gift of the Duchess of Somerset (in 1673) and of other benefactors since.

St Chad's Head Chapel

The second 13th-century addition was St Chad’s Head Chapel, on the opposite side of the Cathedral.  The Sacrist’s Roll of 1345 mentions that the head, or skull, of the saint was kept here, and an arm bone in a casket.  Probably in the 13th century pilgrims mounted a staircase in the wall, walked round the head, and then down a second stairway which still exists.  The pressure of pilgrimage is thought to have led the Chapter to close one staircase and build, instead, a balcony, from which the precious relic could be shown to the passing crowd below. Further major building developments occurred before the end of the 13th century.  The nave was completed in 1285 in the Geometric style.  It is said to be one of the finest in the country, with excellent proportions, angular decoration and remarkable clerestory windows.  Standing at the west end, the visitor has a splendid view of the whole length of the Cathedral, notable because the height of the Lady Chapel roof is the same as that of the choir, and there is no elaborate stone screen to impair the view.  From here, too, one can see the strange bend in the Cathedral (a feature shared with a number of medieval Cathedrals), explained by some as due to a curve in the bedrock, by Dr Plot, in the 18th century, ingeniously, as a readjustment to the East-West line, with the invention of the compass, but by most as resulting from the building of the Lady Chapel.

East End and the Lady Chapel 

The rebuilding of the east end followed the building of the nave.  If you stand by St Chad’s Head Chapel in the south choir aisle, you can see that the pillar has two styles of decoration.  The blind arcading changes at this point, too, becoming more ornate, and even the vaulting changes slightly in form.  The explanation given is that when the east wall of the Early English choir was knocked down to join the new Lady Chapel to the main building, it would not fit.  William Ramsey, the king’s master architect, solved the problem by knocking down the eastern bays of the choir, and rebuilding them in continuity with the Lady Chapel, and on a slight curve, clearly visible in the north choir aisle wall. A less romantic explanation would be that because of the plague or lack of money, the rebuilding of the Choir was never completed. The Lady Chapel was completed in 1330, and was largely the work of Bishop Walter de Langton.  It is in the Decorated style of Gothic and adds yet another style of blind arcading.  The Nodding Ogees are exquisitely decorated and even 19th-century replacement stones have been finely carved in a sympathetic style.  Its addition completed the east-west axis of the Cathedral and provided a fine setting for the elaborate Shrine of St Chad, for which Bishop Langton paid £2000.  The Shrine is described as being in the form of a small church, decorated with statues and adorned with precious gifts and jewels.

The pilgrims’ goal

This was the pilgrims’ goal.  After passing the balcony and seeing the skull of the Saint, they went through a door in the stone screen, separating the choir from the Lady Chapel, and worshipped at the Shrine.  In Norman times, the Shrine of St Chad would have stood directly behind the altar, in the apse of the choir.  It is assumed that the pressure of pilgrims disrupting the regular daily worship in the choir led to the extension of the east end, and the creation of a feretory, in which the Shrine was then placed.  With the building of the Lady Chapel, the provision for pilgrims was complete. Although it looks very different today, it is possible, by reading the stonework carefully, to imagine how the Cathedral would have looked to a pilgrim in, say, 1400.  Many, it is said, were ferried across the pool and approached the Cathedral by the south door.  On entering, they saw two small chapels on their right.  Others might approach the west front, and see the array of 113 statues, all but four of which are now Victorian replacements.  The medieval ones were painted, and some were gilded, as were the internal statues of the choir and Lady Chapel, which have also been replaced.  Some evidence of that painting can still be seen in the canopies of the Lady Chapel. 

The Cathedral which they entered would have been much darker, not only because of the medieval glass (a few fragments of which are in the east window of St Michael’s Chapel), but also because of the painted stonework.  In addition to the painting in the Chapter House, paintings from about 1400 have been preserved on the south wall of the choir aisle and at its eastern end.  The latter is part of a piscina, used by the priests to wash the communion vessels.  A number of piscinas and aumbreys (used to store the consecrated bread) can still be found and mark the position of medieval altars and chapels.  Although these disappeared at the Reformation, we know that in 1400 there were some fifteen such altars and about the same number of chantry priests, saying mass daily for the souls of the departed. The roof vaulting, too, would have been extensively painted.  The present decoration was completed in 1988.  When the vaulting was cleaned, traces of the medieval paint were clearly visible from the scaffolding.  The detail of the roof bosses also became clear.  Many are elegantly carved, and three in the choir show the Trinity, the Assumption and the Coronation of Our Lady.  All were important doctrinal themes of this pre-Reformation period.

The Cathedral of 1400 was, then, a colourful and busy place, as the throng of pilgrims, particularly on St Chad’s Day, 2nd March, visited the Shrine for prayer and chantry priests said Mass at the many altars.  All this changed at the Reformation.