Almost uniquely in England, every century in the last millennium has left its mark on Lichfield Cathedral, so that the building has many wonderful stories to tell in stone and in glass, in tiles and metalwork, in sculpture and song. The Cathedral bears witness to the flourishing of the Christian faith in this part of England as well as to key events and epochs in the life of our nation. Its stories include:

• 700 The Saxon Mission: England in the Dark Ages and the spread of Christianity – the arrival of Chad in Lichfield, his rousing ministry in the Kingdom of Mercia and the building of the first Cathedral on this site by Bishop Hedda (and the first shrine to St Chad, including the Lichfield Angel and the Chad Gospels).
• 1100 The Norman Expansion: the building of the second Cathedral on this site under successive Bishops, between 1085 and 1135.
• 1220 The Gothic Rebuilding: the erection of the present (third) Cathedral building, with its pointed arches, slender windows and spires – with and the fortification of the Close and moat.
• 1540 The English Reformation and the removal of the shrine of St Chad with the loss of relics and the covering of paintings and destruction of sculptures.
• 1660 The Restoration following the ravages of the Civil War in which the central spire was destroyed and the medieval library ransacked, leading to the great rebuilding under Bishop Hacket.
• 1780 The Enlightenment when Lichfield and its Cathedral were a centre of culture and science (leading figures included Samuel Johnson, Erasmus Darwin, David Garrick and Anna Seward) and including Wyatt’s re-ordering.
• 1800 The Napoleonic Wars and the salvage and installation of the Herkenrode glass in the Lady Chapel.
• 1870 The Victorian restoration, including the metal and stone work of the Skidmore screen and pulpit and the Minton tiling in the Choir under the auspices of George Gilbert Scott.
• 1990: The Lang Silver Collection perhaps the finest collection of modern silver in the world.
• 2003: The Nave Platform – a visible symbol of liturgical changes which have been taking place not only in the Church of England but across all Christian denominations since the 1960s.