A lovely little city (Lichfield in general)

Member Name: SusanLesley

Product:	Lichfield in general
Date:	21/05/01 (82 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cathedral, Good shops, Lovely gardens

Disadvantages: Can't think of any

If you're visiting the Midlands take the time to have a look at Lichfield. It has so much to offer and is well worth a visit.

Lichfield is a relatively small, but historical city with a beautiful cathedral and some magnificent architecture. It is situated north west of Birmingham on the road between Walsall and Burton upon Trent.

St Chad’s Cathedral stands on the site of the first cathedral built in honour of St Chad in AD 700. It has three spires, know as The Ladies of the Vale, which can be seen from miles away. Work began on the present building in 1195 and continued with some interruptions until 1338. Whenever I visit Lichfield I always have a walk round the cathedral. It is always welcoming and very peaceful. I love to just sit and look around and have a little word with the Boss! It has a spectacular font with elaborate carvings of saints and kings and the windows of the Lady Chapel are one of the cathedral’s chief treasures.

There is a shop inside the cathedral that sells all sorts of gifts, both religious and otherwise, in aid of the cathedral funds. There is also a teashop opposite the side entrance, which serves drinks, snacks and light meals, again with proceeds going to the cathedral.

The area around the cathedral is very pretty with walks alongside Minster Pool and Stowe Pool. The walk along the north bank of Stowe Pool is known as Dr Johnson’s favourite walk and the view of the cathedral from here is superb. It is also a lovely place to sit and feed the ducks or just watch the world go by.

Dr Johnson was born in Lichfield in 1709 in a house on the corner of Breadmarket Street. The house has remained virtually unchanged since the 18th century and is now a museum with eight rooms dedicated to the life of Dr Johnson and his life, work and friends, both in Lichfield and in London. There are also two libraries of books and manuscripts, some of which actually belonged to Dr Johnson.


Further down Breadmarket Street is the birthplace of Elias Ashmole who was a 17th century antiquarian scholar. His collection of rarities was the foundation for the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford University.

There are many more old buildings in Lichfield so it is well worth having a good walk round maybe with a decent guidebook so that you don’t miss anything? I have a book called The Book of Town Walks and Lichfield is one of the places featured in it. Although I had been visiting Lichfield regularly for most of my life as we only live a short distance away, when I did the walk as described in this book I discovered so much that I had never noticed before.

Bishop Smyth founded St Johns Hospital with its eight huge Tudor chimneys in 1495, on the site of a Norman hospital. Opposite the Friary School there are remains of an old Franciscan Friary church dating back to the 13th century, which have been incorporated into a small garden. Opposite the 18th century Angel Croft Hotel is the house of Erasmus Darwin, which was built around 1760. He was a local doctor and also an inventor and botanist.

There is also a large park and gardens on the edge of the city centre, with beautiful flowerbeds, tennis courts and a bowling green. I remember being taken to this park as a child as there was a play area with swings and roundabouts etc, but there were also two old traction engines that we could climb on as well. I used to love to go there!

Lichfield has a good shopping centre with many of the main stores represented here, together with a street market and a host of small individual shops. I always find that this is a great place to visit for that unusual present. They even have a teddy bear shop, but it’s best that I don’t go in there too often!

In May each year there is a festival called the Lichfield Bower and the whole place is filled with stalls, fairground rides, street entertainers and they also have regular displa
ys of Morris Dancing too.

There are lots of nice pubs, teashops and restaurants, so refreshment for the sightseer or shopper is never far away. I must tell you a funny story on the topic of restaurants in Lichfield. When I was about 18 I was invited to dinner at The George Hotel to celebrate my then boyfriend’s 21st birthday together with his parents’ silver wedding anniversary. There were about 20 of us in the party and we all sat and ate our first course. Then a fire broke out in the kitchen and so they could not complete the meal for us. They rang the hotel just along the street, I think it’s called The Swan, and got us in there so we all had to walk up the street in our long dresses (that dates it a bit!) for the next course! We did wonder whether it would be main course here and sweet further up in The Angel Croft with coffee at the top of the street in The Little Barrow, but we did complete the meal in The Swan without further hitches!

I can’t guarantee this sort of excitement every time you visit Lichfield but this lovely place is certainly worth a look when you’re next in the Midlands.

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