Nominal: 640 Hz Weight: 2072 lbs Diameter: 48.5" Bell 1 of 8
Founded by Abraham II Rudhall 1734
Dove Bell ID: 3991 Tower ID: 12669 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: quarter Cracked: No
Lichfield: St Mary
Overview
Grid reference: SK 117 95
The Venerable Bede records that the burial of St Chad (d.672) took place in St Mary’s church, though it is not clear that that St Mary’s was on the site of the present church. There was certainly a Norman church on the present site, destroyed by fire in 1291. The tower dates from the C14 rebuilding; the rest of the C14 church was rebuilt in 1717-21. The tower was encased in stone and a steeple added by G. E. Street, 1852-54, and the Georgian church rebuilt by James Fowler of Louth in 1868-70. The nave and aisles were declared redundant in 1979 and subdivided to form a heritage centre, with the area to the E of the chancel arch retained for worship. A viewing platform was constructed in the tower in 1992.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
3-bay chancel with 2-bay north Dyott chapel and south vestry and organ loft; 5-bay nave with lean-to aisles and west tower and spire. Sanctuary projects E beyond N and S chapels. Building west of chancel arch has been vertically and horizontally subdivided to form a heritage centre.
Dimensions:
Nave 70’ x 28’; aisle 19’ wide; chancel 30’ x 24’. Spire 200’ high.
Footprint of Church buildings: 837 m²
Description of Archaeology and History
High archaeological potential as the site of a place of worship at the centre of the city of Lichfield since at least the C12, possibly much earlier. Archaeological investigations in the vicinity have discovered much medieval material together with Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon finds.
In addition to the recorded burials in the Dyott chapel and the church at large, the long history of worship on the site creates a strong possibility of further burials.
The Venerable Bede records that the burial of St Chad (d.672) took place in St Mary’s church, and that his remains were afterwards transferred to the Cathedral. However, it is not clear that that St Mary’s was on the site of the present one. The Victoria County History records that “according to a note of 1713 in the chuchwardens’ accounts an ancient inscription in the tower stated that the foundation stone had been laid in 856”, but speculates that “the inscription, if it was not merely a product of antiquarian guesswork, had probably been misread, perhaps as a result of damage.” According to the VCH, the present church was not certainly recorded until 1293, and suggests that it was “probably established when the new town was laid out in the mid 12th century.” It was referred to as the chapel church in 1329, a usage which persisted into the C20; until the early C17 its usual name was “the chapel of St. Mary in the market place.”
The Norman church on the site was destroyed in a conflagration in 1291. The church was rebuilt in the C14. It seems that the steeple blew down in 1593, and the church suffered damage in the siege of Lichfield during the Civil War, in 1643. After further dilapidation it was decided in 1716 that the church should be rebuilt; only the C14 tower was left, encased in brick and stucco.
In 1852 it was decided to rebuild the exterior of the tower in stone and restore the steeple, as a memorial to the vicar, the Reverend Henry Lonsdale: this was an early work by G. E. Street. In 1868 the brick and stucco church was taken down and the present church in stone, by James Fowler of Louth (a native of Lichfield), erected as a memorial to John Lonsdale, Bishop of Lichfield (and brother of Henry Lonsdale, and father of Canon John Gylby Lonsdale, vicar from 1866-9): it was consecrated in 1870.
Dr Johnson, whose birthplace stands just to the W of the church at the corner of Market St and Breadmarket St, was baptised in St Mary’s. There are statues of Johnson and Boswell in the square. Also to the W of the church on Breadmarket St, recorded by a plaque, the site of the birthplace of Elias Ashmole, founder of the Ashmolean.
St Mary’s was the guild church in the later Middle Ages, and became the civic church; new civic seats were installed in 1945, and the church has continued to be used for civic services since the opening of the heritage centre. The church was also used by the grammar school
Exterior Description
The very impressive tower and spire predate the body of the church, being a C14 tower adapted in the C18 and then encased in stone, with a spire added, by G. E. Street in 1853. The tower has gabled angle buttresses with top blind tracery panels, a W entrance of three orders with foliate capitals, a cinquefoil inner arch and paired doors with rich strap hinges. The gable has a quatrefoil and cusped mouchettes, and is framed by sexfoils and pilasters terminating in pinnacles. Above, a four-light W window on deep weathered sill with a hood mould and foliate stops; triangular-headed blind tracery panels and elegant paired two-light louvred bell openings with crocketed gables; and quatrefoil frieze and pinnacles, the latter partly disguising the breaches of the spire. The spire has three rises to a height of 200ft, its three tiers of lucarnes (three-, two- and one-light) emphasise its powerful upward movement and enable it to do more than simply hold its own when seen (as it readily is) in the distant views of the town in conjunction with those of the Cathedral. There is a clock at the second stage on the market-place (N) side, and a turreted tower stair between the tower and S aisle.
The body of the church is in the Decorated Gothic style by James Fowler, 1868-70, with a plinth and coped gables and geometrical tracery to the windows. The chancel has clasping buttresses with pinnacles, a large east window (of seven tall lights with two sexfoils over the side portions and a huge circlet in the top embracing six cinquefoils, on a weathered sill) and a gable cross. The clerestory extends into the chancel: two windows of two-lights with alternating quatrefoils and trefoils to each bay between shallow buttresses.
The lean-to chapel and vestry have angle buttresses with pinnacles and symbols of Evangelists (John and Luke) and coped parapets; the aisles have coped parapets and three-light windows between gabled buttresses, with angle buttresses with pinnacles and symbols of Evangelists (Mark and John) to W. The chapel has a three-light E window and two N windows of two lights; the listing description records that the vestry has a two-light window to the left of the entrance with beast stops to breaks in sill course. The first window in N aisle has been lowered to form entrance, with inserted C20 doors and canopy. The NW entrance has three orders in a shallow gabled porch with good carved foliage to capitals and hood stops and a gable with blind plate tracery, with inserted C20 doors and canopy. A C20 window has been inserted beneath N aisle W window.
Building Fabric and Features
Chancel
19th century 3 bay
Chapel (component)
19th century
Vestry
19th century
Organ Loft
19th century
Nave
19th century 5-bay
Tower (component)
14th century
Spire
19th century
Building Materials
Stone
19th century rock-faced
Ashlar
19th century dressings
Slate
19th century roofs
Steel
19th century aisle roofs
Timber
19th century roof structure
Marble
19th century floors
Interior
Interior Description
The interior was subdivided in 1979, with the ground floor forming meeting rooms, lavatories, a kitchen and restaurant, and an entrance lobby, and a mezzanine floor above housing a heritage centre, with the chancel and chapel retained for worship. The interior volume must once have been extremely impressive, and many fine features remain.
The interior is animated by sandstone facing variegated with deliberate though irregular alterations of dark and lighter coloured stone. The roof structure, “the great glory of the interior” (PM 847), has arch-braced scissor trusses with double purlins and wind-braces. The nave has arcades with very good, naturalistically carved foliate capitals. The tower has blocked three-light windows to N and S and a deeply splayed tower arch.
The chancel remains full-height, divided at the chancel arch with a plasterboard screen with glazed panels in the shape of a cross. The chancel arch is of one order with a corbelled inner arch. The chancel roof is ach-braced on corbelled wall shafts.
On the N side the separation between the chancel and the Dyott chapel is managed by a central pier, with arches on either side, now infilled with a glazed wooden screen. The organ chamber on the S side has a single opening with a hood mould that is continuous with a string course. To the vestry, a door of two orders with foliate capitals and a hood-mould with head stops. There were supposedly Minton tiles to the chancel floor, but it is not clear if these survive beneath the present carpet.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
20th century 1920s, featuring mosaic panels painted on opaque glass by Powell’s of Whitefriars and woodwork by Bridgeman. Altar depicts the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Presentation in the Temple; reredos depicts the Virgin and Child with angels, and Christ in majesty. A carved border features the lily, the rose, the pomegranate, the poppy and the vine. The high altar and memorial tablets were given by the parishioners as a joint memorial to the vicariate of Prebendary Bolton, and the soldiers and sailors who fell in WW1. The reredos, together with the oak panelling of the Sanctuary which includes an exceptionally rich frieze of Tudor roses and their foliage, were given in memory of Richard Powell Cooper and his wife Elizabeth Anne by their children. Contemporary with the altar and reredos in the chancel are the canopied war memorial to the N, and the canopied sedilia to the S, together forming an excellent ensemble in PM847 described it as “sumptuous 1920’s fin de Gothique.” Excellent. In Dyott chapel, modern altar. Front panel painted blue and decorated with stars; in the centre, a brightly painted and varnished carved relief of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the stable.
Lectern
20th century Modern, light wood, lightweight.
Pew (component)
20th century Civic pew by Bridgeman, 1945, incorporating mace rests and sword rest of 1868. Ends with Gothic blind tracery and surmounted by crowns. Frontals with carved foliage, central panels with Gothic blind tracery.
Rail
19th century Communion rails by Fowler, Gothic detailing.
Organ (component)
19th century Nicholson & Lord. The Victoria County History records that “The present organ was on show at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and was later bought for the church by Canon Lonsdale.” Restored by the same firm and a third manual and case added, 1907. Restored again by Michael Thomson, 2010, with 8’ string gamba from Choir replaced by 2’ piccolo from redundant organ elsewhere in the city. Very handsome case: brass plaque records “This organ screen was presented to St Mary’s church by Robert Bridgeman, Sherriff of Lichfield and Churchwarden of St Mary’s, and by members of his family, AD 1907.”
Plaque (component)
17th - 20th century Various brass plaques and stone tablets in memorial all over the church, including war memorials.
Stained Glass (window)
19th / 20th century Chancel, E. Seven-light. The last supper below, the crucifixion above, with angels and abstract designs in the tracery. Given in memory of Eliza Sherratt, d.1880; unsigned, but attributed to Clayton and Bell (PM 847) (pictured). N chapel, E. Four-light. Three healing miracles, and the miraculous draught of fishes. Signed and dated H. Hughes London 1870. N chapel, N. Two-light. Richard of Chichester – George of England. 1904. Signed by Curtis, Ward & Hughes. N aisle, W. Three-light. Above, Our Lady, Our Lord the Good Shepherd and St John the Baptist, with (beneath) the Circumcision, “Suffer Little Children”, and Baptism of Christ. 1880s. Unsigned, but attributed to Burlison & Grylls (Colin Menzies) (pictured). N aisle. Three-light. St Simeon receiving the Child Jesus. C.1881, unsigned but attributed to Burlison & Grylls “in their best ‘late-medieval Netherlandish’ manner” (Dr. Neil Moat). The figure of Anna has two poorly-matched stop-in repairs to her green robe. (pictured). N aisle. Stained glass in trefoil and two cinquefoils above three clear lancets. All that remains of a window in memory of William Tether Higgins, his wife Jane, and their children, 1892 by C. E. Kempe & Co., depicting the Annunciation. Tower, W: diamond-paned grisaille glass with red border S aisle. Three-light. Angel appearing to the shepherds. Memorial to Neville Horne Scott. Signed and dated T. F. Curtis, Ward & Hughes 1898.
Bells
Nominal: 1327.5 Hz Weight: 672 lbs Diameter: 30" Bell 2 of 8
Founded by Abraham II Rudhall 1726
Dove Bell ID: 28332 Tower ID: 12669 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: quarter Cracked: No
Nominal: 1243.5 Hz Weight: 728 lbs Diameter: 31" Bell 3 of 8
Founded by Abraham II Rudhall 1726
Dove Bell ID: 28333 Tower ID: 12669 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: quarter Cracked: No
Nominal: 1094 Hz Weight: 812 lbs Diameter: 32.5" Bell 4 of 8
Founded by Abraham II Rudhall 1726
Dove Bell ID: 28334 Tower ID: 12669 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: quarter Cracked: No
Nominal: 965.5 Hz Weight: 896 lbs Diameter: 34.5" Bell 5 of 8
Founded by Abraham II Rudhall 1726
Dove Bell ID: 28335 Tower ID: 12669 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: quarter Cracked: No
Nominal: 875 Hz Weight: 1008 lbs Diameter: 36.5" Bell 6 of 8
Founded by Abraham II Rudhall 1726
Dove Bell ID: 28336 Tower ID: 12669 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: quarter Cracked: No
Nominal: 828.5 Hz Weight: 1092 lbs Diameter: 38" Bell 7 of 8
Founded by Abraham II Rudhall 1726
Dove Bell ID: 28337 Tower ID: 12669 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: quarter Cracked: No
Nominal: 736.5 Hz Weight: 1568 lbs Diameter: 43" Bell 8 of 8
Founded by Abraham II Rudhall 1726
Dove Bell ID: 28338 Tower ID: 12669 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: quarter Cracked: No
Portable Furnishings and Artworks
Modern chairs, wood with vinyl seating.
Registers dating from the reign of Elizabeth I, deposited in Lichfield Joint Record Office.
Churchyard
Grid reference: SK 117 95
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
Sources
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