Prehistory and antiquity The earliest evidence of settlement is
Mesolithic flints discovered on the high ground of the cemetery at
St Michael on Greenhill, which may indicate an early flint industry. Traces of
Neolithic settlement have been discovered on the south side of the sandstone ridge occupied by
Lichfield Cathedral. south-west of Lichfield, near the point where
Icknield Street crosses
Watling Street, was the site of Letocetum (the
Brittonic *Lētocaiton, "Greywood"). Established in AD 50 as a
Roman military fortress, it had become a civilian settlement (
vicus) with a bath house and a
mansio by the 2nd century. although these were largely historic remembrances of early
Sub-Roman Britain.
Middle Ages was built between 1195 and 1249 The early history of Lichfield is obscure. The first authentic record of Lichfield occurs in
Bede's history, where it is called
Licidfelth and mentioned as the place where
St Chad fixed the
episcopal see of the Mercians in 669. The first
Christian king of
Mercia,
Wulfhere, donated land at Lichfield for Chad to build a monastery. It was because of this that the ecclesiastical centre of Mercia became settled as the
Diocese of Lichfield, which was approximately northwest of the seat of the Mercian kings at
Tamworth. In July 2009, the
Staffordshire Hoard, the largest collection of
Anglo-Saxon gold ever found, was discovered in a field in the parish of
Hammerwich, south-west of Lichfield; it was probably deposited in the 7th century. The first cathedral was built on the present site in 700 when Bishop
Hædde built a new church to house the bones of St Chad, which had become the centre of a sacred shrine to many pilgrims when he died in 672. The burial in the cathedral of the kings of Mercia, Wulfhere in 674 and
Ceolred in 716, further increased the city's prestige. In 786 King
Offa made the city an archbishopric with authority over all the bishops from the
Humber to the
River Thames; his appointee was Archbishop
Hygeberht. This may have been motivated by Offa's desire to have an archbishop consecrate his son
Ecgfrith as king, since it is possible
Jænberht refused to perform the ceremony, which took place in 787. After King Offa's death in 796, Lichfield's power waned; in 803 the primacy was restored to Canterbury by
Pope Leo III after only 16 years. The
Historia Brittonum lists the city as one of the 28 cities of Britain around AD 833. During the 9th century, Mercia was devastated by Danish
Vikings. Lichfield itself was unwalled and the cathedral was despoiled, so
Bishop Peter moved the see to the fortified and wealthier
Chester in 1075. At the time of the
Domesday Book survey (1086), Lichfield was held by the
bishop of Chester; Lichfield was listed as a small village. The lord of the manor was the Bishop of Chester until the reign of
Edward VI. was discovered in a field near Lichfield In 1102 Bishop Peter's successor,
Robert de Limesey, transferred the see from Chester to Coventry. The Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield had seats in both locations; work on the present Gothic cathedral at Lichfield began in 1195. (In 1837 the see of Lichfield acquired independent status, and the style 'Bishop of Lichfield' was adopted.) In 1153 a markets charter was granted by King Stephen and, ever since, weekly markets have been held in the Market Square. Bishop
Roger de Clinton was responsible for transforming the scattered settlements to the south of Minster Pool into the ladder-plan streets existing today. Market Street, Wade Street, Bore Street and Frog Lane linked Dam Street, Conduit Street and Bakers Lane on one side with Bird Street and St John Street on the other. Bishop de Clinton also fortified the cathedral close and enclosed the town with a bank and ditch, and gates were set up where roads into the town crossed the ditch. In 1387
Richard II gave a charter for the foundation of the guild of St Mary and St John the Baptist; this guild functioned as the local government, until its dissolution by
Edward VI, who incorporated the town in 1548.
Early Modern The policies of
Henry VIII had a dramatic effect on Lichfield. The
Reformation brought the disappearance of
pilgrim traffic following the destruction of St Chad's shrine in 1538, which was a major loss to the city's economic prosperity. That year too the
Franciscan Friary was dissolved, the site becoming a private estate. Further economic decline followed the outbreak of
plague in 1593, which resulted in the death of over a third of the entire population. Three people were burned at the stake for
heresy under Mary I. The last public burning at the stake for heresy in England took place in Lichfield, when
Edward Wightman from
Burton upon Trent was
executed by burning in the Market Place on 11 April 1612 for promoting himself as the divine
Paraclete and Saviour of the world. was born in Breadmarket Street in 1709 —the record of his native town."—
Henry James,
Lichfield and Warwick, 1872 (sculptor) of Johnson statue taken in 1859 In the
English Civil War, Lichfield was divided. The cathedral authorities, supported by some of the townsfolk, were for the king, but the townsfolk generally sided with the Parliament. This led to the fortification of the close in 1643. Lichfield's position as a focus of supply routes had an important strategic significance during the war, and both forces were anxious for control of the city. The Parliamentary commander
Lord Brooke led an assault on the fortified close, but was killed by a sniper's bullet on St Chad's day in 1643. The close subsequently yielded to the Parliamentarians, but was
retaken by
Prince Rupert of the Rhine in the same year, and the governorship granted to a local gentleman, Richard Bagot. On the collapse of the Royalist cause in 1646 it again surrendered. The cathedral suffered extensive damage from the war, including the complete destruction of the central spire. It was restored at the Restoration under the supervision of
Bishop Hacket, and thanks in part to the generosity of
King Charles II. Lichfield started to develop a lively coaching trade as a stop-off on the busy route between London and
Chester from the 1650s onwards, making it Staffordshire's most prosperous town. In the 18th century, and then reaching its peak in the period from 1800 to 1840, the city thrived as a busy coaching city on the main routes from London to the north-west and Birmingham to the north-east. It also became a centre of great intellectual activity, being the home of many famous people including
Samuel Johnson,
David Garrick,
Erasmus Darwin and
Anna Seward; this prompted Johnson's remark that Lichfield was "a city of philosophers". In the 1720s
Daniel Defoe described Lichfield as 'a fine, neat, well-built, and indifferent large city', the principal town in the region after Chester. During the late 18th and early 19th century much of the medieval city was rebuilt with the red-brick
Georgian style buildings still to be seen today. Also during this time, the city's infrastructure underwent great improvements, with underground sewerage systems, paved streets and gas-powered street lighting. An infantry regiment of the
British Army was formed at Lichfield in 1705 by Col.
Luke Lillingstone in the King's Head tavern in Bird Street. In 1751 it became the 38th Regiment of Foot, and in 1783 the 1st
Staffordshire Regiment; after reorganisation in 1881 it became the 1st battalion of the
South Staffordshire Regiment. These plans have not gone ahead and new plans have been made for a cinema in the abandoned
Debenhams building. == Governance ==