Some fourteen miles to the north of Birmingham, the pocket-sized town of LICHFIELD is a slow-moving but amiable place that demands a visit for one reason - its magnificent sandstone Cathedral (daily 8am-6.30pm; £3 donation requested). Begun in 1085, but substantially rebuilt in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the cathedral is unique in possessing three spires - an appropriate distinction for a bishopric that once extended over virtually all of the Midlands. The cathedral's west front is adorned by over one hundred statues of biblical figures, English kings and the supposed ancestors of Christ, some of them dating back to the thirteenth century, but mostly Victorian replacements of originals destroyed by Cromwell's troops. Even the central spire was demolished during the skirmishes - Lichfield justly claims to be the cathedral that was most damaged during the Civil War. Extensive and painstaking rebuilding and restoration work, which was begun immediately after the Restoration in 1660, has gone on ever since, although the bulk of the work was only completed at the end of the nineteenth century.
Inside, the nave is graced by a long line of slender arches and these, together with the decorated capitals and elaborate roof bosses, more than compensate for its lack of width. Moving on, the first three bays of the choir are the oldest part of the church, completed in the Early English style of the twelfth century, but the remainder is middle Gothic. On the south side of the choir a narrow stone stairway leads up to a fine minstrels' gallery and the St Chad's Head Chapel , where the head of the saint was once displayed to cheer up the faithful. Most impressive of all, however, is the Lady Chapel , at the far end of the choir, which boasts a set of magnificent sixteenth-century windows, purchased from the Cistercian abbey at Herkenrode in Belgium in 1802.
The cathedral's greatest treasure, the Lichfield Gospels , is displayed (Easter-Christmas) in the chapter house , off the north side of the choir. One of the most exquisite and valuable surviving Anglo-Saxon artefacts in the country, this 1250-year-old illuminated manuscript contains the complete gospels of Matthew and Mark, and a fragment of the gospel of Luke, written in Latin and embellished with elaborate decoration. Different pages are exhibited at different times, but a particular favourite is the gorgeous Carpet Page, showing a decorative cross whose blend of Coptic, Celtic and Oriental influences make it the equal of the more famous Irish Book of Kells and Lindisfarne Gospels.
Back outside, the Cathedral is flanked by The Close , which, with its good-looking medley of Georgian and Victorian buildings, is the prettiest place in town. From the Close, it's a short walk along Dam Street to the Market Place , where there's a statue honouring Lichfield's most famous son, Samuel Johnson , eighteenth-century England's most celebrated wit and critic and the compiler of the ground-breaking Dictionary of the English Language . The adjacent Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum (April-Sept daily 10.30am-4.30pm; Oct-March Mon-Sat 10.30am-4.30pm; £2) occupies the narrow four-storey house that was both the family home and a bookshop. The museum's ground floor still serves as a bookshop - with copies of many of Johnson's works plus James Boswell's celebrated biography entitled the Life of Johnson - whilst up above, on the first floor, a video provides a well-considered potted introduction to the great man. Thereafter, a series of modest displays explore Johnson's life and times. Of particular interest is the biting letter he sent to a certain Lord Chesterfield, after the latter falsely claimed credit for sponsoring Johnson's dictionary. The top floor holds a small collection of personal memorabilia, including Johnson's favourite armchair, his chocolate pot (chocolate was a real Georgian delicacy), bib holder, shoe buckles and ivory writing tablets.
