Lichfield Cathedral, Staffordshire Genealogy

Parish History
Lichfield was at an early period a see jointly with Coventry, and, after the demolition of the abbey buildings at Coventry, became in reality, though not in name, the sole seat of the diocese. Within the last few years, Coventry has been transferred to the diocese of Worcester; the jurisdiction now extends over the counties of Derby and Stafford, and a considerable part of the county of Salop. The ecclesiastical establishment consists of a bishop, dean, precentor, chancellor, the archdeacons of Salop, Stafford, and Derby, a number of canons residentiary and non-residentiary, five minor canons, and other officers. The bishop is now styled Bishop of Lichfield, and has the patronage of the archdeaconries, the chancellorship, and the canonries; the Dean and Chapter have the patronage of the minor canonries..... The Cathedral, which had been reduced during the parliamentary war to a state of extreme dilapidation, was restored by Dr. Hacket, on his preferment to the see of Lichfield and Coventry in 1661, to its original state of splendour and magnificence: various improvements have subsequently been made; and the choir has been greatly enlarged, under the superintendence of Mr. Wyatt, by the removal of the screen in front of the Lady chapel. The prevailing character of the edifice is the early English, approaching very nearly to the decorated style. The west front is magnificently rich, and the spires of the western towers are in beautiful combination with the lofty central spire; the east end is hexagonal, and the whole exterior is highly ornamented in various parts with statuary and sculpture of exquisite design and elaborate execution. The interior presents various styles, with several later insertions. The transepts display considerable portions in the Norman character, and the choir, which deviates from the line of the nave, is in the decorated English style: it is richly ornamented, and lighted by windows of beautiful tracery; the bishop's throne, and the prebendal stalls, are fine specimens of tabernacle-work. St. Mary's chapel, built by Bishop Langton, is an edifice of elegant design, with nine lofty windows, of which the three at the east end are more rich in their tracery, and are ornamented with stained glass brought by Sir Brooke Boothby from the dissolved abbey of Herckenrode, in the bishopric of Liege; in the central window on one side is a painting of the Resurrection, by Egginton, from a design by Sir Joshua Reynolds. In this chapel was the shrine of St. Chad, which was demolished at the Dissolution. Among the monuments in the cathedral that escaped the ravages of the parliamentary troops are those of Bishops Langton and Pattishull. There are, also, a monument to Dr. Johnson; a bust of Garrick; a mutilated statue of Captain Stanley; and a monument by Chantrey, to the memory of the infant children of Mrs. Robinson, which is unrivalled for beauty of design, intensity of feeling, and force of expression. A passage from the north aisle leads to the chapter-house, a decagonal building of great elegance, whose finely-vaulted roof is supported on a clustered central column. Above it is the library, instituted by Dean Heywood, in which are the Gospels of St. Chad, a Koran taken at the siege of Buda, and a folio edition of Chaucer, richly illuminated. The bishop's palace, on the north-east side of the Close, is a spacious edifice.From: 'Lewknor - Lidsey', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 78-85. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51106 Date accessed: 10 March 2011.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
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Census records
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Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Staffordshire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

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Web sites
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