It was a Sunday around lunch time when we visited Lichfield Cathedral and the place was surprisingly busy, but we were really lucky and managed to get a parking place really close to the centre of the town – or city as I suppose it is. The cathedral is so tall it was quite difficult to get it all in on my phone, I just about managed. I was seriously impressed with all the carving on the front although I was later told that some of it is Victorian as it was quite badly damaged during the Civil War.

As we were walking to the cathedral I was surprised to see this tomb/effigy on the outside of the cathedral, the right hand side of it. I think it must be one of the oldest parts, it seems strange that it isn’t inside the cathedral though.

King Charles II stands fairly close to that tomb. He was instrumental in having a lot of the Civil War damage repaired.

I suppose that all Church of England cathedrals are ‘high’, but this one seems to be particularly so.However, I must say that the volunteers and guides were very interesting,  friendly and welcoming.

There seem to be quite a few altars in the cathedral in various locations, side chapels and such, but below is the high altar. I must say that as I have no religious inclinations at all, the atmosphere in this place was very pleasant, you can’t say the same for all places of worship.

Possibly  the mosaic tiled floor below is the most modern part of the cathedral as it looks Victorian to me. There is a roundel of King Charles II, obviously he was  popular in Lichfield! The Victorian renovation was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott. You can read about the history of the cathedral here.

The roof is beautiful, so delicate looking but obviously strong.

There is of course a shop, but also a lot of war memorials which interested Jack. Below is a side chapel, I think.

My phone focused on these African shields below rather than the ornate ironwork.

Thanks again for suggesting the cathedral as a good place to visit, Cecilia.

One last observation about this cathedral. They don’t have a ticket fee, they just ask nicely that visitors might make a donation if they can, which of course we did. We visited a couple of other cathedrals during our trip and they had quite steep ticket prices, despite their websites saying that they were ‘free’ to visit. I understand that it costs a lot to keep these places standing, but in one of the others I felt almost like I’d been ‘mugged’.  It was especially annoying as where we were parked meant that our visit could only be a very brief one. I think it’s best if they can just ask for donations although I suspect that that would mean a lot of people wouldn’t give anything at all.