Church of St Chad, Lichfield

[1] During the 12th century the monastery was rebuilt as a church in stone and consisted of the nave, two side aisles and a chancel.

[1] During the 13th century the roof was replaced, the gables were dispensed with and the walls built up to the level of the window heads.

The south arcade of five bays with octagonal pillars is also Early English, as are the chancel and the west doorway.

The five-light chancel east window with cusped intersecting tracery was also built during this time as was the font, which is still in use today.

He described it as "a most beautiful church in honour of St. Chad, with most lofty stone towers, and splendidly adorned with pictures, sculptures, and other ecclesiastical ornaments.

In the 1830s James Rawson, a local physician, saw to it that the water supply was improved and an ornate octagonal stone structure erected over the well.

[4] When the water dried up by the early 1920s, the well was lined with brick and a pump was fitted to the spring that fed it.

The well is still a popular site of pilgrimage for Anglicans and Catholics, traditionally decorated with flowers and greenery at a well-dressing ceremony on Maundy Thursday.

[5] The east end of the south aisle was formed into a Lady chapel in 1952 as a memorial to the fallen in the Second World War.

Interior of the church
The stone structure which stood over St Chad's Well from the 1830s to the 1950s.