The Lichfield Book of Days takes a day-by-day look at what has happened in the city through the centuries. For each of the 366 days of the year an informative, humorous, tragic or sometimes downright strange occurrence in Lichfield has been documented. Books, letters of the famous and old newspapers have all yielded up fascinating facts about events that have taken place in the ancient City of Lichfield. Some of the entries go far back into the past, whilst others are more recent.
For example the reader is transported to 672 AD, the year that St Chad died. He was, to all intents and purposes, the founder of the City and had arrived in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia to help establish the ‘new’ religion of Christianity, building his first church close to where Lichfield Cathedral now stands.
In a more up-to-date event, in 2011, a new road was named after the young soldier tragically shot by an IRA gunman at the City’s railway station, twenty years before. The opening ceremony of Robert Davies Walk was attended by the soldier’s parents as well as many local dignitaries.
Many royal visits have taken place in the City over the years. December 25th 1397 saw King Richard II and his wife Queen Anne staying in a specially built house in Cathedral Close. Over the following twelve festive days the royal party feasted on 2000 oxen and 200 barrels of wine. Less than two years later the same King was kept prisoner in the City after being captured during the uprising led by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke.
Other royal visitors noted in the book have included Elizabeth I, George IV, Victoria and Albert as well as the present Queen.
In the ‘strange’ category Lichfield has been the scene of ghostly apparitions; the discovery of secret rooms; flying saucers appearing over the city and the very odd decision of the Regal cinema to show the film White Christmas in August 1955!
Perhaps the best way to gauge the fortitude and determination of Lichfield’s inhabitants in the past is to read about how they reacted during the crisis years of the two world wars of the twentieth century. The long lists of First World War casualties published in the Lichfield Mercury, mostly young men from the local area, tug at the heartstrings even now; and the ways in which local people prepared themselves for the fight against Nazi Germany, at the start of the Second World War in September 1939, are truly inspiring.
Neil Coley is the author of The Lichfield Book of Days. Taking you through the year day by day, The Lichfield Book of Days contains quirky, eccentric, shocking, amusing and important events and facts from different periods in the history of the cathedral city. Ideal for dipping into, this addictive little book will keep you entertained and informed. Featuring hundreds of snippets of information gleaned from the vaults of Lichfield’s archives and covering the social, political, religious, agricultural, criminal, industrial and sporting history of the region, it will delight residents and visitors alike.