But now in the time of the aforesaid William Heyworth, the cathedral of Lichfield was in the vertical! height thereof, being (though not augmented in the essentials) beautified in the ornamentals thereof. Indeed the west front thereof is a stately fabric, adorned with exquisite imagerie, which I suspect our age is so far from being able to imitate the workmanship, that it understandeth not the history thereof. - Page 1806
III. Previously to the great rebellion, it presented the same general appearance as it does at present, except that it was surrounded by fortifications, the traces of which are now scarcely visible. " The whole Close," says Leland, who wrote in the sixteenth century, " was newly dyked and walled by Bishop Langton ; who made a gate at the west part, a lesser at the southeast, and the bishop's palace at the east end. The glory of the Cathedral Church is the work at the west end, exceeding costly and... - Page 1806
The very morning after his arrival in Lichfield, he roused his servants by break of day, set his own coach horses, with teams and hired labourers, to remove the rubbish, and laid the first hand to the work he had meditated. By his large contributions, the benefactions of the dean and chapter, and the money arising from his assiduity in soliciting the aid of every gentleman in the diocess, and almost every stranger that visited the cathedral, he is said to have raised several thousand pounds. In eight... - Page 1808
