Lichfield Castle

In the civil parish of Lichfield. In the historic county of Staffordshire (Modern Authority of Staffordshire, 1974 county of Staffordshire).

Lichfield Castle existed in the period between 1129 to 1148, probably in the Wade/Frog Street area. There are no remains, but castle field was recorded in the south part of the town circa 1540, and Castle Ditch in the east part in 1798. An account written in 1347 by a Cannon of Lichfield states that Bishop Roger de Clinton (1129-1148) fortified the castle of Lichfield. VCH attributes castle place names in south of town to possible Anglo-saxon fortification at Borrowcop Hill and places castle in Cathedral Close (qv). It does seem that the fortified cathedral close was described as a 'castellum' about 1200. My personal view is that there was a timber castle of some sort in the town in the early C12 (probably started at the same time as Tamworth and Stafford ie c.1070) but that the work by Clinton was probably done on the cathedral close and the castle was basically defunct at this time. Leland noted the supposed southern location of the castle but felt the close was the true location of the castle.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SK119095

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 306620
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 04286 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 1997, Castles and Moated Mansions of Staffordshire (Malvern) p32
    Salter, Mike, 1993, Midlands Castles (Birmingham) p61
    Greenslade, M.W. (ed), 1990, VCH Staffordshire Vol14 p7, 60
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p452
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Lynam, C., 1908, in Page, Wm. (ed), VCH Staffordshire Vol1
• Journal Articles
  • 1983-4, Transactions of South Staffordshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol25
    Palliser, D.M., 1972, 'Staffordshire Castles: A Provisional List' Staffordshire Archaeology Vol1 p5-8
    Barns, T., 1913, North Staffordshire Field Club transactions Vol48 p123-8
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/warkseng.html#staf9]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p437, 443
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol2 p99 http://www.archive.org/details/itineraryofjohnl02lelauoft ; Vol5 p19 http://www.archive.org/details/itineraryofjohnl05lelauoft