Hotels Lichfield

Hotels in Lichfield are often required for tourists who require short term accommodation. Some may want to stay at large or small hotels in the city. Some may want to stay at hotels that have access to culture and to entertainment. Some may want to stay at old or new hotels. Some may want to stay at well known hotels. Some may want to stay at hotels that reflect Lichfiled culture.

Hotels in the English city of Lichfield are often required for tourists who require short term accommosdation. Some may want to stay at hotels with impressive architecture and parking facilities.

Lichfield is a city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. One of seven civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated 25 km north of Birmingham and 200 km northwest of central London.

Lichfield is notable for its three-spired cathedral and as the birthplace of Dr. Johnson, the writer of the first authoritative Dictionary of the English Language. Today it still retains its old importance as an ecclesiastical centre, but its industrial and commercial development has been relatively small; the centre of the city thus retains an essentially old-world character.

At Wall, 3 miles to the south of the present city, there was a Romano-British village called Letocetum (from the Celtic for "grey wood"), from which the first half of the name Lichfield is derived. It was based on a Roman fort next to Watling Street which was used in the first centuries AD, until about AD 160-170, when the fort's mansio was destroyed by fire at the same time the forum in Wroxeter was also destroyed by fire.

The first authentic notice of Lichfield occurs in Bede's history, where it is called Licidfelth and mentioned as the place where St Chad fixed the episcopal see of the Mercians in 669. The burial in the cathedral of individual kings of Mercia, such as Celred in 716, further increased the prestige of Lichfield. In 786, Pope Adrian I raised it at the request of Offa, King of Mercia, to the dignity of an archbishopric, but in 803 the primacy was restored to Canterbury. In 1075 the see of Lichfield was removed to Chester, and thence a few years later to Coventry, but it was restored to Lichfield in 1148. At the time of the Domesday survey, Lichfield was held by the bishop of Chester, where the see of the bishopric had been moved in 1075: it is not called a borough, only a small village. The lordship and manor of the town were held by the bishop of Chester until the reign of Edward VI, when they were leased to the town corporation. In 1291 Lichfield was severely damaged by a fire, which destroyed most of the town, however the Cathedral and Close survived unscathed. There is evidence that a castle existed here in the time of Henry I, and a footpath near the grammar school retains the name of Castle ditch. Richard II gave a charter (1387) for the foundation of the gild of St Mary and St John the Baptist; this gild functioned as the local government, until its dissolution by Edward VI, who incorporated the town in 1548, vesting the government in two bailiffs and twenty-four burgesses; further charters were given by Mary, James I and Charles II (1664), the last, incorporating it under the title of the bailiffs and citizens of the city of Lichfield, was the governing charter until 1835; under this charter the governing body consisted of two bailiffs and twenty-four brethren. In 1553 Queen Mary made Lichfield a county separate from the rest of Staffordshire. It remained so until 1888.

Lichfield sent two members to the parliament of 1304 and to a few succeeding parliaments, but the representation did not become regular until 1552; in 1867 it lost one member, and in 1885 its representation was merged in that of the county. By the charter of James I, the market day was changed from Wednesday to Tuesday and Friday; the Tuesday market disappeared during the 19th century; the only existing fair is a small pleasure fair of ancient origin held on Ash Wednesday; the annual fête on Whit Monday claims to date from the time of Alfred the Great.

The reformation had a dramatic affect on Lichfield, the disappearance of pilgrim traffic following the destruction of St. Chad's shrine in 1538 was a major loss to the city's economic prosperity. That year too the Franciscan friary was dissolved, the site becoming a private estate. Further economic decline followed the outbreak of plague in 1593, which resulted in the death of over a third of the entire population. The last person in England to be burnt at the stake for heresy was in Lichfield. Edward Wightman from Burton upon Trent was burnt at the stake in the Market Place on 11 April 1612 for refusing to recant his Baptist beliefs.

In the English Civil War, Lichfield was divided. The cathedral authorities with a certain following were for the king, but the townsfolk generally sided with the parliament, and this led to the fortification of the close in 1643. Lichfield's position as a focus of supply routes had an important strategic significance during the war, and both forces were anxious to control the city. Lord Brooke, notorious for his hostility to the church, led an assault against it, but was killed by a deflected bullet on St Chad's day, an accident welcomed as a miracle by the Royalists. The close yielded and was retaken by Prince Rupert of the Rhine in this year; but on the breakdown of the king's cause in 1646 it again surrendered. The cathedral suffered extensive damage from the war. It was subsequently restored, particularly the central spire, at the end of the common wealth period, thanks in part to the gratitude and generosity of King Charles II of England. There is a statue of Charles II by the south door of the Cathedral.

During the 18th century the city thrived as a busy coaching city on the main route to the northwest and Ireland. It also became a centre of great intellectual activity, being the home of many famous people including Samuel Johnson, David Garrick, Erasmus Darwin and Anna Seward, this prompted Johnson's remark that Lichfield was a city of philosophers. The arrival of the Industrial Revolution and the railways in the 19th century signaled the end of Lichfield's position as an important staging post for coaching traffic. Whilst the industrial development at nearby Birmingham exploded, along with its population, Lichfield remained largely unchanged in character.