Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral is one of the oldest places of Christian worship in Britain and the burial place of the Anglo Saxon missionary, St Chad. The Cathedral is the spiritual centre of the Church of England’s Diocese of Lichfield. The praises of God have been sung on this site, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit, for over 1300 years. It is a place full of history and beauty, which has been an inspiration to generations of visitors. But it is also a community of people, delighted to practise hospitality to tourists and Christian pilgrims alike.
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Edial
The house dates from the early 19th Century. By 1896 it was known as edial house farm. The present house centred on an earlier house existing by the 17th century and probably by the 16th century. In 1571 Fabian Orme of Overton Grange, Hammerwich, held a house and land in Edial called Stokehay. In 1628 George Orme sold this estate to Simon Jasson of Lichfield. In 1666 his son, Simon Jasson, was assessed for tax on six hearths at Edial. Inn 1721 Theophilus Levett, town clerk of Lichfield, bought the house. In 1841 John Levett owned 157 acres in Edial. The farm stayed in the Levett family untill 1937, when berkeley Levett sold the farm to J.E.Hammersley. F.Hammersley was farming there in 1962. In 1987 the farm was owned by Mr Edmund Howdle, Who still resides there |
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St. Matthew's Chapel
When the hostpital was built it included a chapel seating 315 people. This was built over the dining hall. But the centre beam was found to be insecure, due to the weight of a minaret campanill (a mechanical orchestra). Corners has been cut in other areas too. Nearly all the required white deal. Furthermore, rain was leaking through the roof, By november 1867 the minaret campanill was replaced by an organ, and the chapel was deemed to be complete. Divine Service was held on Wednesday evening, Friday morning and on Sunday morning. About 138 male patients and 44 Female patients attend. In 1880 rev.
T.B. Mundy was Chaplain
The last service in the old Chapel was held on August 14th 1899.
The current Chapel was opened on Sunday, January 7th 1900.
The Chapel closed in 1995 along with the hospital.
In 2003 the Chapel was acquired by busy bees childcare Ltd. They have 54 outlets and the Chapel is to become their headquarters. |
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St Matthews's Hospital
In 1864 Staffordshire County Lunatic Asylum was opened for pauper lunatics. Over 94 acres in Burntwood cost £7880 and the buildings to accommodate 260 men and 270 women were erected to the cost of £65,000. It originally consisted of the central block, including a chapel, and the west wing containing the male wards, with a portion partitioned off for female patients. The first patients were recieved in December 1864. The east wing consisting of female wards was completed in 1868. In 1871 there were 491 patients and staff of 4 officers, 41 attendants and nurses, and 5 artisans. The hospital was gradually extended to 1302 beds. The hospital not only employed nurses and attendents, ubt also had extensive departments to back up the running of the hospital. It had it's own Fire department, mortuary, staff support, carpenters, gardeners, boilermen, etc. There have been many extensions, Notably in the later 1890's and the mid 1930's. A nurse's home was built in 1914. In 1928 it was referred to as 'st. Matthew's'. The name St. Matthew's hospital being offically adopted in 1947. In 1995 the hospital finally closed and the site was bought by developers and planning permission given for 332 houses. The old main block still remians for conversion into apartments, Known as Nightingale Court.
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The Old Mining College
From the early 1870's the Cannock Chase Colliery provided evening classes in colliery working and management at it's chasetown school for it's employees. The work was later undertaken by the county council, Which was among the first local authorities to appoint a full-time organiser for mining instruction. From 1891 it employed lectures to give courses at centres in the staffordshire coalfields. Chasetown was one of the origional centres, and thereafter courses were held there regulary. The 1911 Coal Mines Act, by requiring firemen in most collieries to pass an examination, produced an increased demand for practical instruction. This led the county council to start building a small mining institute in Queen Street, Chasetown, in 1912, it was opened in 1913. The two storied building contained a laboratory, a drawing office, and two lecture rooms. There was test equipment in the basement and also an electrcity generator which provided light and power for the building. From 1929 the mining institute was one of three senior centres grouped round a new county mining college at Cannock. It became an annexe of the college (later Cannock Chase Technical College) in 1962 and was closed in 1987. Later it re-opened as a training centre subsidised by the County Council and Staffordshire Training and Enterprise Council, only to be re-closed in the October 1994. It was opened in 1988 as ' The Old Mining College' Community Centre |
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Canal Basin
Coal mining was recoreded at Beaudesert in 1298. In the early 1840's the 1st Marquis of Anglesey was investigating the possibility of large scale mining along the eastern boundary fault of the Cannock Chase Coalfield in the vicinity of Norton Pool. Boring had been carried out by 1847 near the eastern dam of the pool on the hammerwich side of the boundary. In 1849 the marquis sank a pit, known as 'the marquis'. near Chasewater dam, and the first coal was drawn in December. The Anglesey Branch Canal, incorporating a feeder from Norton Pool, was cut in 1850 to link the pit with the wyrley and Essington Canal in Ogley Hay. The first coal drawn from Hammerwich pit (Cannock Chase Colliery No:1 Pit) was probably the shallow seam which was sent to the marquis of Anglesey in December 1849, and by 1850 the deep seam was being minded a a depth of 205 feet John Robinson McClean in partnership with Richard Croft Chawner of Wall, near lichfield, entered into an agreement dated 24th March 1854 with the marquis of Anglesey( Henry William Paget), establishing the Cannock Chase Colliery Company's No:1 Pit. In 1851 the villagers of Chasetown and Chase Terrace were non-existent and the population of Burntwood and Hammerwich parishes was 781 and 239 respectively. The area was simply known as Cannock Chase and the name Chasetown was first used in 1867. Over the next 20 years the population grew to 4524 in the Burntwood Parish, an increase of some of 479%, and Hammerwich Parish grew to 1325, a 391% increase. These statistics illustrate the radical effect that the new mines had on the immediate district. The Marquis Pit closed in 1856 |
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