HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 89 



rows of coarse earthen vessels of different dimensions were found 

 in the south wall, six feet from the ground. These vessels were 

 laid on their sides, and their mouths, which were covered with a thin 

 coat of plaster, were placed towards the chapel. 



Fairwell Church is a picturesque object, situated on the side of a 

 hill ; the body of the edifice and the tower are of modern brick, 

 but the chancel, with its large gothic window, is a fine piece of 

 antiquity. It is a vicarage in the patronage of the Marquis of 

 Anglesea. 



Charley, a hamlet in the western part of this parish, is situated 

 on the verge of Cannock Forest. It consists of a few houses, and 

 an ancient hall. 



LICHFIELD.* 



This ancient City and Bishop's See is situated in a fine and 

 fertile valley, 119 miles from London, and nearly in the centre of 

 England. The origin of this city has occasioned much learned 

 controversy, and a great difference of opinion among antiquaries, 

 whose vague conjectures afford no conclusive arguments to the 

 mind intent upon truth. 



Bed e, one of our most ancient writers, calls it Licidfield,or the Field 

 of Carcasses, from a tradition that one thousand British Christians 

 suffered martyrdom here in the reign of the Emperor Dioclesian. 

 This account is treated as a mere legend by sceptical writers, and, 

 among others, by Dr. Stukeley, who traces the etymology of the 

 name from lick, a Saxon word, which signifies a morass. But what- 

 ever may have been the origin of the name of this city, it derived its 

 first importance from the Saxon Kings. When Peada, son of Penda, 

 King of Mercia, married the daughter of Oswy, King of the North- 

 umbrians, and restored tranquillity to the Mercian kingdom, he at 

 his return from Northumberland brought four priests with him, and 

 made Lichfield his residence. A few years afterwards, Cedda or 

 St. Chadd, came to Lichfield, and devoted to a life of solitude, fixed 

 his cell at or near Stow Church, where Bede says he was buried. St. 

 Chadd was a Bishop, but at this period his habitation was more like 

 an hermitage than a palace. It was surrounded with woods, a brook 

 ran close to the entrance, and the spot was well adapted to prayer 

 and contemplation. 



* The Close of the Cathedral of Lichfield is in the southern division of the 

 hundred of Offlow, but as the Militia Lists, Taxes, &c. &c. are never included 

 in that division, we have placed Lichfield in Offlow North. 



M 



