For some time the cathedral has no history to be recounted. In 1750 we know that the ancient library outside the north aisle, built by Deans Heywood and Yotton, was removed, and the churchyard levelled; we also know that the roof became very defective, and the rain came in, so that a new roofing was required. Pennant tells us that the dean and chapter were obliged to substitute slates instead of metal, on account of the narrow revenues left to maintain this venerable pile; and after the strictest economy, they were under the necessity of contributing from their own income in order to complete their plan.
A few years later it was found that the fabric itself was in so dilapidated a condition that much more extensive repairs were necessary, and so Mr Wyatt, the celebrated architect, as Britton calls him, came to Lichfield and began that scheme of alteration which has been the object of so much ridicule and contempt. To lovers of church architecture at the end of the nineteenth century it seems astounding that the splendid and inimitable cathedrals and churches of this country should have been handed over every one to be destroyed and debased in the way Wyatt destroyed and debased them. But there is no doubt that Wyatt represented the spirit of the time, just as Sir Gilbert Scott represented the spirit of the middle of this century. Then it was a love of "vistas" which actuated the alterations, and caused the destruction of anything which came in the way of what was considered a fine view. In those days "vistas" were the all-absorbing consideration and the subject of discussion amongst those who considered themselves cultured, as may be seen in the novels of Jane Austen, and in "Mansfield Park" in particular. Later, the passion for replacing what was old or worn by time with something new, something which was supposed to be a reproduction of the old, has caused endless destruction. The later passion has not yet disappeared, unhappily; but thankfully we may note the signs of the times, and feel sure that in a few years neither a Wyatt with his vistas and Roman cement, nor others, who, having more knowledge, are therefore the less excusable, will be permitted under any circumstances to lay a finger on what it has here and there graciously pleased their forerunners to leave unspoiled. How little this is, can be judged by a visit to any cathedral church from Worcester downwards.
The achievements of Wyatt are recounted by Britton, who does not appear to have entirely decided whether he approved or not. Some of them, no doubt, were necessary; and it would be unfair to indiscriminately blame any architect who had to deal, however violently, with a building which had deteriorated, not merely in the pass of time, but also by the shock of war. Also a great deal of what Wyatt did was done for the sake of warmth, though the object in view, it is said, was not attained. Britton says that not only was there a general restoration of doors, windows, and flooring throughout, but also "two of the spires were partly rebuilt, the ends of the transepts were strengthened by new buttresses, the external roofs of the aisles were raised, and five divisions of the stone roof in the nave were taken down and replaced with plaster. The Lady Chapel was united with the choir by removing the screen which had been erected by Bishop Hacket. On taking this away, the workmen discovered the beautiful old screen which formed in all probability the original partition when the Lady Chapel was completed by the executors of Walter de Langton. This elaborate piece of architecture was in a very mutilated state; but Mr Wyatt, having restored it by the assistance of Roman cement to a very perfect condition, appropriated part of it to the new altar-piece, and the remainder to the organ screen or partition which divides the nave from the Choir," and which took up the whole of the western bay of the choir.
Since Britton's time it has been thought necessary to take another tone and to try to justify these alterations. Mr James Potter, the son of Mr Wyatt's chief assistant, who was afterwards architect to the cathedral, has endeavoured to prove that some of the alterations were unavoidable, and that the others were not made under Wyatt's advice, but in spite of it. Incidentally, in the course of a letter to the Staffordshire Advertiser, he speaks of the "unsightly and incongruous work of Wren's," in referring to the wooden reredos, and states that Wren had previously closed the arches of the four most western bays of the choir in order to receive the stalls. He also says: "But so completely did Wren perform his work of blocking-up that he took care to conceal every vestige of moulding, both of the piers and the archivolts, leaving only in view the clustered shafts from which the vaulting of the roof sprang. I have before noticed that Mr James Wyatt's death occurred in A.D. 1813, and that this western portion of the choir remained in the state in which Sir Christopher Wren left it up to the following year. In the early part of that year the architect to the fabric, the late Mr Potter, was instructed by the dean and chapter to cause the entire removal of the old stall work and unmask the three arches (then concealed), this being the space on either side of the choir occupied by the stalls in question. The arches being much dilapidated and past restoration, Dean Woodhouse decided to have them made to correspond with the decorated bays in an easterly direction. This work was executed, as also the canopy of the new stalls, in Roman cement. I cannot myself think that Dean Woodhouse exhibited any degree of bad taste in adopting the existing decorated arches as his model for the new ones; and, as regards the canopies of the new stalls, they were exact resemblances of the old reredos, and surely no modern architect will presume to find fault with them. I must here observe that the choice of material was not confined to the architect employed to carry out the work, but was chosen by the dean and chapter, the state of the fabric fund, out of which the whole of the expenses were defrayed, being insufficient to meet the outlay of a more costly material."
The above account is most interesting, and, assuming that the writer was correct in the facts as to what was done by Wyatt and by his father, we are confronted with a difficulty. From Professor Willis's account, already quoted, it is obvious that he was of opinion that the alteration in the style of the front of these pier arches was made in Gothic times. Mr Potter says it was done in the nineteenth century. It is, of course, possible for some alteration to have been made at both these times; but it looks as if the harmony was not complete until recently, probably because the height of the old stalls prevented the variations from being easily seen. As to Wren, Mr Potter probably was only repeating the recognised tradition that Wren was responsible for the rebuilding by Bishop Hacket, and no argument can be deduced on this point, the latest and best opinion being that there is, as already stated, no evidence to prove that the great Sir Christopher had much to do with the cathedral.
Soon after Wyatt's death the policy of Roman cement, which he had inaugurated, was continued, and the whole of the west front become one mass of stucco and paste. The row of kings was replaced in this way, as also the statues in the great porch, and all the mouldings and decorations were covered with cement, and practically the whole cathedral from end to end had its deficiencies added to in this way. This work was completed about 1822. From then to 1856 the cathedral did not receive much alteration; but in the latter year Sir Gilbert, then Mr. Scott was called in, and the extensive alterations were commenced, which may be said scarcely to have finished in this year of 1897. It is not necessary to discuss here this restoration. It is sufficient to say that it has been the aim of those in authority to restore the cathedral to the appearance and arrangement it presented at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Wyatt's alterations received scant courtesy, and the cathedral as we now see it may be declared to be a triumph for the restorer—so great a triumph, indeed, that in many parts the unsuspicious admirer might be led to conclude that he was looking at a brand new edifice. Still, the cathedral has some of its old work left, and perhaps in the nave we are confronted with more of the work of the original Gothic builders than in any other part. What has been done in the last forty years is specifically discussed in the description of the exterior and interior in the two next chapters; but here it will be well to show what the condition of the cathedral was in the middle of the century, just before the recent restoration. Canon Lonsdale has given us a splendid description in his "Recollections," and if anything can reconcile us to the wholesale renewal which then took place, it will be found in the account which he gives in this little pamphlet, from which are now quoted the following sentences. He says: "The Nave and Transepts were absolutely empty of furniture of any kind, except that the South Transept contained the fittings of the Dean's Consistory Court (since abolished), and in the North Transept, on the spot where the organ now is, stood the statue of Bishop Ryder, raised on a high pedestal, and looking as if it were about to tumble forward. The walls, arches, and pillars were one uniform, dead, yellowish whitewash, many coats thick; as also the Choir from end to end, and from top to bottom, and indeed the whole of the interior.... The Nave was quite unused; indeed, except during service hours, the Verger's Silver Key alone gave admission to any part of the church.... The two parts of the building were altogether separate from each other. The Choir was entered by a door under a high partition, composed of remains of the original High Altar, fourteenth century screen, and of other materials. This partition filled the whole of the first bay of the present Choir. On each side of the entrance were Vestries for the Lay Vicars and the Choristers, and above these was placed the organ; the rest of the space up to the Roof being filled in with glass, so that the separation of Nave and Choir was complete.... In the Choir itself the remains of the Reredos, which stood at the spot where the present one is now fixed, had been removed by Wyatt at the end of the last century, and the Holy Table was carried to the extreme East of the Lady Chapel. On either side, from the screen up to the very entrance of the Lady Chapel, were pews made of oak lined with green baize and studded with brass nails. The Choir Aisles on either side were entirely shut out from the Choir, the arches being filled in by plaster, in order, as was imagined, to help towards warmth. In the three bays eastward from the screen—the second, third, and fourth, as they are now—stalls were fixed, composed of plaster, wood, rope, nails, and much else, with canopies of the same material over them, which the old Verger of that day used to call 'beautiful Tabernacle work.' The Dean and Canons' Residentiary had stalls facing eastward in the screen under the organ.... The Choir Aisles, shut out from the Choir, were long, narrow passages, never used, ending on the North side in a blank wall, and on the South with the monument of the 'Sleeping Children.'"
This was the inside of the Cathedral: the outside was stucco. Such facts as these will have to be borne in mind when the next century passes judgment on Sir Gilbert Scott. For us, it should be sufficient that we have judged Wyatt.