EDITORIAL NOTE

A general account of the Victoria History is to be found in an article entitled 'The Structure and Aims of the Victoria History of the Counties of England' in the Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Volume XL, May 1967. The present volume is the sixth to appear in the Staffordshire set. Like Volumes II, IV, V, and VIII, it has been prepared under the auspices of the Staffordshire Victoria History Committee. The Committee, as explained in the Editorial Note to Volume IV, was the outcome of a partnership formed in 1950 between the University of London and a group of Staffordshire local authorities. Two changes have taken place in the constitution of the committee in recent years. In 1966 the County Borough of Smethwick became part of the new County Borough of Warley, and Warley has taken Smethwick's place on the committee. The County Borough of Dudley, which was transferred from Worcestershire to Staffordshire in 1966, has been represented on the committee since 1969. The University would like once more to express its gratitude to the Staffordshire authorities, particularly as they have again generously increased the scale of their financial help. The local editorial arrangements have remained unchanged since the publication of Volume II: the county editor is Mr. M. W. Greenslade and the assistant county editors are Mr. D. A. Johnson and Mr. G. C. Baugh.

On the contents of the present volume, it may be helpful to state that the detailed history of the Close at Lichfield and the detailed architectural description of the cathedral have not been included in the article on the cathedral but are reserved for the volume of the History covering the City of Lichfield. Similarly the architectural descriptions of the royal free chapels are reserved for the relevant topographical volumes; in the case of Penkridge the description is to be found in V.C.H. Staffs. Volume V. As is normal in volumes of the Victoria History devoted to ecclesiastical history in general, the religious houses in the present volume are the medieval houses; modern religious houses are dealt with in the article on Roman Catholicism or reserved for the relevant topographical volumes.

Special thanks for extensive help in the preparation of this volume are rendered to the Very Revd. W. S. Macpherson, Dean of Lichfield from 1954 to 1969, and to the Cathedral Chapter; to Mr. M. B. S. Exham, Diocesan Registrar and Chapter Clerk; and to Miss Marjorie Anderson and Dr. D. B. Robinson, successively assistant archivists at the Lichfield Joint Record Office. Thanks are also due to a number of other people and organizations who have helped. The services of some of them are acknowledged in the list of illustrations and in the footnotes to the articles on which their help was given. In addition mention must be made of Mr. H. Appleyard, Lichfield City Librarian, and his staff; Prebendary H. Baylis, Lichfield Cathedral Librarian; Professor C. N. L. Brooke of Westfield College in the University of London; Mr. B. M. Cocks, formerly Librarian at Gray's Inn; Mr. P. Draper of the Courtauld Institute of Art in the University of London; the Revd. A. R. Duncan-Jones, Head Master of St. Chad's Cathedral School, Lichfield; Miss M. E. Macdonald, Staffordshire County Librarian, and her staff; the Revd. J. D. McEvilly, Archivist to the Archbishop of Birmingham; Miss Elisabeth Poyser, Archivist to the Archbishop of Westminster; Mr. R. J. Sherlock, Archaeological Assistant to the Staffordshire County Planning and Development Officer, and his staff; and Mr. F. B. Stitt, William Salt Librarian and Staffordshire County Archivist, and his staff.