ECONOMIC HISTORY

AGRICULTURE.

Open fields surrounded the city. (fn. 1) On the west Pool field, mentioned in 1298, stretched north-west from Sandford mill pool. (fn. 2) An acre at 'Sondflad' in 1315 probably lay to the east on the south side of Lower Sandford Street; a field there was called Burgess field in the early 16th century and Town field in 1654. (fn. 3) Parnel (later Parnells) field, mentioned in 1549, lay north of the street. (fn. 4) Further north Shaw field on the south side of Shaw Lane was recorded in 1336 (fn. 5) and Hungerhill field on rising ground to the west in 1317. (fn. 6) Smith field, men tioned in the late 13th century, lay on the north side of Shaw Lane. (fn. 7)

Lincroft field on the west side of Wheel Lane was mentioned in 1305 (fn. 8) and Sely or Sedy field on the east side of Grange Lane in 1351. (fn. 9) Ley or Legh field, mentioned in 1298, lay further east chiefly in the angle of lanes leading to Elmhurst and Curborough. (fn. 10) To the south-west on the north side of Gaia Lane lay Gay field, mentioned in the 1320s. (fn. 11) There were selions in a field on Stowe Hill in 1383 (fn. 12) and to the southeast in Wissage field in the later 13th century. (fn. 13)

Bolley (later Boley) field, mentioned in the later 13th century, lay south-east of St. Michael's churchyard along Boley Lane and Darnford Lane as far as Ryknild Street. (fn. 14) North-east of the field there were selions in the early 16th century at Spearhill in the angle made by Burton Old Road and Ryknild Street. (fn. 15) Farthing field south of Darnford Lane on the east side of Ryknild Street was recorded in 1387. (fn. 16)

Selions were recorded in 1325 beside the town ditch east of Upper St. John Street in a field called Oxbury, (fn. 17) known as Castleditch field by 1550. (fn. 18) To the south there was open-field land near Borrowcop Hill by the later 13th century when Burway field was recorded; selions on 'Burweycop' were mentioned in 1444, and an inclosed field there was known as Burway or Borrowcop field in 1719. (fn. 19) To the west between Upper St. John Street and Birmingham Road lay South field, recorded in the mid 13th century and known as Dovehouse field by the early 16th century. (fn. 20) It presumably stretched as far south as Shortbutts Lane where there was arable called the Shortbutts in 1408. (fn. 21) A field on Berry Hill was presumably open when recorded in 1329, there being selions in it in 1463. (fn. 22) Long-bridge field south-east of Ryknild Street near the London road was recorded in 1352. (fn. 23)

Merstal field, so called in the later 13th century but known as Redlake field by the later 1470s, lay between Birmingham Road and Chesterfield Road. (fn. 24) Sand field further west in the present Sandfields area existed in 1325. (fn. 25) To the north, stretching up to Trunkfield brook, lay Trumpe (later Trunk) field, recorded in 1658. (fn. 26)

The open fields were evidently inclosed piecemeal mainly in the 17th and early 18th century. In 1698 the corporation considered reserving some inclosures as grazing land for cattle belonging to the poor, but changed its mind on the matter. (fn. 27) Early in 1700 five freeholders and leaseholders headed by Richard Dyott of Freeford, having agreed to inclose their land, gave their tenants-at-will notice to quit that year's fallow on Lady Day. The names of ten tenants were listed, all of them evidently sheepmasters who were especially opposed to inclosure. (fn. 28) There was also opposition from a Thomas Shaw, who was presented at the manor court in 1702 for declaring 'that he would be one of the first that should set fire to the rails and stoops about the inclosures in this manor, and that those knaves and fools that set them up … would go to the devil for it'. (fn. 29)

There was open meadow called Trump meadow along Trunkfield brook in 1397. (fn. 30) In the early 18th century part of Lammas meadow on the city's western boundary north of the Walsall road was regarded by the poor as yearlong common, although in fact only seasonal rights existed. The meadow covered nearly 14 a. when it was inclosed by Act in 1815; over half of it then belonged to the marquess of Stafford and the rest to the corporation. (fn. 31)

Areas of marsh lay close to the town. Waterlogged land around Upper Pool west of Bird Street was known as 'the moggs', a name implying persistent dampness. (fn. 32) The place-name is recorded from 1498, (fn. 33) but the word was a personal name in the mid 13th century, and in 1344 Nicholas Mogge held Mogges place, a tenement in the Bird Street area. (fn. 34) Stowe Moggs, so called in the late 18th century, (fn. 35) was an area of marsh west of Stowe Pool. Both moggs were enlarged as land was reclaimed from the pools. Encroachments were recorded in the mid 15th century at the west end of Stowe Pool, and they were still being made there in the earlier 17th century. (fn. 36) Swan piece (later Swan Moggs), gained out of Upper Pool on its southern side, was recorded in 1672–3; the land was drained under the terms of a lease of 1800. (fn. 37) There was marsh at Culstubbe beyond St. John Street gate in 1298. (fn. 38) Marsh in the Sandford Street area in the earlier 14th century may have lain east of Sandford mill pool, where there was marsh in the earlier 19th century. (fn. 39)

Areas of barren land on the higher ground west and south of the town were known as moors. Pipe moor, which presumably lay near the boundary with Pipehill, was recorded as common pasture in 1298. Encroachments were made on it in the early 14th century, and it is probably the later Pipe green which was private pasture in the 18th century. (fn. 40) To the east near the upper reaches of Trunkfield brook lay Halle moor, mentioned in 1283. (fn. 41) Wibbilde or Wibbelle moor, recorded c. 1200 and surviving in 1440, lay near Knowle on the city's southern boundary. (fn. 42) Hye moor, recorded as pasture in 1298, lay west of the London road near Long-bridge brook. (fn. 43)

Leamonsley common, an area of common pasture on the city's western boundary, stretched south and east from Leamonsley mill pool to the Walsall road. Marsh common lay south of Shortbutts Lane. Their inclosure was first considered by the corporation in 1793. A meeting to discuss the matter was held in 1814, and in 1815 an Act was passed authorizing their inclosure. (fn. 44) Leamonsley common, covering 33 a., was bought by John Atkinson of Maple Hayes in Burntwood. Marsh common, covering 14½ a., was drained at the expense of the inclosure commissioners and offered for sale in 1816, when most of it was bought by the marquess of Stafford. (fn. 45) The Act also authorized the inclosure of 4 a. at Femley Pits near the city's southern boundary, and of land where the town bull had traditionally been pastured. Called Bull pieces, that land lay in two parts, 3 a. on the west side of Marsh common and 2 a. on Berry Hill. (fn. 46) In 1801 the inhabitants of Greenhill had customary pasture rights in St. Michael's churchyard. (fn. 47)

Pipe green on the city's western boundary south of Abnalls Lane was excluded from the Act of 1815 because it was owned by the inhabitants of Beacon Street in trust for the poor of that street. In 1791 the trust made an agreement with John Hartwell, who was about to build a mill at Leamonsley on the southern edge of the green; it assigned him 2 r. to cut a water course which was needed to supply the mill pool but also helped to drain the green. In return Hartwell agreed to pay 10s. a year to the curate of St. Chad's for the distribution of bread to the poor of Beacon Street on Christmas day. A meeting of Beacon Street residents in August 1793 restricted access to the green: it was to be closed between 12 February and 1 May each year, no person was to pasture more than two head of cattle at any time, and for each head a fee of 3s. 6d. was to be taken, half to be used for draining and improving the green and half to be given to the poor. Each Christmas St. Chad's vestry was to appoint an organizing committee comprising a treasurer, an inspector to open and close the green and to control access to it, and three other members. In 1803 John Atkinson, then negotiating the purchase of the Maple Hayes estate, was given right of access across the green to Maple Hayes in return for £2 2s. a year, to be distributed in bread by the curate of St. Chad's to the poor of Beacon Street on Christmas day. (fn. 48) The trust still owned the green in the later 1980s, when it covered 26 a.

Inclosed fields called Old Field and New Field bounded by London Road, Cricket Lane, and Tamworth Road were bought by Anthony Dyott of Freeford from Ralph Jarman of Lichfield in 1610. New Field, east of Ryknild Street, was probably cultivated as part of the Dyott estate, while Old Field was let. (fn. 49) Crops were occasionally grown in Old Field, as in the 1630s, (fn. 50) but because the soil was sandy the land was normally used as a sheepwalk by the tenants of Freeford. Cattle owned by Lichfield townspeople were also pastured there by the common herdsman, as were horses and asses belonging to the poor of the city. (fn. 51) The grazing land became popularly known as Oldfield Common, although the Dyotts maintained that they owned it and that no right of common in fact existed. (fn. 52) Richard Dyott inclosed 146 a. in the 1690s and in the early 18th century, but left 40 a. uninclosed at the southern end of the field as a gesture to those who had customarily used the land as pasture. His son Richard inclosed a further 29 a. in the later 1720s, making for several years an annual gift of £5 worth of bread for the poor of Lichfield. Later he sent £5 worth of grain to be baked, but in response to criticism of the grain's quality he stopped the gift and refused to allow the common herdsman on his land. (fn. 53) The herdsman, however, still grazed the remaining 11 a. of uninclosed land in the mid 18th century. The lord of Swinfen, in Weeford, and his tenants also claimed rights of pasture in Old Field and in 1745 challenged the Dyotts' inclosures there. The challenge was unsuccessful, but Richard Dyott and John Swinfen of Swinfen agreed in 1793 to an exchange which gave Swinfen the uninclosed land in Old Field. (fn. 54)

The inclosure of open-field land and the conversion of moorland to arable resulted in the creation of several small farms in the south-west of the city. A 20-a. holding at Knowle was bought by John Burnes in 1660; in the early 18th century Richard Burnes leased an adjoining 37 a. from St. John's hospital, and in 1785 John Burnes bought 35 a. on Harehurst Hill west of the Lichfield-Shenstone road from Phineas Hussey of Little Wyrley. (fn. 55) Knowle Farm was built on Ryknild Street in the later 18th century and was extended in the early 19th century. There was evidently a farmhouse on Berry Hill in 1761; it was replaced by the present Berryhill Farm, a small brick house of the late 18th or early 19th century. In 1851 the attached farm covered 46 a. (fn. 56) George Houldcroft, the keeper of the Royal Oak inn (later Sandyway Farm) on the Walsall road, was also a farmer at the time of his death in 1812. (fn. 57) He evidently leased nearby land from St. John's hospital and may have built the small brick farmhouse (the original Sandyway Farm) which stands south-east of the former inn. The farm covered 43 a. in 1921. Fosseway Farm to the south-west, built probably in the early 19th century, was also owned by St. John's hospital, and in 1921 the attached farm covered 21 a. (fn. 58) Mickle Hills farm to the north-west covered 80 a. in 1800, and the present farmhouse was built about that time. (fn. 59) Closer to the city centre were two more farms owned by St. John's hospital in the later 19th century: Trunkfields, which occupied buildings previously used as a water mill, and Maxstock Grange. In 1921 the farms covered respectively 47 a. and 26 a. (fn. 60) A large farm had been created by the mid 18th century out of inclosed land in Old Field and New Field on the boundary with Freeford. It was managed as part of the estate of the Dyotts of Freeford. (fn. 61)

Wheat, barley, rye, oats, and peas were grown in the later 17th century. (fn. 62) The principal crops at the end of the 18th century were wheat, barley, oats, turnips, and clover, giving way to root crops and vegetables with the growth of market gardening from the early 19th century. (fn. 63) Land called 'le gylden' (the golden) was recorded in the Castle ditch area in 1550. (fn. 64) The name probably indicates the cultivation of saffron, and in 1650 Saffron croft was recorded in the Greenhill area and Saffron garden in Beacon Street. (fn. 65) The crop was presumably used as a dye by Lichfield clothworkers.

Cattle belonging to townspeople were grazed under the supervision of the common herdsman, who with his wife was presented at Longdon manor court in 1450 for illegally driving the cattle of 'the community of Lichfield' into Freeford. (fn. 66) In the earlier 18th century the herdsman took the cattle out at 6 a.m., having announced his departure by horn, and returned at 5 p.m.; the fields used for grazing were known collectively as the herdsman's walk, and the herdsman was allowed the first three days' grazing after cropping. (fn. 67) The herdsman's fee in 1645 was 12d. a quarter for every beast that he tended. (fn. 68) As a result of inclosure the only part of the walk to survive in the earlier 18th century was Sand field, (fn. 69) and the herdsman was last listed as an officer of Lichfield manor in 1731. (fn. 70) It was a custom in the 18th century that he kept a bull 'for the use of the town', grazing it on the land called Bull pieces on the south side of the city. A town bull was still kept in the mid 18th century. (fn. 71) There was a swineherd in 1506, probably with similar duties to the herdsman's. (fn. 72)

Sheep farming was important by the 16th century. In 1547 the manor court complained that gentlemen kept large flocks of sheep on the town's common land, although they had no grazing rights. The chief offender, with a flock of 280, was John Otley, the bishop's steward. His bad example encouraged others, and Otley was asked to withdraw his flock. (fn. 73) The demand for pasture also led some townspeople in the late 16th century to drive their sheep over the city's boundary to Elmhurst and Pipehill. (fn. 74) By the mid 17th century sheep were herded in flocks managed by sheepmasters, who owned or leased land on which they grazed their own sheep and, for a fee, sheep belonging to others. The customary stint was five sheep for each acre of fallow held by the sheepowner; masters who needed additional fallow rented it at 4d. an acre. They regularly overstinted, as in 1651 when 10 masters were fined for illegally grazing 1,400 sheep. (fn. 75) There was a sheepcot on Berry Hill in 1547, one on Borrowcop Hill in 1553, and one at Deanslade on the boundary with Wall in the earlier 17th century. (fn. 76)

Swans were kept by the bishop in the early 14th century, presumably on the pools. A flock of 21 was fed during the winter of 1309–10, and special pens were constructed as nesting areas in 1310. (fn. 77) Ownership of the birds passed to the corporation as lord of the manor from 1548. In 1704 the lessee of Swan piece, waste land which had been reclaimed from Upper Pool, was required to allow the swans to make their nests there. The corporation still provided winter food in 1803. (fn. 78) There were several dovecots in the Close in the Middle Ages. One stood in the grounds of the bishop's palace in 1298, and another at the west end of the Close in 1315. (fn. 79) There was a newly built dovecot near the cathedral in 1327. (fn. 80) Other dovecots were presumably indicated by land in Hungerhill field called 'Duffehowshey' in 1339 and by Dovehouse field, recorded in the early 16th century. (fn. 81) There was a goosehouse in Wade Street in 1495. (fn. 82) Land on Borrowcop Hill called 'cunnigrey' in the early 16th century suggests the existence at some time of a rabbit warren. (fn. 83)

Crops and other produce were grown on 694.7 ha. (1,716 a.) of the 953.8 ha. (2,357 a.) of farming land returned for St. Michael's civil parish in 1984. Barley was the most important grain crop, covering nearly 288 ha., with wheat covering 119.4 ha. Market gardens covered 241.4 ha. No sheep or pigs were returned, but there were 207 head of cattle, mostly dairy cows. Of the 14 farmers and smallholders who made returns, 9 cultivated holdings of 10 ha. or less and only 2 cultivated more than 200 ha. (fn. 84)

The Staffordshire Agricultural Society, founded in 1800 with Richard Dyott of Freeford as president, met in Lichfield and its membership was drawn mainly from South Staffordshire. In 1812 it was absorbed into the Staffordshire General Agricultural Society, whose meetings also took place in Lichfield; that society was dissolved c. 1826. The Lichfield (later Lichfield and Midland Counties) Agricultural Society was formed in 1838; it continued to meet until 1953 and was dissolved in 1956. (fn. 85) A farmers' club held monthly meetings in Lichfield in the earlier 1840s. (fn. 86)

NURSERIES AND MARKET GARDENS.

In 1731 land south-west of St. Michael's church called Cherry Orchard and planted with cherry and other fruit trees was occupied by William Bramall (d. 1759), possibly a commercial gardener. (fn. 87) His son John, who was a steward of the Lichfield Friendly Society of Florists and Gardeners in 1769, ran a nursery at Cherry Orchard. He was described as a gardener in 1779, when he advertised his stock of hedging shrubs, fruit trees, grass seed, flowers, and asparagus plants at his nursery; he visited South Staffordshire towns and Birmingham on market days to take orders. In the 1780s he was engaged by the corporation to plant trees on Borrowcop Hill and the island in Stowe Pool. (fn. 88) He died in 1807 and was succeeded in business by his son John, who in 1810 had premises in Bore Street. John had left Lichfield by 1819. (fn. 89) By the 1830s Cherry Orchard had been converted into plots for market gardens.

In 1800 Thomas Clerk of Market Street advertised the construction of forcing houses and the laying out of lawns, parks, pleasure gardens, and plantations. (fn. 90) In 1807 he took a lease of 2½ a. south of Chapel Street off Upper St. John Street for conversion into a nursery. He was still in business in 1826 when he advertised the sale of 30,000 ornamental evergreens, American and other flowering shrubs, and fruit trees. In the 1830s the nursery was run by John Clerk, who was in business as a florist and nurseryman in Market Street in 1850. (fn. 91)

Market gardening became important in Lichfield in the early 19th century. (fn. 92) Potatoes, asparagus, and gooseberries were grown by Thomas Cartmail in the Castle Ditch area in 1814. (fn. 93) Market gardens covered c. 24 a. in the southern part of the city in 1817, and by the 1830s several arable fields had been turned into garden plots, especially on the south and west sides of the city, as well as in Cherry Orchard. (fn. 94) In the late 1840s there were c. 1,300 a. of market gardens, of which 550 a. were planted with potatoes, 300 a. with peas, 160 a. with onions, and 150 a. with cabbages, turnips, carrots, broccoli, and other vegetables. As many as 70 market gardeners were listed in 1846, each making journeys out of Lichfield two or three times a week to sell produce in South Staffordshire towns and in Birmingham. (fn. 95)

The ready supply of labour was allegedly because the men were content to have summer work only, supporting themselves during the winter with doles from the city's many charities. (fn. 96) Children augmented the workforce. In 1810 the rules of a charity school established the previous year were amended to allow for holidays of two weeks for sowing potatoes, two weeks for lifting them, and three weeks for harvesting corn. Holidays for boys at the school in 1833 were a week on each of those occasions, with further time off if requested by parents. (fn. 97)

In 1830 the diocesan chancellor, the Revd. J. T. Law, promoted a scheme for letting plots of land on which the poor could grow food, especially potatoes. He himself offered plots at 1s. 6d. a rood and received over 180 applicants. The scheme was inspired by a similar one in Somerset promoted by his father G. H. Law, the bishop of Bath and Wells. (fn. 98) In 1835, at Law's instigation, the Lichfield Florist Society established a cottagers' prize to encourage labourers in the cultivation of their gardens. Four prizes ranging from £5 to £1 were to be awarded annually to labourers living in the city and earning not more than 18s. a week. The aim was to promote habits of industry in labourers' families and to give their children a knowledge of gardening which would enable them to earn a livelihood. The scheme continued until 1859 when the society decided to abandon it. (fn. 99)

Although threatened by foreign competition and improved methods of transport from the 1870s, market gardening in Lichfield remained important. (fn. 100) Eleven gardeners were listed in 1880 and 12 in 1900. (fn. 101) In 1910 there were market gardens and allotments in several parts of the city, notably in the Birmingham Road area and at Gaia Fields north of Gaia Lane. (fn. 102) In 1984 market gardens covered 241.4 ha. (597 a.) of the farming land returned for St. Michael's civil parish. Of that acreage 65.8 ha. produced potatoes, 41.2 ha. cabbages, 35.2 ha. peas, 31.5 ha. cauliflowers, 26.8 ha. parsnips, 16.2 ha. brussels sprouts, and 12.1 ha. lettuces. Fruit grown on 3.8 ha. included strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, and gooseberries. A further 5.6 ha. were devoted to nursery trees and plants, and nearly 1.1 ha. to flowers. (fn. 103)

MILLS.

In 1086 the bishop's manor of Lichfield included two mills held in demesne and a third associated with one of the subinfeudated members of the manor. The first two were probably on the same site as two later mills, one on the outflow from Minster Pool at the north end of Dam Street and the other at Stowe on the outflow from Stowe Pool near St. Chad's church. (fn. 104) There was a mill in Lichfield belonging to the bishop in 1183. (fn. 105) In 1252 the settlement of a dispute between the bishop and the dean and chapter stipulated that the bakers and brewers in the city who were tenants of the canons and of the martiloge had to use the bishop's mill; others could do so if they wished. (fn. 106) In 1298 the bishop's demesne in the city included two mills, one on Minster Pool known as Castle mill in the 14th and 15th centuries, and one at Stowe. They were the most important item in the bishop's income from the town in 1298; their value was then £33 6s. 8d., while in 1308–9 the net profit from them was £39 9s. (fn. 107)

In the early 14th century Castle mill ground malt only, (fn. 108) and it came to be known as the malt mill. (fn. 109) In 1670 it consisted of a corn mill and a malt mill, and it was described as a corn mill in 1696. (fn. 110) By 1716 it had been converted into an oil mill. (fn. 111) In 1731 the corporation ordered the lease of the malt mill to Joseph Willett, a millwright of Erdington (Warws.), for conversion into a wheat, rye, and malt mill; he was also to turn part of the building into a house. (fn. 112) By 1808 the mill had been renamed Union mill. (fn. 113) It remained in use as a corn mill but was demolished in 1856 when Minster Pool was turned into a reservoir by the South Staffordshire Waterworks Co. (fn. 114)

Stowe mill ground wheat and mixed corn in the early 14th century. (fn. 115) In the early 1460s it consisted of two mills under one roof called Stowe mill and Gay mill, and Gay mill was still in operation in 1520. (fn. 116) Stowe mill consisted of a wheat mill and two corn mills in 1670 and of three corn mills in 1696 and 1717. (fn. 117) In 1737 the corporation ordered the lease of Stowe mills to Thomas Torte of Birmingham for rebuilding as an iron manufactory. (fn. 118) The rebuilt mill was advertised for letting in 1745 as a building of three bays with a smithy adjoining. There were three water wheels, 'one entirely new, designed for a tossing hammer and a tilting hammer; and the other two wheels might be used for any other work whatsoever.' (fn. 119) The mill was again advertised in 1752 and was then stated to be 'capable of being converted into bolting mills, paper mills, or any branch in the iron way'. (fn. 120) In 1753 the corporation entered into an agreement for rebuilding it as a three-storey sack flour mill. (fn. 121) In 1785 Stowe mill was a small T-shaped building, which continued in use as a corn mill. It was demolished in 1856 when Stowe Pool was turned into a reservoir by the South Staffordshire Waterworks Co. (fn. 122)

Pones mill on Curborough brook at Nether Stowe was held c. 1180 by Gilbert Poun and descended with an attached estate until 1302 when it was granted to Robert of Pipe. (fn. 123) It then descended with Pipe manor in Burntwood and was included in the Hercy family's moiety of the manor on John Stanley's death in 1514. In 1565 it passed to Christopher Heveningham, who in 1570 granted it to Simon Biddulph of Lichfield. (fn. 124) It remained with the Biddulph family of Elmhurst at least until the mid 18th century: in 1744 Sir Theophilus Biddulph granted a 21-year lease of the mill to Thomas Gilbert of Darnford mill in Streethay. (fn. 125) By 1809 it had been turned into a woollen manufactory. (fn. 126)

Sandford mill on Trunkfield brook at Leamonsley existed by 1294. (fn. 127) It belonged to St. John's hospital, and in 1339 Bishop Northburgh assigned the 20s. rent from the mill towards the provision of clothing and other necessities for the brethren. (fn. 128) A rent of 20s. was still paid in 1535. (fn. 129) In 1658 the miller was fined for building a new mill which encroached on the highway, and the manor court ordered him to pull down as much of it as stood on the highway. (fn. 130) By the mid 19th century it was known as Trunkfield mill and was still a corn mill. (fn. 131) In 1853 it was let to the Conduit Lands trustees, who erected a pumping engine nearby. (fn. 132) They converted the mill to steam power and let it in 1857 to James Meacham, who worked it as a bone mill. (fn. 133) He gave up the tenancy in 1872, and the mill was disused by 1882. (fn. 134) In 1921 the building and the pool were part of Trunkfields farm, owned by St. John's hospital. (fn. 135) The pool had been drained by the mid 1930s. (fn. 136)

There was a windmill in Gay field in 1343. (fn. 137) By 1574 there was one in Stowe Hill field, evidently on the east side of the later Brownsfield Road; it had been pulled down by 1649. (fn. 138) Land in Castleditch field was described in 1606 as the site of a former windmill. (fn. 139) There was a windmill east of Grange Lane by 1807. Known as Grange mill by 1818, it was converted to steam power in 1857 and continued in use until the earlier 1870s. In 1905 the tower, which is of brick with an embattled parapet, became part of Windmill House, built by Sir Thomas Blomefield, Bt. (fn. 140)

There was a horse mill in Bakers Lane in 1611, but it had gone out of use by 1636. (fn. 141)

In 1860 Albion flour mill in Stowe Street, described as newly erected, was offered for sale with a house and shop following the bankruptcy of the milling firm of Oldfield & Clarke. In the early 1870s it was run by Stephen Keene and in 1877 by John Benton, who had a bakery attached. It was disused in 1882. (fn. 142) The City flour mill in Station Road was built in 1868 by J. C. Richardson, who ran it with an adjoining bakery until c. 1913. The mill remained in operation until 1962 when it became a warehouse. That was closed in 1967, and the building was demolished to make way for a service depot of the Kenning Motor Group. The adjoining house, where an infant welfare centre had been opened in 1917, was made into offices by Kennings. (fn. 143)

FISHERIES.

The bishop as lord of Lichfield manor had the fishing of the town's pools. In 1298 the fishery was valued at 66s. 8d. a year, with a further 2s. for the fishery of the bays of the pools. (fn. 144) There was a keeper of the fishpools by the early 14th century. (fn. 145) In 1420 the fishery of Stowe Pool was let for 50s., that of Sandford (later Upper) Pool for 40s., and the fishery of eels in Middle (later Minster) Pool for 20s. In 1521 the three fisheries were let together for 66s. 8d. (fn. 146) The bishop evidently reserved the right to take fish for himself: perch, tench, pike, and eels were supplied to Bishop Hales when in Staffordshire in 1461, and in 1501–2 Bishop Arundel employed a fisherman to catch fish which were sent to him in London. (fn. 147)

The pools passed to the corporation with the manor in 1548. In 1697 Celia Fiennes remarked that the fishing was good but was the privilege of the magistrates only, by whom she presumably meant the members of the corporation. (fn. 148) In the later 17th century the corporation employed a fisherman who caught fish by net from a boat and was responsible for keeping the pools free of weeds. (fn. 149) In 1696 the Minster Pool fishery was let for 30s. a year, and in 1701 that of Stowe Pool for £5 and 'a good dish of fish' at each quarter sessions or 6s. 8d. (fn. 150) Both fisheries seem to have been let until the later 18th century when the corporation resumed direct control, restocking Minster Pool with carp, tench, and perch in 1765 and in the 1770s. (fn. 151) A new boat was bought for 10 guineas, and a boathouse, probably on Minster Pool, was built or repaired in 1769. (fn. 152) In 1777 the corporation began the major task of cleaning Stowe Pool, which had become clogged with weeds. (fn. 153)

Fishing in both pools was allowed for permit holders from 1778 at a guinea a year, but their number was limited in 1793 to 12; the fee was raised to £5 by 1804. (fn. 154) Members of the corporation presumably did not have to pay. In July 1805 they bound themselves not to fish in Minster Pool before Lady Day or allow anyone to fish there after that date unless in their company. (fn. 155) The Stowe Pool fishery was again let from 1810. A three-year lease in 1842 restricted the lessee to fishing with bait only. (fn. 156) In 1855 both Minster Pool and Stowe Pool were let to the South Staffordshire Waterworks Co. and were subsequently used as reservoirs until 1970, when they passed back to the city. (fn. 157) In the later 1980s fishing in Stowe Pool was permitted by licence from Lichfield district council, and Minster Pool was then used for stocking purposes. (fn. 158)

In 1298 St. John's hospital owned a fishery in the pool of Sandford mill. (fn. 159)

MARKETS AND FAIRS.

In 1153 King Stephen granted the bishop a Sunday market at Lichfield. (fn. 160) The vill was fined in 1203 for changing the day to Friday, (fn. 161) and by 1293 the market day was Wednesday. (fn. 162) There was a market on Saturday as well as Wednesday by the early 17th century, but the charter of 1622 replaced them by markets on Tuesday and Friday. (fn. 163) By the earlier 18th century hawkers were setting up stalls on waste ground south of Minster Pool to avoid market tolls. (fn. 164) Toll on corn, however, was abolished in 1741 as a result of a gift from one of the city's M.P.s. (fn. 165) The Friday market was the principal market in the 1780s, (fn. 166) and the Tuesday market lapsed in the 1840s. (fn. 167) The Friday market too declined in the later 19th century because of competition both inside and outside the city. (fn. 168) It was, however, still held in the late 1980s, along with a Saturday market which was started in the mid 20th century, later discontinued, and revived in 1978. (fn. 169) A Monday market was started in 1957 but ceased later in the year for lack of support. (fn. 170) In the 1980s a market was also held in Market Street during the Greenhill Bower festivities. (fn. 171) The city council then remained responsible for the markets but paid the district council to run them. (fn. 172)

The market has long been held in the area on the north side of St. Mary's church. Originally the whole area round the church formed the market place, but encroachment had taken place on the south side by c. 1500. (fn. 173) In the later Middle Ages different parts of the market place were used for particular commodities. Cloth Cheaping, mentioned from 1312, lay on the south side, probably being the Wool Cheaping of 1330. (fn. 174) Women's Cheaping, mentioned in 1388, was becoming known as Breadmarket Street by the late 17th century. (fn. 175) The salt market was on the north side at the beginning of the 15th century, (fn. 176) and Butcher Row had become the name of the stretch of Conduit Street on the east side by the mid 16th century. (fn. 177) In the earlier 19th century a pot market was held in the space beyond the east end of St. Mary's. (fn. 178) In the 1780s, to avoid friction between local people and dealers buying for resale elsewhere, the markets were opened at 11 a.m. but outsiders were not allowed to buy before noon. (fn. 179)

A market cross stood north of St. Mary's in the late Middle Ages. (fn. 180) Dean Denton, 1522–33, surrounded it with eight arches and roofed it, making a structure 'for poor market folks to stand dry in'. The building was topped with eight statues of apostles, two brass crucifixes on the east and west sides, and a bell. (fn. 181) It was destroyed by the parliamentarians in 1643, and a market house was built in the 1650s. Part at least of the cost was met with £41 10s. 'British money' collected at Lichfield in the mid 1640s. Though intended for the relief of the army in Ireland, the money remained in the hands of the collectors, who in 1652 gave it to the corporation towards the erection of a market house. (fn. 182) The building evidently consisted of an upper storey on an open arcade: in 1668 the Conduit Lands trustees' expenditure on repairs to it included payment for 15 piers and 4 windows, and in 1701 the corporation made a lease of rooms 'over the market cross'. There was also a market bell on the building: a renewal of the lease in 1716 reserved to the corporation the right to ring it. (fn. 183) The market house was rebuilt at the trustees' expense in the early 1730s. The new building was single-storeyed with two arched openings on each of its four sides. (fn. 184) A market bell was provided by the corporation in 1756–7. (fn. 185) The market house was again taken down in 1789, (fn. 186) and in the earlier 1790s the Roundabout House to the east and the former fire engine house adjoining it were also demolished. (fn. 187) A subscription for a new market house was opened in the mid 1790s, with the corporation contributing £10, the marquess of Stafford £50, and the Conduit Lands trustees £100. The new building, completed in 1797, stood on the site of the Roundabout House and was designed apparently by a Mr. Statham; it was a stone building with arched openings and was surmounted by a balustrade. (fn. 188) The market place was enlarged in 1835 by the demolition of a range of houses in the north-east corner; the corporation paid £200 towards the cost, and the Conduit Lands trustees contributed £550 to a public subscription. (fn. 189) In 1848 it was decided to build a combined market hall and corn exchange, (fn. 190) and the market house was pulled down in 1849. (fn. 191)

The Corn Exchange, a two-storeyed brick building in Conduit Street designed in a Tudor style by Johnson & Son of St. John Street, was erected by a company formed for the purpose and was opened in 1850. The arcaded ground floor was a market hall, and the upper floor, with an octagonal north end, housed the corn exchange; a savings bank in the same style was built at the Bore Street end of the building. The market hall was let to the corporation and was used as a butter and poultry market; doors and glazing had been added by 1889. The upper floor was also used as an assembly hall. (fn. 192) The whole building was bought by the corporation in 1902. The ground floor continued as a market hall, and the upper floor, after being occupied by the War Office from 1916, became the Lichfield City Institute in 1920. (fn. 193) In the mid 1970s shops were built on the ground floor and the upper floor was converted into a restaurant. (fn. 194)

The 1622 charter authorized the sale of cattle, sheep, horses, poultry, and pigs at the markets. (fn. 195) A livestock market was held in 1669–70, and in 1674 John Lambe paid the corporation 3s. 4d. for the swine market in Tamworth Street. (fn. 196) In the late 18th century cattle, sheep, and pigs from the area around Lichfield were occasionally offered for sale at the Friday market. (fn. 197) A sheep and cattle auction on ground opposite St. Michael's church was advertised in 1811; Greenhill may in fact have been used for a livestock market much earlier. (fn. 198) In 1824 there was a move among the local graziers, farmers, and butchers for the establishment of a weekly or fortnightly market at Greenhill dealing in cattle, sheep, and pigs. (fn. 199) In September 1838 the corporation agreed to hold a cattle and sheep market on the first Monday of each month; the sheep were to be sold in the market place and the cattle in Bore Street and the other streets used during the fairs. (fn. 200) The market was being held by August 1839 when it was described as new and thinly attended. (fn. 201) It was moved to Greenhill under a council order of 1844 and was still being held on the north side of Church Street in 1864. (fn. 202) In 1870 Winterton & Beale owned a smithfield there, described as new, with sales on the first and third Mondays of the month. (fn. 203) Another smithfield on ground north of the Swan hotel had lapsed before August 1869 when it was reopened for a monthly market by a Mr. Gillard, possibly the Charles Gillard who was a Lichfield auctioneer in 1841 and 1851. (fn. 204) By 1875 sales were held every alternate Monday at both smithfields and were by auction. (fn. 205) A new smithfield was built at the Swan by Public (later Lichfield) Cattle Sales Co. formed in 1876, (fn. 206) and in 1883 Thomas Winterton began building a covered market in Church Street. (fn. 207) There was a street market for horses once a month by 1879, and it was evidently still held in 1889. By then the smithfields were selling cheese, poultry, bacon, and potatoes, to the detriment of the general Friday market. (fn. 208) An annual wool sale was started at the Greenhill smithfield in 1884 with some 4,000 fleeces advertised, and by 1892 some 32,000 were pitched there. (fn. 209) The Swan smithfield was closed c. 1906. (fn. 210) In 1927 the Church Street smithfield dealt in cattle, sheep, pigs, wool, and potatoes on alternate Mondays and in horses on the first Friday of the month. (fn. 211) A livestock market was held there every Monday from 1935. (fn. 212) In 1988 Wintertons moved the smithfield to their new Lichfield Auction Centre at Fradley in Alrewas. The Church Street site was then cleared to make way for new commercial development. (fn. 213)

In 1293 the bishop claimed a fair at Lichfield on the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of Whit week by immemorial right. (fn. 214) A fair was held in 1305, presumably at that time. (fn. 215) In 1307 the king granted the bishop a fair at Lichfield on Whit Monday and the 14 days following and another on the morrow of All Saints and the seven days following (2–9 November). (fn. 216) In 1337 a third fair was granted on the eve and feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (13 and 14 September) and the two days following. (fn. 217) There was a fair on Ash Wednesday by 1409, with an accompanying court of pie powder by 1464. (fn. 218) By the early 15th century the Whitsun fair was evidently held at Greenhill. (fn. 219) It seems that by 1622 only the Ash Wednesday fair survived, and the charter of that year stated that by ancient custom it began on Shrove Tuesday and continued until the following Friday. (fn. 220)

By the early 16th century a toll of 4d. was charged on every cart carrying merchandise to or from 'the fair', probably the Ash Wednesday fair, and 3d. on every horse; 'any worshipful man's household stuff' was to be free. Tolls on salmon, herrings, eels, salt fish, stockfish, oil, and honey were taken in kind. The Lichfield smiths paid little, and pewterers and cooks were also favoured. Mercers, grocers, and artificers from Coventry were charged simply 'a franchise penny' when they traded from shops and not from stalls in the streets. It was customary for the smiths to set up their stalls by the market cross, along with pedlars and hardware men; the salmon stalls were by the conduit. The tolls were confirmed by agreement between the bishop and townsmen c. 1509. (fn. 221) A further agreement in 1531 laid down a more detailed system. The burgesses retained their ancient freedom from tolls. Other inhabitants had to pay ½d. a yard for their booths and stalls at the Ash Wednesday fair but not on other occasions. They also had to pay 2d. for every cartload of goods brought for sale at the Ash Wednesday fair. At that fair outsiders were to be charged 1d. a yard for stalls selling salmon, salt fish, eels, oil, honey, 'and such other victual', and ½d. a yard for those selling wool, onions, garlic, wooden dishes, ropes, horse harness, and things of small value. On other occasions outsiders were to be charged ½d. a yard for any stall. Townsmen who took advantage of their lower rates to sell outside goods were to be charged 2d. a yard. People carrying non-Lichfield goods out of the town for resale were to pay 2d. on every cart and apparently ½d. on every horse. Buyers of horses, oxen, and cows four years old had to pay 1d. a beast and ½d. on younger beasts. The charge for a pig a year old was ¼d. and for a boar 1d. Sheep were toll free, as were carts and horses simply carrying goods through the town. (fn. 222)

The tolls give an indication of the commodities traded at the fairs in the earlier 16th century. An earlier indication may be provided by the list of goods chargeable under a grant of pavage and murage made to the bishop in 1299. (fn. 223) In 1367 Halesowen abbey (Worcs.) bought 6,000 red herring and two barrels of herring prepared in stock at the Ash Wednesday fair. (fn. 224) Salmon was bought at the Ash Wednesday fair of 1453 for the duke of Buckingham. (fn. 225) Commodities bought there in the mid 1520s for Sir Henry Willoughby of Wollaton Hall (Notts.) included eels, herring, salmon, mussels, honey, oil, and currants. Fish was bought for him at the Whitsun fair in 1522, and fish, honey, oil, figs, sugar loaves, lemon conserve, and a 'scummer' (a fire shovel or a cooking ladle) at one of the fairs in 1527. (fn. 226) A London stock-fish monger complained to Thomas Cromwell in 1532 about the illegal export from Ireland to Lichfield of a quantity of salmon, herring, other fish, oil, and honey. (fn. 227)

The 1622 charter confirmed the Ash Wednesday fair and added three others, on 1 May (or if that day was a Sunday, on 2 May) and the day following, on the Friday before the feast of St. Simon and St. Jude (28 October) and the day following, and on the Friday after the Epiphany (6 January). (fn. 228) In 1681 the corporation ordered that tanners were not to bring leather up into the guildhall for sale during the fairs, but it permitted them to sell it in the entry under the hall. (fn. 229) The Ash Wednesday fair (known as the Old Fair by the late 17th century) and the May fair were held in the market place by the early 18th century, and probably earlier. (fn. 230) The Epiphany fair had lapsed by 1735 but may have been revived c. 1790. (fn. 231) The autumn fair was called the goose fair by the later 1740s. (fn. 232) As a result of the change in the calendar in 1752 the date of the May fair was moved to 12 May and that of the goose fair to the first Friday in November. (fn. 233) The goose fair was still held in the late 18th century, but in 1829 it was described, like the Epiphany fair, as 'little more than nominal'. (fn. 234)

In 1815 at the instigation of local farmers two fairs were introduced, on the first Monday in July and the first Monday in November. (fn. 235) The May fair in 1817 was noted as having a large number of cows, heifers, and horses and a record number of clothiers' stalls. (fn. 236) In the mid 1820s the Ash Wednesday fair was dealing in sheep, cattle, horses, cheese, and bacon. (fn. 237) In 1838 the corporation agreed to establish a wool fair in the market place and the surrounding streets as part of the July fair. One was held in 1839, but it was not a success and does not appear to have been repeated. (fn. 238) The July and November fairs were evidently held at Greenhill in the later 1840s but were discontinued soon afterwards owing to the competition of the monthly cattle markets. (fn. 239) In 1852 a fair dealing in cheese, bacon, geese, and onions was started in the market place on the first Monday of October; it was still held in the late 1870s. (fn. 240) In December 1863 the corporation ordered that cattle for the Ash Wednesday and May fairs were to be driven to Greenhill and were not to stand in Bore Street, Bird Street, or elsewhere. It also ordered that the Ash Wednesday fair was to be held on Shrove Tuesday only. (fn. 241) In 1868 the fair was proclaimed on Shrove Tuesday and held on Ash Wednesday. The cattle fair at Greenhill was average, but the cheese fair was well supplied; there was a pleasure fair in the evening. (fn. 242) The May fair evidently lapsed in the late 1870s, although the mayor continued to proclaim it, after giving a breakfast, until 1892. (fn. 243)

By the later 1870s the Ash Wednesday fair was little more than a pleasure fair. (fn. 244) Because it disturbed the Ash Wednesday service in St. Mary's, the council changed the day to Shrove Tuesday in 1890. (fn. 245) In the late 1980s a fair with a court of pie powder was still proclaimed in the market place by the town crier in the presence of the mayor and a civic party, but only a pleasure fair is held, continuing for the rest of the week. After the proclamation the mayor and the civic party return to the guildhall for simnel cake; the provision of 'simnels and wine' at the Ash Wednesday fair was recorded in 1747. (fn. 246)

TRADES AND INDUSTRIES.

The Middle Ages.

The needs of the cathedral and its clergy may have fostered some of Lichfield's earliest trades. Three vintners trading in 1199 included Samson the vintner, who witnessed a charter of Bishop Muschamp. (fn. 247) A later vintner was William the taverner, who was the bishop's bailiff in the town in 1308–9. During his term of office he supervised the purchase and transport of wine from Bristol, Worcester, and Bridgnorth. (fn. 248) Two goldsmiths, Hugh and Robert, were recorded in 1203–4, and another two, Godfrey of Stafford and William Young, in the later 13th century. (fn. 249) Stephen of Knutton, a goldsmith, may have been living in Lichfield in 1320. (fn. 250) In the mid 15th century two goldsmiths were enrolled as members of the guild of St. Mary and St. John the Baptist, and in 1466 a goldsmith held land in Market Street. (fn. 251) Master Michael the bellfounder was recorded in the later 13th century. His son, Henry Bellfounder, continued the trade and is presumably identifiable as the Master Henry Michel of Lichfield who in 1313 cast a great bell for Croxden abbey. (fn. 252) Two men who were probably bellfounders acquired land in Lichfield in 1332–3, and Richard and Simon Belzetter, recorded respectively in 1372 and 1395–6, may on the evidence of their name have cast bells. (fn. 253) Hamon the illuminator held land in Lichfield in 1298, and a painter was admitted to St. Mary's guild in 1416 and another in the 1470s. (fn. 254) A clockmaker was recorded in the earlier 1470s. (fn. 255) There were parchment makers in the 15th century, and Henry the bookseller was recorded in the early 16th century. (fn. 256)

Lichfield's principal trades, however, were retailing, the wool trade, and the production of leather goods. A market was granted in 1153, and a fair was held by the late 13th century. (fn. 257) The range of commodities which came into the town is probably indicated by a list of goods on which tolls were to be levied under a grant of pavage and murage to the bishop in 1299: they included horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats; corn, meal, onions, garlic, honey, and oil; meat, cheese, butter, and a variety of fish; salt; hides, skins, fleeces, and wool; cloth and silk; web, canvas, and hemp; dyestuffs; tallow; coal; millstones; timber and tan bark; and iron and metal products. (fn. 258) There may have been trading links with France in the mid 1260s when a merchant from Amiens, Walter de Spany or Espaigny, was resident in Lichfield. (fn. 259) Cloth may have been produced locally as early as the late 12th century when there was a dyer in the town, and another dyer was recorded in 1298, when there was also a fuller holding land in the Sandford area. (fn. 260) Merchants came from London in 1305 and 1306 to buy wool, and in 1327 Lichfield wool merchants were ordered to send representatives to York to discuss with the king matters relating to the wool trade. (fn. 261) Part of the market place was known as Cloth Cheaping by 1312 and as Wool Cheaping by 1330. (fn. 262) At least some of the wool may have come from the Peak District where the dean and chapter had estates: in the late 14th century wool received as tithe was evidently sold in Lichfield, and in 1598 there was a wool house in the Close. (fn. 263) There was a shoemakers' quarter (sutoria) in the town in the later 13th century, (fn. 264) and tanners were recorded in the late 13th and early 14th century. (fn. 265) Saddlers recorded in the later 14th century presumably worked in Saddler (later Market) Street. (fn. 266) Among those assessed for the 1380 poll tax (fn. 267) were 12 tailors, 11 shoemakers, 2 glovers, 2 weavers, 2 fullers, and 2 skinners; providers of food and drink comprised 8 bakers, 3 butchers, 2 millers, a cook, and a fisherman, and retailers 4 mercers, 2 drapers, a spicer, and a chapman. Cottagers and labourers, however, made up the largest group and indicate Lichfield's close dependance on agriculture.

Glass may have been made on land north of Fosseway which was called Glascroft in 1215. (fn. 268) Adam the glazier witnessed a deed relating to land at Leamonsley in the earlier 13th century, (fn. 269) and William the glazier, son of John the glazier, was evidently living in the Sandford Street area in the late 13th century. (fn. 270) William was presumably the William 'le verrer' who in 1311–12 supplied or made glass for the great hall of Bishop Langton's new palace in the Close and did work for the bishop at Eccleshall. (fn. 271) There was another William the glazier in Lichfield in 1349, whose son John Glaswright was living there in 1395. (fn. 272)

Land west of Beacon Street called Soperscroft in 1498 may indicate that soap was made there. (fn. 273) In 1506–7 a man was presented in the manor court for polluting Upper Pool in the same area with soap water, presumably a result of soap manufacture. (fn. 274) A presentment for pollution with soap water in Bore Street was made in 1522. (fn. 275)

Stone used in the early 14th century for the construction of Bishop Langton's palace in the Close came from Freeford, evidently the quarry on the city's south-eastern boundary at Quarryhills Lane, still worked in the early 19th century. (fn. 276) Along with other quarries it presumably also provided stone for the cathedral. There was a quarry in Lincroft field between Beacon Street and Wheel Lane by 1356; it was extended that year when Hugh de Norburgh, knight, granted the two wardens of the cathedral fabric adjoining land measuring 60 ft. by 40 ft. The enlarged quarry was evidently that known as the great quarry in 1498. The area was still worked in the mid 17th century. (fn. 277) A stonebreaker, William son of Geoffrey, who granted land in Streethay to Hugh the mason in the mid 14th century, may have worked a quarry at Stowe; a quarry there was certainly worked in the mid 1470s and evidently lay in the grounds of the later Stowe Hill House. (fn. 278)

There was a tiler in Lichfield in the early 13th century and a tilehouse at Greenhill in the early 16th century. (fn. 279) Tiles may have been made at the kiln house in Beacon Street, recorded in 1402. (fn. 280) Robert Bird, a brickmaker, was living in Stowe Street in 1466. (fn. 281) Brick buildings survive from around the end of the 15th century and include houses in the south-west corner of the Close and the east range of St. John's hospital in St. John Street.

The 16th and 17th centuries.

Men indicted for a disturbance in the town c. 1509 included 19 cappers, 11 tailors, 6 weavers, 4 shearmen, 3 glovers, 2 dyers, a corviser, and a skinner; 3 spurriers, 3 smiths, and 3 cutlers; 4 bakers and 4 butchers. (fn. 282) Out of the 61 men who between 1548 and 1604 served as bailiff 19 were providers of food and drink (including 8 bakers and 5 innkeepers), 14 were cloth and leather workers (including 6 cappers and 4 tanners), 12 were retailers (of whom 8 were mercers), but only 2 were metal workers (one a goldsmith and the other a pewterer). Of the rest as many as 10 were lawyers. (fn. 283) Membership of the city's craft guilds, or companies, also gives some indication of the relative importance of different trades, although the evidence is patchy. There were some 70 tailors in 1634, (fn. 284) compared with 27 shoemakers and curriers in 1626 (fn. 285) and 16 saddlers in 1629; (fn. 286) metal workers were especially numerous, with 95 members of the smiths' company in 1648. (fn. 287) There are no contemporary figures for the other companies.

Capping in Lichfield suffered as part of a national decline in the later 16th century. A petition to the queen by the Lichfield cappers in 1575 was supported by Lord Paget, and in 1584 the meagreness of the town's contribution to the relief of Nantwich (Ches.) after a fire was blamed on the decay of capping. (fn. 288) It seems that in the later 17th century woollen cloth was worked chiefly by feltmakers. (fn. 289) Cloth was dyed in Sandford Street, where there was a dyehouse in 1664 owned by Richard Grimley and one in 1679 owned by the Smaldridge family. (fn. 290)

A silkweaver lived in Stowe Street in 1632, and Richard Riley had three looms in his shop, possibly at Greenhill, at his death in 1674, one of them for weaving tiffany, a thin, transparent silk. (fn. 291) Bone-lace weavers were recorded in Lichfield in 1669, 1678, and 1695. (fn. 292) In the mid 1650s the manor court banned the washing of hemp and flax in Leamonsley brook and other watercourses, and a tow or flax dresser was one of the squatters in the Close in 1660. (fn. 293) It was presumably locally grown flax that was used in the linen manufactory in operation in Sandford Street between 1691 and 1696. (fn. 294)

A tanner, John Blount, who was junior bailiff in 1589–90, and his son George, also a tanner, had land in Sandford Street in 1587. (fn. 295) The tanhouse of William Tunckes, who had leather, tanned skins, and bark worth £200 at his death in 1668, (fn. 296) was probably in Sandford Street since Thomas Tunckes certainly worked as a tanner there in the early 18th century. Other 17th-century tanners included John Mathew who had hides and calf skins worth £120 in his tanhouse at his death in 1608, and Francis Chaplain who had leather worth £224 at his death in 1671. (fn. 297) The kinds of leather goods manufactured in the 16th and 17th centuries are indicated by the existence of two trade companies, one for shoemakers and curriers and another for saddlers, bridlecutters, horse-collar makers, glovers, whittawers, and makers of breeches. (fn. 298)

Michael Johnson, a Lichfield bookseller and father of Samuel, bought skins and hides in various parts of England and in Scotland and Ireland, using the best to make parchment in a manufactory which he established c. 1697. He was evidently still working the manufactory, which stood east of the Close on a site later occupied by Parchment House, in 1725. (fn. 299)

Thomas Thacker, who had 350 calf and sheep skins at his death in 1646, was probably a fellmonger. Another Thomas Thacker had over £50 worth of fleeces together with curing equipment at his death in 1659. (fn. 300) John Bailey (d. 1682), a fellmonger, was living in Saddler Street in the 1650s. His son John may have continued the trade, and he, Francis Bailey, and another John Bailey were among the sheepmasters who opposed the inclosure of the town's open fields c. 1700. (fn. 301)

A goldsmith, Thomas Marshall, was a member of the corporation in 1548. (fn. 302) Nicholas Collins and John Gladwin, both members of the London company of goldsmiths, worked in Lichfield in the 1570s. Collins died there in 1589 and was evidently succeeded in his business by George Collins, recorded as a goldsmith in 1596. (fn. 303) The smiths' company contained a wide range of craftsmen. (fn. 304)

Among the distributive trades mercers included Humphrey Lowe (d. probably 1583), a member of the corporation in 1548, his son John (d. 1588), (fn. 305) and Simon Biddulph (d. 1580), a member of the corporation by 1553. (fn. 306) The goods in Thomas Deakin's shop at his death in 1660 show him to have been a mercer of moderate wealth; those of a chapman, Michael Riley, were listed in 1671. John Greene, a haberdasher of hats, was recorded in 1666. (fn. 307) John Burnes (d. 1600) and his son Thomas (d. 1610) were upholsterers. The upholsterer named John Burnes who bought a share of the Aldershawe estate in Wall in 1621 was probably Thomas's son. (fn. 308)

An apothecary named George Curitwell (or Curitall) was bailiff in 1594–5, 1599–1600, and 1609–10. (fn. 309) John Parker had an apothecary's shop at the sign of the Naked Boy in Saddler Street at his death in 1654. (fn. 310) The goods of the apothecary Samuel Newboult at his death in 1661 included a wide range of ointments and spices. (fn. 311)

A bookbinder, John Marten, was recorded in the early 16th century, and a man of the same name was a bookseller in the later 16th century. (fn. 312) Thomas Milner, a bookbinder, was recorded in 1561. (fn. 313) Richard Gladwin (d. 1663) was working as a stationer and bookbinder by 1637, and in 1639 Richard Ford was engaged to bind a service book from St. Mary's church. (fn. 314) Edward Milward was a bookseller at the time of his death, probably in 1681. (fn. 315) William Bailey of Market Street (d. 1715) had established himself as a bookbinder by 1682 and was selling books by 1688 when he became a member of the corporation. Although he had been apprenticed to the trade in Wolverhampton, he may have been related to members of the Bailey family already noted as fellmongers in Lichfield from the mid 17th century. (fn. 316) Michael Johnson (d. 1731) was apprenticed in 1673 to Richard Simpson, a London bookseller and stationer, at the expense of the Conduit Lands trustees. His brother Benjamin was apprenticed to Simpson in 1675, also at the trustees' expense. (fn. 317) Michael was established in Lichfield as a bookseller by 1683 and travelled to sell in neighbouring towns. He probably kept his stock in the Market Street house which he bought and rebuilt in 1707, having previously been the lessee. (fn. 318)

A brickmaker named Alan Carter was recorded in the later 16th century. In the 1570s some of the bricks for Lord Paget's new house at Beaudesert in Longdon were supplied by a Lichfield man called Marson, who also supplied gutters and crest tiles. (fn. 319) Denis Napper was recorded as a brickmaker in 1616, and the probate inventory of a man of the same name in 1660 included 1,500 bricks, 3,000 tiles, 20 dozen gutters, and 6 dozen crest tiles kept at his house, as well as 2,500 unbaked bricks at the 'clay pits'. (fn. 320) Late 17th-century brickmakers included William Tranter, Edward Merrey, and Thomas Marklow. (fn. 321)

The 18th and earlier 19th century.

While Lichfield's older trades remained important, new ones developed in response to particular needs, especially those of the leisured classes. In 1826 out of 307 resident parliamentary voters the cloth and leather trades accounted for 90 (mainly tailors and shoemakers), food and drink for 54 (mainly victuallers, maltsters, and butchers), building for 25, and metal for 22. Distributive traders such as grocers, mercers, and druggists numbered only 14. A group comprising 17 gardeners (probably market gardeners), 8 yeomen, and a farmer, represented an agricultural element in the economy. (fn. 322) By 1851 the manufacturing trades had declined in comparison with retailing. Of the tradesmen listed in 1851 only 46 were cloth and leather workers and only 17 metal workers, but 128 people were involved in the food and drink trade (of whom 73 were innkeepers, brewers, and maltsters) and 71 worked in the distributive trades. (fn. 323)

Charles Howard, who in 1709 rented land at Stowe Moggs for tenters, built a fulling mill at Stowe in or shortly before 1710. He was still working as a clothmaker at his death in 1717. (fn. 324) A fine worsted cloth called tammy was made in the mid 1720s, probably by John Hartwell, a member of the dyers' and clothworkers' company in 1726. He was in business as a woollen draper when he died in 1759. (fn. 325) Robert Hartwell (d. 1765) and his brother John (d. 1771), probably John's sons, were described as weavers, (fn. 326) and they may have owned the dyehouse which in 1766 stood on the north side of Lombard Street at its junction with Stowe Street. (fn. 327) The younger John's heir was his nephew Charles Gregory of Lombard Street, who had tenters at Stowe Moggs in 1771 and at his death in 1782. (fn. 328) A third John Hartwell, a manufacturer of tammy and saddlecloth in 1783, was ordered by the corporation in 1787 to remove his tenters, presumably at Stowe Moggs where he still some tenters in 1797. (fn. 329)

In the early 1790s John Hartwell built a fulling mill on Leamonsley brook on the Burntwood boundary; it was known as Leamonsley mill by 1816. (fn. 330) He died in 1798 and the business passed to his widow Mary. (fn. 331) Operations had ceased by 1809. In that year Mary let the mill, described as lately a fulling, carding, and spinning mill, and a warehouse and weaving shop on the south side of Lombard Street near the junction with George Lane, to a group of cotton manufacturers. (fn. 332) Both the mill and the Lombard Street premises were subsequently run by John Henrickson, a cotton spinner who went bankrupt in 1815, and in 1818 by Thomas Dicken, a cotton spinner and probably the Thomas Dicken of Alrewas who was one of the 1809 group. (fn. 333) By 1834 the mill had been let to Daniel Green, a worsted spinner, who lived there. He was still working it in the earlier 1850s, but by 1859 it was occupied by James Johnson, another worsted spinner. (fn. 334) Mary Hartwell had died in 1833, and the mill was sold that year to Thomas Adie. On his death in 1859 it passed to his widow Ann. When she died in 1860 her daughter Caroline sold it to the South Staffordshire Waterworks Co., which immediately sold it to Samuel Pole Shawe of Maple Hayes in Burntwood. James Johnson relinquished his tenancy and the mill was closed. In 1861 two servants from Maple Hayes and their families were living in parts of the premises. (fn. 335)

Another woollen manufactory was established at Pones mill in 1809 or earlier by Thomas Morgan, son of a Lichfield bookseller. He was still running it in 1817. (fn. 336) By 1827 the mill was owned by Thomas Hitchcock and John Sultzer, both of whom had business connexions with the hosiery trade in Leicester. It then produced carpets and knitting yarns. (fn. 337) Hitchcock lived in the millhouse and evidently ran the mill; he was still living there in 1841. In 1848 Sultzer alone was recorded as the mill owner. (fn. 338) In 1850 the mill, possibly still owned by Sultzer, produced lace and also silk trimmings for coaches. (fn. 339) In the late 1980s the buildings were occupied as two houses, Netherstowe House (North) and (South). The southern range was probably the mill and comprises two adjoining blocks which date from the late 17th or early 18th century; they are of brick on substantial stone footings of earlier date. The northern range of c. 1800 was probably the millhouse; it is a three-storey block of brick four bays wide, with a hipped roof, sash windows, and a front door set in a pilaster case under a decorative fanlight. (fn. 340)

Thomas Bailey, a jersey comber and weaver, was working in Lichfield in 1794. (fn. 341) There were weaving shops in Sandford Street in the early 1800s and a dyehouse in 1814. (fn. 342) Three woolcombers were listed in 1818, besides a mop and horse-rug manufacturer, James Binns, in Stowe Street. He was still there in 1841 but had been succeeded by 1851 by Joseph Binns, a wool carder and maker of mops and mop yarn. (fn. 343)

John Hartwell (d. 1798) produced cotton saddlecloth, probably in 1776 and certainly by 1793. (fn. 344) In 1809 his fulling mill at Leamonsley and his workshop in Lombard Street were let to cotton manufacturers. (fn. 345) Cotton yarn was still made at the Lombard Street premises in 1835, under the direction of Samuel Wiggen (or Wiggin). (fn. 346) A small cotton manufactory was established by 1802 in Sandford Street by Sir Robert Peel, whose brother Joseph ran it in 1803; it survived in 1809 and possibly in 1813. Workers lived in a nearby row of 14 houses, used also as weaving shops. (fn. 347) The manufactory probably supplied the stock worked by the inmates of St. Mary's parish workhouse in Sandford Street in 1803. (fn. 348) Calico was printed, probably at the Peel works, by 1803, and three calico workers were recorded in 1804, at least one of them living in Sandford Street. (fn. 349)

A sailcloth merchant, John Tunstall, attempted to establish a canvas manufactory in 1761 but was thwarted by the corporation, possibly because it opposed industry in the town. By 1776, however, he was making sailcloth and streamers for ships evidently in premises at the west end of Sandford Street. (fn. 350) His son Bradbury ran the manufactory by 1784, and in 1793 he was working as a hemp and flax dresser. (fn. 351) The business was described as considerable in 1811, and Bradbury was still running it in 1829. (fn. 352) A flax shop owned by William Sherratt was burnt down in 1776, and Thomas Sherratt was in business in 1793 as a hemp and flax dresser. (fn. 353) It is not known where they had their premises. Two flax dressers were listed in 1818, one at Greenhill and the other in Tamworth Street. (fn. 354) Rope Walk recorded on the north side of Lombard Street in 1781 was presumably used at some time for making rope, and a rope manufactory in Sandford Street was closed in 1809. (fn. 355) Two ropemakers were listed in 1818, one in Lombard Street and the other in St. John Street. The Lombard Street ropemaker, Joseph Howis, was still in business in the earlier 1830s. (fn. 356)

Leather working remained important, especially in the Sandford Street area where a tan-house and tanyards were worked by Thomas Tunckes in the early 18th century. (fn. 357) In 1776 there was a tanhouse on Trunkfield brook west of the Turk's Head inn in Sandford Street and two tanyards further downstream on the north side of the street. (fn. 358) A tanyard offered for sale in 1825 with 49 handlers (or pits), 39 vats, and 6 lime vats was probably in Sandford Street, and there were still tanpits in 1848 on the south side of Sandford Street and of Queen Street, although by then they were probably disused. (fn. 359) Waste land north of Quonians Lane was let by the corporation in 1711 to Thomas Bailey, a tanner, and the lease was renewed in 1741 in favour of Francis Bailey, also a tanner. (fn. 360) In 1766 there was a tanyard on the north side of Stowe Street on the stream leading to Stowe Pool and another on the south side of the mill in Dam Street. The former survived in 1830 and the latter probably in 1834, when the corporation considered action against the tenant of a skinhouse who claimed the privilege of washing skins in Minster Pool. (fn. 361)

Saddlemaking presumably used much of the locally produced leather, but the trade declined from the early 19th century as Walsall became the main centre in Staffordshire for the manufacture of saddles. (fn. 362) Frances Purden & Son was making saddles, harnesses, horse-collars, and sponge boots for horses in Bird Street in 1818. The son was presumably Thomas Purden who was listed as a saddler in Bird Street in 1834, when he was one of five saddlers in the city; in 1851 he was one of three. (fn. 363) There were still three saddle and harness makers in Lichfield in 1880. (fn. 364)

A coachmaker named John Lamb was working in the town in 1710 and 1727. (fn. 365) By the later 18th century there were two coachmakers, William Butler in Bore Street and James Butler in Wade Street. James, who took over William's firm in 1766, was still in business in 1779, when he also advertised as a house painter. (fn. 366) A coach works owned by Charles Holmes in 1810 may have occupied the Butler premises in Wade Street; certainly the partnership of Holmes & Turnor operated from Wade Street in 1816. (fn. 367) Known as Holmes & Butcher by 1829, the partnership was evidently dissolved in 1848 and the works was continued by William Holmes. (fn. 368) In 1860 Arthur and Herbert Holmes worked as coach and harness makers in St. John Street, possibly on the north side of St. John's hospital where John Heap had a coach works in 1848. By 1864 they had moved their premises to Bird Street, evidently on the corner with Bore Street. (fn. 369) As Holmes & Co. the business continued there until c. 1918. (fn. 370) In 1818 William Weldhen was making coaches and coach harnesses, evidently on the east side of Upper St. John Street where he had a workshop and showroom in 1847. (fn. 371) Premises there were in the hands of John Weldhen in 1864. The business was sold in 1890 to John Hall, a coachmaker based in Gaia Lane. (fn. 372) Hall continued the St. John Street works until c. 1918. (fn. 373)

The metal trades appear to have declined in importance. Although Stowe mill was rebuilt as an iron manufactory c. 1740, there is no evidence that it was in fact so used, and in 1753 it was converted into a flour mill. (fn. 374) A few nailers were recorded in the early 19th century, and several tinplate workers and a locksmith were listed in 1818. There was a nail manufacturer in Sandford Street in 1829. (fn. 375) By 1826 agricultural implements were made in Sandford Street by Samuel Gregory, who advertised his newly invented chaff-cutting machine that year and was still in business in 1840. (fn. 376) In 1834 James Barlow was making cutlery, also in Sandford Street. (fn. 377)

Although Anna Seward complained in 1788 about the poor range of goods available in Lichfield, shopkeepers in 1793 included 13 grocers and drapers, a fruiterer and poulterer, a confectioner, a pastry cook, a tea dealer, a haberdasher, and a china and glass dealer. There were also four apothecaries and druggists. (fn. 378) In 1834 the distributive trades included 17 shopkeepers, 12 grocers and tea dealers, 5 confectioners, 3 poulterers, 7 milliners and dressmakers, 5 linen and woollen drapers, and 3 china and glass dealers. The numbers were much the same in 1851. (fn. 379)

Of the food and drink trades brewing was the most important, producing beer mainly for local consumption. William Bonniface, the landlord of the George in Farquhar's play The Beaux' Stratagem (1707), extolled the ale which he brewed as being 'smooth as oil, sweet as milk, clear as amber, and strong as brandy'. (fn. 380) Lichfield ale had a national reputation by 1769 and was praised by James Boswell in 1776. (fn. 381) It was usually brewed by innkeepers, of whom 80 were recorded in 1732, 56 in 1776, and 55 in 1818; there were also 17 beerhouse keepers in 1818. A brewing trade in which maltsters produced ale for retailing had developed in Lichfield by the end of the 18th century: there were 9 maltsters in 1793 and 17 in 1818. (fn. 382) In 1834 there were 3 brewers and 19 maltsters, most of them at Greenhill and in Lombard Street and Tamworth Street. (fn. 383)

John Newton (d. 1754), who traded as a brandy and cider merchant in the East Midlands and parts of Yorkshire, was based in Lichfield and was probably a member of a King's Bromley family which had property in Barbados. (fn. 384) David Garrick, the actor, and his brother Peter went into business as wine merchants in 1739 evidently in their Beacon Street house. It was continued by Peter (d. 1796) and was run in 1818 by Charles Hewitt and in 1834 and 1851 by Henry Hewitt. It passed in the 1860s to the Griffith family, already wine merchants in Beacon Street. (fn. 385) John Fern, the lessee of the Swan, and George Addams were in business as wine merchants in 1793. They both lived in Beacon Street, Fern in White Hall and Addams in what became the Angel Croft hotel. (fn. 386) Fern's business was continued after his death in 1801 by his youngest son Robert, who went bankrupt in 1802. (fn. 387) Addams's business was taken over by George Dodson, who by 1812 had vaults behind a house (later called Cathedral House) on the north side of the Angel Croft. Dodson died in 1833 and was succeeded in business by Philip and Thomas Griffith. (fn. 388) By 1841 the firm was run by John and Arthur Griffith. (fn. 389)

Bookselling and printing was one of the main specialist trades catering for the leisured classes in Lichfield. After the bookseller William Bailey died in 1715, his business was evidently continued by John and Richard Bailey, recorded as booksellers in the mid 18th century. Richard's son William (d. 1785) was a printer as well as an apothecary. (fn. 390) After Michael Johnson's death in 1731, his son Nathaniel ran the bookselling business until his own death in 1737. It was then taken over by Michael's widow Sarah. After her death in 1749 the business was carried on by the Johnson family's servant Catherine Chambers (d. 1767). (fn. 391) What remained of Michael Johnson's stock of books was possibly bought on Catherine's death by a man named Major Morgan who was trading as a bookseller and printer in Lichfield in 1764. He ran his business from a shop in Market Street opposite Johnson's house. (fn. 392) Morgan died in 1802, and the business was continued by his son William (d. 1844). (fn. 393) Another late 18th-century bookseller and printer was John Jackson, in business by 1776, possibly operating from his house in what is now Friars Alley off Bird Street. He died probably in 1815, leaving his printing press to his son William, who is not known to have continued the trade. (fn. 394) Richard Greene, an apothecary and the founder of a museum in his house in Market Street, had a printing press probably in 1781 and certainly in 1784. (fn. 395) By 1810 Thomas Lomax had a printing works in Tamworth Street; he moved that year to premises at the corner of Bird Street and Market Street. The business was continued by his son Alfred, who became a noted publisher of religious books. (fn. 396)

The Lichfield Mercury, first issued in 1815, was printed on a press owned by its proprietor, James Amphlett, initially in Bore Street and later in Market Street. By 1823 the press was again in Bore Street, but in 1824 it was moved to premises at the east end of Sandford Street. A further move to the house which later became the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum took place in 1830. The paper was closed in 1833, although later revived. (fn. 397)

An increased emphasis on personal fashion created a demand for service trades and goods. In 1753 the Market Street apothecary Richard Greene was advertising his toothpaste in pots costing 6d. and 1s.; he had agents elsewhere in Staffordshire and the Midlands and in Liverpool. (fn. 398) Thomas Twyford was working in 1793 as a dentist, perfumerer, and toyseller; he was still working as a dentist in 1810. (fn. 399) William Roberts was working as a dentist in Bore Street in 1834. (fn. 400) There was a hatmaking business by 1744, and the Trigg family, in business from 1760, still made hats in 1900 at premises in Market Street. (fn. 401) There were three peruke makers in the later 1760s and one in 1771, (fn. 402) and in the later 1770s Anna Seward claimed that hairdressers ran about the city all morning, as Lichfield grew 'more fine and fashionable every day'. (fn. 403) Three hairdressers were recorded in 1793, one in 1801, another in 1812, and seven in 1818. (fn. 404) There were eight in 1834 and 1851. (fn. 405) There was an umbrella repairer in Gresley Row in 1829 and 1834, and an umbrella maker in St. John Street in 1851. (fn. 406)

Watchmakers were recorded in 1741, 1764, 1780, and 1793. (fn. 407) By 1818 there were five watch and clock makers, including William Vale in Bore Street, still working in 1841. (fn. 408) Edmund Vale, evidently William's successor, was a brass founder employing 15 men and 5 boys in 1861 and was one of five clockmakers in Lichfield in 1864. (fn. 409) Charles Thornloe was in business as a brass founder and clockmaker in Tamworth Street in 1834. He moved to Bore Street shortly before 1886, when the firm was taken over by John Salloway. (fn. 410) His great-nephew J. M. S. Salloway continued the business as a jeweller in the late 1980s.

William Evans made and repaired trumpets, horns, and bugles in 1800, presumably for the soldiers based in Lichfield. (fn. 411) Charles Allport was a maker of musical instruments in St. John Street in 1850; he also made guns, continuing a trade established by John Allport in the early 1840s. (fn. 412)

In 1765 a Mr. Laine advertised his skill in painting portraits in miniature on bracelets, rings, and snuffboxes, and a miniaturist was working in Tamworth Street in 1839. (fn. 413) In 1861 a photographer, William Andrews, had a studio in Dam Street, and by 1864 William Nicholls had one in Tamworth Street. Both were still working in 1872, but only Nicholls in 1876. (fn. 414)

A Birmingham auctioneer was using a Lichfield inn for business in 1797, and auction rooms were opened in Sandford Street by W. Harris in 1800. (fn. 415) By 1834 Richard Harris had auction rooms in Breadmarket Street, and what were probably the same premises were occupied by Ratcliffe Harris in 1848. Charles Gillard was an auctioneer in Bird Street in 1841, moving to Bore Street by 1851. (fn. 416) He may have been the Mr. Gillard who in 1869 reopened the smithfield near the Swan hotel. Another smithfield, at Greenhill, was run in 1870 by the auctioneers Winterton & Beale. (fn. 417)

The rebuilding of Lichfield in the 18th century provided work for brickmakers, notably members of the Marklow (later Marklew) family, John (d. 1717), William (fl. 1738), and Denis (d. 1753). In 1734 the corporation granted Denis Marklew a 21–year lease of land at Berry Hill. He was to make bricks there for only the first 14 years of the lease and then restore the land for agricultural use. (fn. 418) In the earlier 1740s Marklew also dug clay at Femley Pits near the city's southern boundary. A brickmaker, John Bond, dug clay at Femley Pits in the early 1790s. (fn. 419) In 1778 the corporation let land at Quarryhills Lane to Thomas Cheatam for three years to make bricks, but not tiles. (fn. 420) A brick kiln at Lincroft was used by the architect Joseph Potter the elder in the early 19th century, and by 1830 there was a kiln on the east side of the lane to Curborough. (fn. 421) A brickworks on Wissage Hill in the early 1820s may have been run by George Gilbert, recorded as a brickmaker at Greenhill in 1818. (fn. 422) In the 1840s John Gilbert, also of Greenhill, dug clay at Wissage to make bricks, pipes, tiles, and quarries. He was presumably related to Elias Gilbert, who by 1841 had a brickworks west of the Stafford road over the Burntwood boundary. (fn. 423)

A stone cutter, William Thompson of St. John Street, was presented at the manor court in 1758 for obstructing the road with stone and marble blocks. He may have been the 'Mr. Tompson' who worked on the north-west spire of the cathedral in 1766. (fn. 424) Another stone cutter, Thomas Thompson, was living in Bore Street in 1777. (fn. 425) In 1818 two stone and marble cutters were living in St. John Street, Joseph Johnson and Samuel Hayward, the latter also making statues. (fn. 426) In 1851 the same or another Joseph Johnson was working as a stone and marble mason in both Frog Lane and Beacon Street and George Johnson as one in St. John Street. (fn. 427) In 1848 Richard Hamlet had a stoneyard off Dam Street, (fn. 428) and John Hamlet worked on the restoration of the cathedral in the late 1850s. (fn. 429) Thomas Denstone worked as a carver and gilder in Dam Street in 1829 and 1841, and his premises had evidently been taken over by William Strickland by 1851. (fn. 430)

There was a bonehouse evidently on the north side of the Wyrley and Essington Canal west of Chesterfield Road by 1806. The miller, Thomas Wood, was ordered that year to stop production following a complaint by the vicar of St. Mary's that the works was 'a noisome and offensive building and a great nuisance to the inhabitants of the city'. He was still in business in 1818 and the bonehouse remained there in 1836. (fn. 431) In 1847 a bonehouse south of the canal on the west side of Birmingham Road was run by Richard and James Brawn. (fn. 432) Between 1857 and 1872 James Meacham ran Trunkfield mill as a bonemill. (fn. 433)

In 1818 John and Richard Brawn were in business as limemasters with works on the north side of the Wyrley and Essington Canal where it met Birmingham Road. They were recorded as coal, lime, and timber merchants in 1834. (fn. 434) Richard and James Brawn ran the business in 1847, and John Brawn worked as a lime burner there in 1872. (fn. 435) Two coal merchants ran businesses in 1818 from a wharf where the canal met Upper St. John Street. One of them, Thomas Robinson, still traded there in 1851. (fn. 436)

The Later 19th and the 20th century.

The growth of industrial firms in Lichfield had apparently been hampered by the development from the early 19th century of market gardening with its emphasis on seasonal labour: in 1888 the vicar of St. Mary's, Canon M. H. Scott, expressed the hope that new lines of business and manufacture might be introduced to give the labouring and artisan classes more opportunity of earning regular wages. (fn. 437)

Some new industries had already been established, especially in metal working and light engineering. In 1864 Frederick Symonds ran an iron and brass foundry on the south side of Wade Street. In 1882 Symonds also had a nail and bolt works on the north side of Frog Lane. He closed the Frog Lane works, and probably that in Wade Street too, in 1890. (fn. 438) Perkins & Sons, a firm based in Yoxall, had established an iron foundry in Sandford Street by 1879. (fn. 439) The firm became Woodroffe & Perkins Ltd. in 1904, and in 1923 it was bought by the engineering firm of Tuke & Bell Ltd. of Beacon Street and renamed the Lichfield Foundry Ltd. The Sandford Street works was closed in 1983. (fn. 440) Chamberlin & Hill, a Walsall firm of iron and brass founders established in 1890, set up a foundry in 1898 in Beacon Street opposite Wheel Lane. Production was concentrated on high-quality castings for use in the textile and mining industries. The works was rebuilt in 1953 and closed in 1986. (fn. 441) It was demolished in 1988 and was replaced that year by a Safeway supermarket. (fn. 442) Tuke & Bell Ltd., established in London in 1912, moved to Lichfield in 1918 and occupied a site on the corner of Beacon Street and Wheel Lane. It concentrated on the production of sewage purification plant and parts for refuse vehicles, but by the late 1920s it also assembled motor cars. It ceased to manufacture parts for refuse vehicles in 1950 but continued to design and make sewage treatment equipment. In 1986 ownership was vested wholly in the firm's employees as shareholders. (fn. 443)

Charles Bailey, who sold agricultural implements in St. John Street by 1868, made tools in a works at St. John's wharf on the Wyrley and Essington Canal by 1872 and was still in business in the mid 1890s. (fn. 444) By 1899 Perkins & Sons had a works making agricultural implements in Frog Lane, presumably on the site of the former nail and bolt works; it was still in operation in 1912. (fn. 445)

John Lester established himself as a bicycle maker in 1889 with premises in Tamworth Street, and by 1897 he was advertising his own make, the 'Lester'. His firm survived until 1913. (fn. 446) Bicycles were also assembled at the turn of the century by Auckland and Co. in Bore Street. (fn. 447)

The most important industry from the later 19th century was brewing. By 1848 the wine merchants John and Arthur Griffith had established a brewery in their Beacon Street premises behind Cathedral House. They had a malthouse to the south on the site of the later Lichfield library, and the 1858 malthouse which survives by the railway on the east side of Upper St. John Street was probably theirs too. (fn. 448) The venture was unsuccessful because demand was still met by Lichfield innkeepers. (fn. 449) In 1864 John, Henry, and William Gilbert formed the Lichfield Malting Co., based in Tamworth Street, and in 1866 a malthouse was built on the north side of the railway south of Birmingham Road. (fn. 450) The firm was merged with the Griffiths' brewery in 1869 to form the Lichfield Brewery Co. (fn. 451) In 1873 the new company opened a brewery, designed by George Scamell of Westminster, beside the railway line on the west side of Upper St. John Street. (fn. 452) A large malthouse on the opposite side of Upper St. John Street south of the station was built about the same time. The company was bought by Samuel Allsopp & Sons of Burton upon Trent in 1930 and brewing at Lichfield evidently ceased in 1931. The malthouse was destroyed by fire in 1950. (fn. 453)

The City Brewery Co. was established in 1874 with premises, also designed by George Scamell, on the south side of the railway between Birmingham Road and Chesterfield Road. After a fire in 1916 the brewery was closed, and the company was taken over in 1917 by Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries Ltd. A malthouse survived on the site in the late 1980s. (fn. 454)

In 1874 John and Arthur Griffith again opened a brewery, on the north side of Sandford Street. John died in 1886, and the brewery was taken over by Harold Jackson and c. 1898 by Sydney Oldham. In 1924 it was owned by Davenport's C. B. Ltd., who still ran it in 1940. (fn. 455)

The Trent Valley Brewery Co. was established in 1875. It opened a brewery, again designed by George Scamell, in 1877 just over the city boundary in Streethay. (fn. 456) The company amalgamated with the Lichfield Brewery Co. in 1891. The brewery was demolished in 1970. (fn. 457)

The firm of A. W. and W. A. Smith, established by 1877, had a brewery at the corner of Beacon Street and Wheel Lane. It was evidently later acquired by the Lichfield Brewery Co., which sold the site in 1918 to the engineering firm of Tuke & Bell. (fn. 458)

A works producing soda water, lemonade, and mineral water was established in Church Street by John Simms in 1840 and was still in operation in 1951. (fn. 459) In 1931 the Lichfield Aerated Water Co., a subsidiary of Ind Coope & Allsopp, opened a works at the Lichfield Brewery Co. premises in Upper St. John Street. The company was taken over by Burrows & Sturgess of Derby in 1935, and a new works was opened in Birmingham Road. As the Birmingham Chemical Co. the firm produced essences and fruit juice compounds for the food trade. The company retained its Upper St. John Street offices; the name Wiltell Road there is taken from the firm's motto 'Quality Will Tell'. (fn. 460)

When Alfred Lomax retired in 1901, his printing and publishing business, based at the corner of Bird Street and Market Street since 1810, was transferred to F. H. Bull and E. Wiseman who traded as A. C. Lomax's Successors. In 1942 the firm was bought from Bull's widow by the directors of the Lichfield Mercury; it remained a separate printing works until its closure in 1969. (fn. 461) The Lichfield Mercury, revived in 1877, was printed in the Bird Street premises of its proprietor Frederic Brown, who had taken over a printing works owned in 1850 by Francis Eggington. (fn. 462) The paper was printed there until the mid 1960s, when printing was transferred to Tamworth. (fn. 463)

James Hamlet was working in Sandford Street as an ecclesiastical stone and marble mason between 1864 and 1872, probably continuing the business of Richard Hamlet in Dam Street in 1848. There were two other stone masons in 1868 and 1872, of whom John Matthewson of Sandford Street also worked marble. (fn. 464) Robert Bridgeman, who came to work on the cathedral in 1877 as foreman of a Peterborough firm of stonemasons, established his own stonemason's business in Lichfield in 1879. His first premises were off Dam Street, later the site of the School of Art; by 1882 he had moved to Quonians Lane. The works produced goods in wood and stone which were marketed in many parts of the country and abroad. The firm had a workforce of over 200 in 1914. On his death in 1918 Robert was succeeded by his son Joseph, who was in turn succeeded by his son Charles in 1950. In 1968 Charles sold the firm to Linfords, based in Cannock, which as Linford-Bridgeman still owned the Quonians Lane premises in 1986. (fn. 465)

A tradesmen's association was established in Lichfield in 1896; it changed its name to a chamber of trade in 1912. (fn. 466) In the late 1920s and again in the later 1930s commercial development in Lichfield was promoted by the city council and a chamber of commerce. (fn. 467) In 1945 the council bought Trent Valley House (formerly in Streethay but since 1934 in Lichfield) and 16 a. around it, and opened the Trent Valley Trading Estate there in 1946. By the early 1950s factories there produced roller bearings, electrical equipment, dairy machinery, plastics, and furniture. (fn. 468) A factory making pre-stressed concrete blocks was opened in 1945 in Dovehouse Fields next to the railway east of Birmingham Road. (fn. 469) The Trent Valley Estate was extended north in the early 1960s and again after Eastern Avenue was opened in 1972. (fn. 470) A further expansion of light industry to the south was started in 1981 with the opening of the Britannia Enterprise Park. As part of the Boley Park Industrial Estate, it was further added to in the mid and late 1980s. (fn. 471)

PROFESSIONS.

Apart from the cathedral clergy, lawyers have been the main group of professional men in the city since the 16th century, their business initially generated by the ecclesiastical courts. They acquired a body of wealthy clients as Lichfield developed in the 18th century as a place of residence for polite society, and they also served the needs of various charitable and public trusts.

The corporation's first bailiffs in 1548, Mark Wyrley and Gregory Stonyng, were lawyers, and eight other lawyers were bailiffs in the period to 1588. (fn. 472) They included John Dyott (d. 1578), a barrister, (fn. 473) Richard Martin, diocesan registrar by 1551, (fn. 474) and James Weston (d. 1589), diocesan registrar by 1562 and M.P. for Lichfield 1584–5. (fn. 475) The Martin family were lawyers for several generations: Edward Martin, a bachelor of laws and master of the guild of St. Mary and St. John the Baptist in 1512–13, (fn. 476) John (d. 1635), Simon (d. 1681), and Simon's son, also Simon (d. 1688). (fn. 477) Other members of the Weston family too were lawyers: James's brother Robert (d. 1573) was chancellor of both Lichfield and Exeter dioceses, James's son Simon became recorder of Lichfield, and another son James was admitted to the Inner Temple. (fn. 478)

There were ten lawyers in 1793, six of them proctors in the bishop's consistory court and four attorneys. (fn. 479) In 1834 there were four proctors and ten attorneys, and in 1851 two proctors and eleven attorneys. (fn. 480) Of the proctors listed in 1793 William Mott had been articled in 1774 as a clerk to William Buckeridge, a proctor; he became deputy diocesan registrar in 1781 and registrar to the dean and chapter in 1799, retaining both offices until his death in 1826. (fn. 481) His son John, articled in 1798, succeeded him as deputy diocesan registrar and was still in office in 1854. (fn. 482) Thomas Hinckley, another proctor recorded in 1793, evidently had a civil practice as well: he was practising as an attorney in 1784 and was steward of Longdon manor between 1794 and 1809. (fn. 483) He died in 1817, and his sons Arthur, Thomas, and Richard continued the practice, evidently from an office in Market Street. (fn. 484) Thomas the younger succeeded his father as steward of Longdon manor and remained steward until 1825; he retired probably after buying Beacon Place in 1827. His brother Richard retired evidently on his marriage in 1835. (fn. 485) In 1850 the practice was managed by Thomas Hodson from an office in no. 13 the Close. (fn. 486) Arthur Hinckley (d. 1862) remained senior partner and was joined in 1857 by Frederick Hinckley (d. 1907). (fn. 487) Some time between 1860 and 1864 the practice moved to premises in Bird Street. (fn. 488) In 1941 Hinckley, Brown & Crarer amalgamated with Birch & Birch, a practice which had been established in Lichfield in 1841 by George Birch (d. 1899). The new firm retained the Bird Street premises until 1958, when it moved to Birch's house at no. 20 St. John Street. The firm of Hinckley, Birch & Exham, formed in 1962, continued in practice there in the late 1980s. (fn. 489)

Two of the four attorneys recorded in 1793 were Charles Simpson and his son Stephen, both of them in turn town clerk. Stephen's son, Charles, was also town clerk 1825–44 and 1853–87. Based in Tamworth Street in 1834, Charles had moved to St. John Street by 1848. (fn. 490)

Another long-lived practice was established by Henry Chinn, who in 1798 was articled as a clerk to William Jackson, a proctor, transferring himself later the same year to George Hand of Beacon Place. (fn. 491) Hand died childless in 1806, and Chinn continued the practice, admitting his son Thomas in 1816. (fn. 492) The Chinns evidently used as their office Langton House in Beacon Street. (fn. 493) The practice survived in the family until the death of Alan Chinn in 1919. (fn. 494)

A physician (medicus) named William of Southwell made a grant of land in the town in 1308, and another named John of Southwell was recorded in 1313. (fn. 495) Robert the leech and John Leech were recorded respectively in 1372 and 1443. (fn. 496) A surgeon named Robert Sale, otherwise Plymun', was living in Lichfield in the early 16th century. (fn. 497) At least four surgeons were recorded in the 1660s, (fn. 498) and from 1676 John (later Sir John) Floyer (d. 1734) practised as a physician in Lichfield. Floyer wrote on cold bathing, asthma, and the rate of the pulse, and it was on his advice that Samuel Johnson was taken to London in 1712 to be touched for the evil by Queen Anne. (fn. 499) At his birth in 1709 Johnson had benefited from the ministrations of a 'man-midwife', George Hector, son of Edmund Hector, a Lichfield surgeon (d. 1709). George was also a surgeon and was paid by the Conduit Lands trustees to attend the poor. He was still in Lichfield in 1719 but later moved to Lilleshall (Salop.), his son Brooke Hector (d. 1773) continuing the Lichfield practice as a physician. George's brother Benjamin was a surgeon in Lichfield and was living there apparently in 1741. (fn. 500) Erasmus Darwin, physician and naturalist, practised in Lichfield from 1756 to 1781. In 1762 he advertised a course of anatomical lectures: the body of a malefactor about to be executed at Lichfield was to be taken to Darwin's house in Beacon Street, and the course would begin the day after the execution and continue 'every day as long as the body can be preserved'. (fn. 501) In the 1770s George Chadwick, a physician, opened a lunatic asylum in his house in St. John Street; it was closed in 1814. (fn. 502)

Cary Butt, who died at Pipe Grange in Pipehill in 1781, practised in Lichfield as a surgeon. His practice was continued by his son-in-law Thomas Salt, one of four surgeons in Lichfield in 1793. Thomas, who died in 1817, was probably the 'Mr. Salt' from whom the later medical writer Shirley Palmer learnt the rudiments of medicine. (fn. 503) William Rowley, recorded as an apothecary in 1793, was described as a surgeon at his death in 1797. His son Thomas, also a surgeon, owned a lunatic asylum from 1817 and was later physician to the two dispensaries in the city. (fn. 504) Thomas (d. 1863) was prominent in local affairs and was twice mayor. (fn. 505) There were six surgeons in Lichfield in 1818 and seven in 1851. (fn. 506)

Only one physician, Trevor Jones, was recorded in 1793. He was still practising in 1829, along with two others. (fn. 507) Richard Wright (d. 1821), grandson of the apothecary Richard Greene, practised as a physician in 1818. (fn. 508) There were three physicians in 1834, including Thomas Rowley and James Rawson, both of whom were still practising in 1851. (fn. 509)

A banker named John Barker was nominated to the Conduit Lands Trust in 1762 and was treasurer of the Lichfield turnpike trust by 1766. (fn. 510) He died in 1780, and his bank was continued by his widow Catherine. (fn. 511) She was banker to the Lichfield and Staffordshire Tontine Society, established in 1790 with benefits payable to members after seven years. (fn. 512) Her son Samuel became a partner in the bank in 1792 but retired in 1799, the year after the bank's principal clerk, John Barker Scott, became a partner. (fn. 513) Scott, who was probably John Barker's nephew, (fn. 514) continued the bank after Catherine's death in 1803, and in 1814 he admitted as partners his brother Robert, then of London, and James Palmer and William Guest Bird, both of Lichfield. The bank was then run as J. B. Scott & Co. and had its premises in Market Street, probably on the north side where the premises were in 1848. Bird left the partnership in 1818, and J. B. Scott died in 1819. (fn. 515) Robert Scott died in 1827, and his interest passed to his son-in-law, Richard Greene, later of Stowe House. (fn. 516) The day-to-day management of the bank was the responsibility of James Palmer, who died in 1850 leaving it in debt. Greene continued the bank, but it failed in 1855. (fn. 517)

The Lichfield Savings Bank was established in 1818 and opened every Friday in the National school in Frog Lane. By 1827 it had 722 individuals and 6 friendly societies as depositors. Premises for it were built in 1849 at the corner of Bore Street and Conduit Street. It closed in 1880. (fn. 518)

A Lichfield branch of the National Provincial Bank was established in 1834, and in 1838 it acquired the clients of the Rugeley, Tamworth, and Lichfield Joint Stock Bank which closed its Lichfield branch that year. The branch in 1848 was in Bird Street, at what later became the corner with the Friary. (fn. 519) Following the 1970 merger of the National Provincial Bank and the Westminster Bank, the Bird Street branch was closed in 1974 and business transferred to premises in the market square, originally opened in 1952 as a branch of the Westminster Bank. (fn. 520)

A bank was opened in Dam Street by Stevenson, Salt & Co. of Stafford in 1857, following the collapse of Greene's bank. In 1866 the company was taken over by Lloyds Bank, which still occupied the premises in the late 1980s. (fn. 521)

The London and Midland Bank opened a branch at nos. 21 and 23 Market Street in 1892; it was moved to new premises at the corner of Market and Dam Streets in 1972. (fn. 522) A branch of Barclays Bank was opened at no. 15 Market Street in 1952; it was moved to Breadmarket Street in 1973. (fn. 523)

Joseph Potter (d. 1842) practised as an architect in Lichfield from the late 1780s, when he was employed by James Wyatt to supervise alterations to Lichfield cathedral. He had a considerable practice throughout Staffordshire, for which he became county surveyor, and in neighbouring counties. The practice, which by 1814 was run from a house on the north side of St. John's hospital, was continued by his son Joseph (d. 1875). By 1845 the younger Joseph was living at Pipehill and apparently had his office there. (fn. 524) Thomas Johnson (d. 1853), who worked as an architect in Tamworth Street in 1829, was a son-in-law of the architect James Trubshaw of Little Haywood in Colwich, with whom he was for a time in partnership. By 1834 Johnson was living in the later Davidson House in Upper St. John Street. (fn. 525) Johnson's son, also Thomas (d. 1865), continued the practice. (fn. 526)

Footnotes