Lichfield: Public services

PUBLIC SERVICES

WATER SUPPLIES.

The Close was supplied with water from springs at Pipe, in Burntwood, from the mid or later 12th century. (fn. 1) Between c. 1140 and c. 1170, in return for 15s. 4d. paid by the canons, Thomas of Bromley granted the cathedral two springs for making a conduit. It has been suggested that the name Pipe was derived from the conduit; if so, the system existed c. 1140 when Pipe was mentioned as a place. (fn. 2) The system may, however, have been copied from that at Christ Church, Canterbury, which dated from about the later 1150s; Walter Durdent, bishop of Coventry 1149–59, was previously prior of Christ Church. About 1259 William Bell of Pipe granted a third spring next to the conduit head for 12s. The pipes ran from to the conduit head near Maple Hayes to a conduit in the Close, a distance of 1½ mile. The conduit presumably stood north-west of the cathedral, its site in the 17th century.

In 1280 the dean and chapter gave the archdeacon of Chester, Jordan of Wombourne, permission to run a side pipe to his house in Beacon Street; it was to be used only when he was in residence and removed when he ceased to be archdeacon. (fn. 3) In 1293 a dispute involving Thomas of Abnall, through whose land the pipes ran, was settled in favour of the dean and chapter. Thomas acknowledged their right to an uninterrupted supply and also access over his land to maintain the pipes. (fn. 4) By 1300 there was a piped supply into the canons' houses in the Close, and Bishop Langton's statutes of that year noted that some canons had an abundant supply while others had less than they should. The statutes directed that the canons were to use water in moderation and that the aqueduct was to be inspected every month by three or four canons chosen by the chapter. (fn. 5)

In the 1480s the supply was cut off by Sir Humphrey Stanley, lord of Pipe, who smashed the aqueduct. When the dean and chapter repaired it, Stanley's wife smashed it again. She also broke down the door of the conduit head and damaged the cistern. The dean and chapter petitioned Henry VII, who in 1489 ordered Stanley to stop interfering with the supply. (fn. 6) The water was also used by the townspeople of Lichfield: at an episcopal visitation of the cathedral in 1516 or 1517 the dean stated that women fetching water from the conduit in the Close were causing scandal to the residents. (fn. 7) In 1531 the chapter decided that the vicars and chantry priests should be allowed to have water from the aqueduct at a place in the Close called Moses' Head and that the choristers should have it straight from the aqueduct. (fn. 8)

By the 1630s the conduit was known as Moses and was surmounted by a stone cross. The dean and chapter then entered into contracts for the laying of 10 yd. of new lead pipes a year where the existing ones were broken or inadequate. (fn. 9) The system suffered as a result of the Civil War: 'the cisterns of lead were taken and sold, the pipes of lead digged up and cut off.' (fn. 10) At her death in 1671 Elizabeth Hinton, a widow living in the Close, left £10 towards the restoration of 'the late ruined waterwork'. (fn. 11)

The dean and chapter made an agreement in 1697 for a new conduit to replace Moses. The cistern was to have a capacity of 30 hogsheads, and 50 hogsheads a day were to be conveyed from the conduit head through pipes of alder wood and lead. The dean and chapter made an agreement in 1705 for the laying of 200 yd. of wooden pipes, but in 1708 they began replacing the wooden pipes. They contracted for the laying of 1,500 yd. of lead pipes, and in addition all the wooden pipes were to be checked and only those in a sound condition retained. Fourteen inhabitants of the Close, besides the dean and chapter and vicars choral collectively and the bishop, agreed to subscribe annually towards the cost for seven years. In 1720 a further agreement was made for the replacement of the remaining wooden pipes. (fn. 12)

There was a shortage of water by the 1760s, and in 1769 the chapter ordered the conduit to be stopped up at 9 o'clock each night until the supply improved. (fn. 13) In 1774 it forbade anyone except its own plumber to turn off the water supply. (fn. 14) In general the dean and chapter claimed the right to cut off the supply to existing houses and to connect new ones solely at its own discretion. (fn. 15)

A brick conduit head was built at Maple Hayes c. 1780 to replace the existing head, which probably dated from the 13th century. It remained in use until 1821 when the old head was brought back into operation in order to improve the supply. (fn. 16) Meanwhile in 1786 the conduit in the Close was demolished because it was considered unsightly, and a reservoir and stone-encased pump were erected on the same site north-west of the cathedral. (fn. 17) The new system proved inadequate. On his death in 1800 Richard Bailye of the Close left the dean and chapter £50 to build a conduit of the same capacity as the old one but standing in the south-west corner of the garden of no. 15. A brick conduit was duly built there in 1803. (fn. 18) By 1812, however, the supply had again become inadequate, the shortage being blamed on the increase in the population of the Close following the opening of Newton's College in 1803. (fn. 19)

In 1876 it was agreed that the Close should be connected to the town supply, with the water being metered. Many residents preferred the supply from Maple Hayes, especially for drinking water, and it continued in use until 1969. It was then abandoned because of the cost of maintenance and the expense of law suits against farmers who damaged the pipes during ploughing. (fn. 20) From the mid 1980s the conduit was used as a kiosk for the sale of refreshments.

The town had its own water supply from the Middle Ages. In the 1270s there was an aqueduct in the 'high street', perhaps connected to the Close supply and running down Conduit Street, a name which included Dam Street in the later 14th century. (fn. 21) In June 1301 the community of the town granted land next to the aqueduct in Lichfield at a rent of 2s. to be used for the maintenance of the aqueduct. (fn. 22) In July 1301 Henry Bellfounder granted the Franciscans of Lichfield springs at Foulwell near Aldershawe with the right to build a stone conduit head there and to pipe the water to the friary about ½ mile away. (fn. 23) There were two conduits in the friary precinct in 1538, one in the cloister and the other 'at the revestry door'. (fn. 24) Henry stipulated that the friars were not to give any water away without his consent, but a public conduit was built in Bird Street south of the friary gate; it became known as Crucifix conduit from the crucifix which surmounted it. (fn. 25) By 1482 the supply had been extended along Bore Street to a conduit at the junction with Conduit Street and thence along Tamworth Street to a conduit at the junction with Lombard Street. The latter became known as Stone Cross conduit from the stone cross which stood there by the later 13th century. Cross (or Market Cross) conduit in the market place was mentioned in the 1540s and was served by a branch pipe running along Breadmarket Street. (fn. 26) In the 15th century there was a public cistern at the junction of Conduit Street and Quonians Lane. (fn. 27) After the dissolution of the friary the watercourse within the precinct remained in private hands, but in 1550 the owner of Foulwell granted the spring there to the corporation at a rent of 4d. a year. (fn. 28) By the earlier 17th century a pipe ran from the Friary watercourse to the Weston family's home in St. John Street. (fn. 29)

In 1545 Hector Beane, the master of the guild of St. Mary and St. John the Baptist, acting with its consent, granted guild lands at Great Wyrley in Cannock, Norton Canes, Little Wyrley in Norton Canes, and Wall to eight feoffees, who were to use the income to maintain Lichfield's water supply. (fn. 30) The conduits and watercourses were to be kept in repair by two wardens appointed annually on the feast of the Conception of St. Mary (8 December) from among the most substantial townsmen by the feoffees and six such townsmen. The wardens were to account at the end of their year of office to the constables and the six townsmen (later known as sidesmen). Any residue of income was to be used for the common weal of the town by the six townsmen with the consent of the feoffees. A new deed of feoffment was to be made every 21 years.

The Conduit Lands Trust supplied the city with water until the 20th century. The trustees had taken over the payment of the Foulwell rent by the late 1660s. (fn. 31) By 1666 they were appoint ing a plumber to maintain the conduit heads, pipes, cisterns, and cocks; the appointment was for life at a salary of £6 a year, raised to £10 in 1774. (fn. 32) The trust's first private connexion was in 1707 when the trustees agreed that pipes should be laid from Crucifix conduit along St. John Street with branches to the house of the master of the grammar school, that of the master of St. John's hospital, and that of Dorothy Hawkes. The three agreed to pay the cost of laying the new pipes and a further 1s. a year to the corporation for 99 years. The master of St. John's agreed to pay half the cost of raising and enlarging Crucifix conduit, the trust paying the rest. It was stipulated that the supply was to be solely for the families of the three people. (fn. 33) The public system was extended in the earlier 1770s. A new line was laid along Bird Street and Beacon Street to a cistern at the pinfold in Beacon Street, with a branch along the eastern end of Sandford Street. Another was laid along Market Street, Dam Street, and Butcher Row (otherwise Conduit Street), and the pipes in St. John Street were extended south. A new line was laid parallel to the existing line in Bore Street and was continued along Tamworth Street and Greenhill to a reservoir in St. Michael's churchyard. (fn. 34) There was an immediate demand for private connexions, and in 1774 the trustees decided that those should be from the new pipes rather than the old system. As part of an attack on waste they insisted in the 1780s that people with a private connexion had to make small reservoirs with cocks and pumps similar to those in the public supply. In 1798 they ordered that there was to be no private connexion unless there was also a pump to provide a supplementary supply; their plumber was to be allowed to inspect the pump once a month. People with a private connexion were forbidden to enlarge or alter their reservoirs or pipes without permission under pain of having the supply cut off. (fn. 35) In the early 1790s a reservoir was constructed in George Lane, taking its supply from two springs at Greenhill. (fn. 36)

Repairs were regularly carried out at the four conduits, which were also embellished. In 1666 sixpence was spent on 'hewing the windows at Stone Cross conduit' and 12s. on gilding a brass vane and painting six doors for the conduits. (fn. 37) A dial was set on Stone Cross conduit in 1675, and the city arms were placed on Crucifix conduit in 1677. (fn. 38) In 1703 £1 10s. was paid for drawing, painting, and gilding three dials on Stone Cross conduit, and the next year a globe and vane there were gilded and coloured. (fn. 39) In 1706 Butcher Row conduit was gilded and coloured. (fn. 40) In 1708, when Crucifix conduit was enlarged for the new private connexions, it was redecorated. (fn. 41) Stone Cross conduit was rebuilt in 1750 and Crucifix conduit in the late 1750s. (fn. 42) In 1792 the trustees ordered the removal of all but Crucifix conduit and the erection of pumps instead. (fn. 43) Stone Cross conduit was still standing in 1795 and that in the market place in 1803, but by 1806 only Crucifix conduit survived. (fn. 44) In 1827 the trustees ordered the rebuilding of its dome. (fn. 45) In 1863 it was adapted as the base of a clock tower designed in a Romanesque style by Joseph Potter the younger, but the conduit continued in use. In 1927 the tower was sold to the corporation, which re-erected it at the west end of the new road across the Friary in 1928. Its five bells were recast that year by E. D. Taylor of Loughborough (Leics.). (fn. 46)

By the early 19th century the supply was diminishing while the population was rising, and the trustees made various attempts to improve the supply and to find new sources. In 1805 the lead pipes between Aldershawe and Crucifix conduit were replaced by cast-iron pipes with a 3-in. bore. (fn. 47) An Act of 1815 empowered the trust to supply water from a spring at Pipe Green; after surveys had been carried out, the scheme was abandoned. (fn. 48) A new reservoir was built at Greenhill in 1820. (fn. 49) Between 1826 and 1831 the pipes between Aldershawe and the conduit were replaced with 4-in. bore lead pipes. (fn. 50) The regulations regarding private connexions were reiterated in 1838, with additional stipulations that public reservoirs were to have priority, that an annual acknowledgement was to be paid for a private tap, and that the water was not to be connected to water closets. (fn. 51) In 1844 the charge for a tap was 5s., and the same sum was fixed for water closets in 1857. (fn. 52) Meanwhile the trust's income had been greatly increased by mining royalties from 1842 and by payments from canal and railway companies for land taken. Such money, however, had to be held by the Charity Commissioners until required for capital expenditure. (fn. 53)

In 1853 a 21-year lease was taken of Trunkfield mill, but it was not until 1855, after a new deed of feoffment, that it was decided to start pumping water from there. By then the supply was down to an average of 18,000 gallons a day, a decrease of over 20,000 gallons a day compared with a few years before. (fn. 54) In 1868 the Trunkfield site was yielding 160,000 gallons a day and Aldershawe 15,000. The water was pumped to Crucifix conduit and distributed from there to 57 public pumps, 13 standpipes and public taps, 30 fire hydrants, and 343 houses. The supply, however, was not continuous in all parts of the city. (fn. 55) It was also inadequate to meet all demands: in 1871 a request for an extension of the supply to Leamonsley was refused. (fn. 56) In 1862 the charge for a private tap was reduced to 6d. in the case of houses paying less than £10 rent, (fn. 57) and in 1873 a new tariff was introduced. The domestic rate varied from 1s. to 10s. according to rent paid, and the commercial rate was fixed at 2d. for every 1,000 gallons. (fn. 58)

Land had meanwhile been bought east of Trunkfield. In 1875 a new works was opened capable of supplying 300,000 gallons a day from a well there, and a reservoir was built on the high ground at Beecroft east of Beacon Street. (fn. 59) The Aldershawe supply continued in use; in 1878 the lead piping from the spring to Crucifix conduit was replaced by iron piping. (fn. 60) By the 1920s the new works had become inadequate for the growing demand, and the trustees set about installing new plant. In 1928, before the work was completed, the supply was found to be contaminated by sewage from Trunkfields farm. Rather than become involved in heavy expenditure, the trustees decided in 1930 to close the works and take a supply from the South Staffordshire Waterworks Co. (fn. 61)

That company had been formed under an Act of 1855 to supply much of south and south-east Staffordshire, including Lichfield. The supply, drawn from the Lichfield area, was inaugurated in 1858. There was a pumping station at Sandfields in the south-west of the city, and Minster and Stowe pools, leased from the council in 1855, were drained and turned into reservoirs. There was opposition to the establishment of the company from the city, fearful for its existing supply, and in the event the company's tunnelling drained many wells in Lichfield. Until 1930 the company supplied only the outlying parts of the city. (fn. 62) In 1923 its supply was linked with that of the Conduit Lands trust for fire purposes by means of a main laid by the trustees down St. John Street to the company's main at Gallows wharf in London Road. In 1930 a valve was opened into that main, and the whole of the city was supplied by the company. The trust's works was closed, and the Aldershawe main was diverted into one of the company's headings. (fn. 63) Minster and Stowe pools were handed back to the council in 1970. (fn. 64)

In 1963 the Conduit Lands Trust sold its share in the water undertaking to the company, (fn. 65) but although no longer concerned with supplying water it continued to function as a charity. As provided in the 1545 feoffment, the trustees have been extensively involved in public works, including education. That involvement continued even after responsibility for some of the amenities provided by the trust had passed to the improvement commissioners established under an Act of 1806. Besides paying £50 towards the cost of obtaining the Act, the trustees paid the commissioners £60 a year; they also contributed towards individual projects. (fn. 66) In 1837 the reformed council, having taken over the commissioners' powers, petitioned parliament for the transfer of the trust's powers as well, claiming that the trustees 'fritter away their income in ill-advised expenses instead of supplying the city with water'. The trustees retaliated by suspending payment of the £60. The council abandoned the scheme, and in 1838 payment was resumed, including the £60 due for 1837. (fn. 67) Payment continued until 1844, but thereafter money was granted or lent for specific projects. (fn. 68) In 1855 the council again resolved to take measures to secure the transfer of the trust's powers to itself, both because it considered that the trustees were not carrying out their duties properly and because they were anyway closely identified with the community. (fn. 69) A scheme of management drawn up by the Charity Commissioners in 1871 ended the rivalry by giving the council a majority representation on the trust. (fn. 70) In 1900 the number of wardens was reduced from two to one. (fn. 71) A further reorganization in 1982 reduced the num ber of trustees from 14 to 12, consisting of three ex-officio members (the rector of St. Michael's, the mayor, and the chairman of Lichfield district council), three nominees of the city council, one nominee of the district council, and five coopted members. Nominated and co-opted trustees were required to have been resident for five years in the area of the city as it was before the local government reorganization of 1974. The trust's income is mainly from investments, nearly all its lands having been sold. (fn. 72)

Wells, both public and private, were another source of water. St. Mary's well in Breadmarket Street opposite the west end of St. Mary's church existed in the late Middle Ages, and it may have been the well for the neglect of which the inhabitants of Bore Street were presented at the manor court in the 1650s. (fn. 73) In the mid 17th century there were other public wells in St. John Street, (fn. 74) in Bird Street and Sandford Street ward, (fn. 75) and in Beacon Street ward, which had a common well in Gaia Lane in 1704. (fn. 76) In the 18th century the Conduit Lands trustees paid for the conversion of several public wells into pumps. In 1737 they voted 30s. to the inhabitants of Wade Street towards the expense of turning their street well into a pump, the well being dangerous to children and to persons passing at night. (fn. 77) In 1768 the trustees decided to erect a pump at the well at the bottom of Stowe Street; Dr. Johnson, on a visit to Lichfield in 1769, wrote how 'in Stowe Street where I left a draw well I have found a pump'. He also found 'the lading well' in George Lane 'shamefully neglected'; in 1770 the trustees installed a pump in George Lane. (fn. 78) In the mid 1780s they employed John Sharrot to maintain 16 street pumps at the rate of 3s. a pump each year. (fn. 79) In 1875 the trustees decided to replace street wells with standpipes. (fn. 80) The continuing existence of private wells was a cause of complaint by the sanitary inspector in 1904, the public supply being within reasonable distance. In 1948 there were 41 houses dependent on outside standpipes, and two houses on the edge of the city were served by wells. By 1959 only three properties were without a piped supply. (fn. 81)

SEWERAGE, SCAVENGING, AND WASHING PLACES.

A common muckhill was mentioned in 1535, apparently at Stowe Hill, and there was one on waste ground in Quonians Lane in the earlier 18th century. (fn. 82) In the earlier 18th century people who failed to clean the portion of the street in front of their houses were liable to prosecution at quarter sessions. (fn. 83) By the 1730s the corporation was also paying a man to clean the streets. (fn. 84) In 1778 a scavenger was appointed at quarter sessions for each of 14 streets, but from 1780 the court appointed a single scavenger for the whole city. He was at first paid by the Conduit Lands trustees, who from 1798 shared the cost with the corporation. (fn. 85) In 1784 the trustees paid six labourers to remove ice from the streets, and in 1814 they spent £15 on removing snow from the streets and snow and ice from the pumps. (fn. 86)

In 1774 a brick sewer was constructed from the Hartshorn inn along St. John Street and thence along Bore Street and Breadmarket Street, with side extensions into Tamworth Street and Market Street; it continued through the market place and along Dam Street to discharge into a reservoir at the end of Quonians Lane. There were four cesspools at intervals along it. It was laid by a number of inhabitants with the agreement of the corporation, and the Conduit Lands trustees agreed to keep it in repair. (fn. 87) It evidently replaced a similar system: an open channel existed in Dam Street in the early 18th century, and the bailiffs paid for the repair of a sough in St. John Street in 1736 and for the cleaning of the common gutter in 1767. (fn. 88)

Responsibility for drainage and cleaning the streets passed to the improvement commissioners in 1806. After failing to retain an unpaid scavenger for the whole city, they appointed scavengers for different parts late in 1806 to hold office for a year. Several scavengers bought their appointment, presumably because they were allowed to keep the scourings and soil. Occupiers of houses were still expected to sweep the adjoining footways. New appointments of scavengers were made in 1807 and 1808; it was stipulated in 1808 that they had to sweep the streets on Tuesdays and Saturdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. (fn. 89) In 1815 a single scavenger was again appointed for the whole city; he was allowed to retain what he cleared away and was to be paid a salary assessed on performance. (fn. 90)

The commissioners replaced the open channels with underground culverts. In 1807 they entered into a contract for the building of culverts in St. John Street below the Bars, Bird Street, Bore Street, Conduit Street, and Dam Street and in 1816 into another for Wade Street, Tamworth Street, and Sandford Street and from Gresley Row to Wade Street. (fn. 91) In 1832 they made an agreement with the architect Thomas Johnson for the laying of a covered sewer from Crucifix conduit along Bore Street, Tamworth Street, Lombard Street, and Stowe Street to Curborough brook by St. Chad's churchyard; much of the cost was met by the Conduit Lands trustees. (fn. 92) The council extended the sewer to the Ponesfield area further down the brook in the late 1830s. (fn. 93) In 1854 it made an agreement for the construction of a sewer in Beacon Street emptying into a drain near the Fountain inn. (fn. 94) Minster Pool ceased to be used for the discharge of sewage from the Close when it became a reservoir for the South Staffordshire Waterworks Co. in the later 1850s. (fn. 95)

By the mid 1860s sewage disposal was becoming a serious problem. Water closets discharging into the sewers were being introduced, but there was not enough water available to flush the sewers adequately. In addition Curborough brook was becoming polluted. In 1871 Samuel Keen, Lord Lichfield's tenant at Curborough farm, (fn. 96) complained to the council and to Lord Lichfield about damage to stock and pasture and to his family's health. The council covered the course of the brook by the farm, and Lord Lichfield paid for Keen's children to be sent away to school in order to remove them from the unhealthy atmosphere. The council bought the leasehold of 39 a. in Curborough in 1877 and laid out a sewage farm there, with new sewers in the town. Pollution continued, and in 1878 Lord Lichfield secured an injunction against the council restraining them from turning untreated sewage into the brook. He also received a reimbursement of the school fees, while Keen was granted compensation. The council bought the freehold of the land and attempted to make improvements to the sewage farm. In 1883 the owner of the nearby Wood End farm in King's Bromley complained that sewage was being deposited on his land. The council bought Wood End and extended the sewage farm. None the less pollution of the area continued and cattle were still harmed. The problem was caused by the amount of rainwater flowing into the sewers with resultant flooding at the sewage farm, by the difficulty of dealing with effluent from the breweries, and by the heaviness of the soil at the farm which prevented easy drainage. In 1891 Lord Lichfield obtained a writ of sequestration, which was held in suspense while the corporation carried out extensive improvements, including the completion of a system of separate sewers for surface water and sewage, the installation of six tanks at the sewage farm, and the purchase of yet another farm at Curborough. (fn. 97) Sewerage was extended to various suburban areas in the later 1890s. (fn. 98)

The widespread introduction of water closets in place of midden privies came in the early 20th century. There were some 1,674 by 1912 and only 30 middens. By then all new houses, other than those beyond the water mains and sewers, had to be provided with water closets. By 1890 house refuse was collected once a week by corporation carts and dumped in a disused brick pit outside the city. Collections were twice a week by 1910. A refuse destructor was erected in Curborough Lane in 1912. (fn. 99)

In 1651 all the butchers were fined by the manor court for washing at the conduits, and Thomas Minors was fined for washing clothes at one of the conduits. (fn. 100) A fine of 20s. was fixed in 1654 for the washing of hemp in any running water within the manor. (fn. 101) In 1667–8 the Conduit Lands trustees paid for a public proclamation against the washing of small clothes at the conduits. Authorized washing places existed by the bridge in Sandford Street and by the mill in Dam Street by the mid 1660s, and the Conduit Lands trustees regularly paid for their repair. (fn. 102) In 1692 they agreed to have the washing place at the mill repaired and covered after the corporation had been presented in 1691 for failing to repair it. (fn. 103) The bailiffs were presented in 1711 for not repairing the washing stock there, but in 1711–12 they mended the stock in Sandford Street. (fn. 104)

PAVING.

Several grants of pavage were made to the townsmen and to the bishop between 1285 and 1345. (fn. 105) In 1472–3 the manorial bailiff paid a paviour and his gang for work on the causeway at New Bridge, (fn. 106) but by 1535 the guild was responsible for paving throughout the town and employed the bellman to do the work. (fn. 107) In the mid 17th century the corporation was evidently employing a paviour: in 1651 James Denston was presented at the manor court for failing to pave the streets within the city and was ordered to carry out the work on pain of a fine. (fn. 108) In 1664 the corporation made the maintenance of the streets in the city a charge on a seven-year lease of manorial revenues. (fn. 109) By the end of the century it was again employing a salaried paviour. (fn. 110)

Paving was financed from the toll on corn at the markets until 1741 when the corporation decided to invest £400 out of a gift of £500 from one of the city's M.P.s and spend the income on paving. (fn. 111) The Conduit Lands trustees also contributed towards the cost of paving, notably in the later 18th century; in 1770 alone they spent some £400 on Stowe Street, St. John Street, and the Bird Street bridge. (fn. 112) In the earlier 1790s the marquess of Stafford, Lord Granville Leveson-Gower, and Thomas Anson contributed extensively towards paving. (fn. 113)

Responsibility for paving passed from the corporation to the improvement commissioners in 1806. (fn. 114) The Conduit Lands trustees, however, continued to contribute towards paving, and on several occasions in the earlier 19th century their payments amounted to around half their total expenditure for the year. (fn. 115) At a public meeting in 1823 J. L. McAdam advocated the macadamizing of the streets, and despite controversy extensive macadamizing was carried out by the commissioners. (fn. 116)

LIGHTING.

In December 1735 the inhabitants of Lichfield petitioned the Conduit Lands trustees for a system of lighting, and the trustees began to erect lamps in the streets. A lamplighter was appointed at a salary of £4 a year. Lamps were provided for private houses at an annual charge, fixed at 7s. 6d. a lamp in 1746. An oil room containing a cistern was built in 1740. In 1767–8 there were 34 public lamps and 32 private. In 1768–9 the number of lamps rose to 82, of which 51 were public; the total in 1773–4 was 103. The season for lighting was normally from Michaelmas to Lady Day but was sometimes extended into April. In 1791 the trustees decided to make it eight months instead of six. The lamplighter's salary, which rose steadily with the growing number of lamps, was £20 by 1792–3; from 1803 he had an assistant, paid £6. (fn. 117) In the later 1760s half the cost of the salary and the oil was met by Lord Gower. (fn. 118) A new oil house was formed in 1798 by partitioning off part of the fire engine house at the guildhall. (fn. 119) For a single season, 1798–9, the trustees tried the experiment of employing a contractor, William Couldery, who lit 134 lamps from 10 September to 10 April at 13s. a lamp; the agreement specified 150. (fn. 120)

In 1806 the improvement commissioners took over responsibility for lighting. In October they made an agreement with T. S. Couldery of London for lighting 250 lamps from 13 October to 10 April (except for five days each month around full moon) at 13s. 3d. a lamp; the lamps were to be lit until 2 a.m., but lighting-up time varied according to the time of year. The agreement also specified that the 1807–8 season was to begin on 10 September, and Couldery was then to receive 14s. 9d. a lamp. From 1810 the lamps were unlit for seven days a month, but the payment for each one had risen to 16s. (fn. 121) By 1832–3 the number to be lit was 268 at 13s. each. (fn. 122)

Proposals were made to the commissioners in 1823 and 1827 for lighting the city with gas. (fn. 123) In 1833 they contracted with William Evans of Derby for a season's lighting by olefiant gas. He was to provide the new lamps required, taking the old ones in exchange, and was to be paid £2 2s. for each lamp lit from 22 September to 22 April, except for seven days at each full moon. He erected 123 new lamps. The contract was renewed in 1834. (fn. 124) From 1835 coal gas was supplied by the Lichfield Gas Light Co., formed that year. The agreement was for a sufficient quantity of lamps to be lit from the first Saturday in September to the last Saturday in April (except for seven days at full moon) at the rate of £2 5s. a lamp. By 1851 there were 160 public lamps, including 21 in the Close. (fn. 125) The gas works was in Queen Street and remained in operation until 1956. (fn. 126)

In 1882 the council decided to continue with gas rather than change to electricity. (fn. 127) There were several unsuccessful private schemes for supplying the city with electricity. The council had its own scheme in 1900 but abandoned it in 1901. (fn. 128) Meanwhile in 1894 a private house in Lichfield was lit by electricity, and in 1899 Jones & Co. installed electric lighting in its emporium in Bird Street. (fn. 129) Although a scheme of 1910 for generating electricity for the cathedral proved impracticable, (fn. 130) the bishop's palace had its own supply from 1914, with a dynamo under the northeast tower of the Close. (fn. 131) The council's scheme was revived in 1913 but shelved on the outbreak of war. A council committee was set up in 1923, and it was decided to take a supply from Walsall corporation's undertaking. It was switched on in 1926, with a transforming station in Wade Street and a switch house in London Road. (fn. 132)

POLICING.

Guild ordinances of 1486 specified policing duties of the manorial constables. People involved in fights were to be arrested and taken to the gaol. Their release was conditional on their finding surety and, in the case of bloodshed, paying 20d. to the guild's common chest and 4d. to the constables; for lesser disturbances the fine was 12d. to the chest and 4d. to the constables. Night walkers and other unruly persons were to be taken into custody until released by the master of the guild and his brethren, who were to warn offenders to behave on pain of being expelled from the city or imprisoned. Harlots were to be put on the cuckstool and, after being 'shamed', were to leave the city on pain of imprisonment. Scolds were to be warned in the name of the guild, and if they persisted after two warnings, they were to be put on the cuckstool. (fn. 133) By the early 16th century the guild had its own constables. (fn. 134)

A watch was maintained in the town in the early 13th century. (fn. 135) By the early 15th century it was customary for a watch to be maintained at the Whitsun fair, the principal fair when presumably there was a special risk of disorder. By 1421 the watch was inspected on the first two days of the fair by the bishop's steward and bailiff at Greenhill, probably the site of the fair. A lodge or bower made of birch trees was erected there for the two officials, the watch was provided with ale, and the bishop's minstrels played. (fn. 136) The steward and other manorial officials still attended on both days in the 1470s, but by the beginning of the 16th century the inspection was held on the first day only. (fn. 137) In 1518 the watch, drawn from the various wards, was described as going on watch around the town, and in 1532 the gates of the town were guarded during the fair. (fn. 138) The Greenhill inspection was still carried out in 1542, but it had evidently become purely ceremonial by the late 17th century. (fn. 139)

A curfew and a day bell at the fourth hour were rung at St. Mary's in 1466 by ancient custom. (fn. 140) A day bell was still rung in the later 17th century and an evening bell in the later 1830s, although in 1817 it was evidently rung only during the winter and early spring. (fn. 141) The St. Mary's curfew was revived in 1924 and was still rung in 1929. (fn. 142)

In 1727 the corporation ordered the establishment of a night watch from Michaelmas to Lady Day in place of the crier's perambulation with his bell. Four able men were to be hired to keep watch from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. and to go from house to house knocking on each door every two hours; each watchman was to be assigned to a particular part of the city. The watch was to be paid by the constables, the money being raised by a special rate on each ward. From Lady Day to Michaelmas the crier was still to go round. (fn. 143) In the earlier part of 1777 the Conduit Lands trustees paid the watch. (fn. 144) In 1784 there was a proposal by 'the gentlemen of Lichfield', presumably the corporation, that the sergeants of the Staffordshire Regiment living in Lichfield should form a watch with an equal number of local people to patrol the city from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. at 2s. each a night. One sergeant protested vehemently to Major Sneyd in the hope that he would never allow the sergeants 'to be accoutred with lanterns and staffs and to march through the streets of Lichfield in that low station of a watchman'. (fn. 145) From the 1780s the corporation employed night watchmen during the September races, normally four paid 2s. a night each. (fn. 146) In 1806 the responsibility passed to the improvement commissioners, and from 1827 watchmen were appointed for the spring race meeting as well. The appointment of watchmen for the races was discontinued after the September meeting of 1834 in order to save money. (fn. 147) The patrol of the city was mentioned in January 1817, but in 1833 the commissioners were not exercising their power to appoint night watchmen, the city being 'orderly and quiet'. (fn. 148)

The corporation appointed 'a special constable and police officer' for the city in 1825; he was paid 30s. a week in 1832 when he was also appointed gaoler at £12 a year. (fn. 149) Special con stables were employed that year, and in 1833 the two manorial constables were noted as part of the police force. (fn. 150) In 1836 the council ordered the conversion of the magistrates' room on the ground floor of the guildhall into a police office. (fn. 151) In the later 1830s the two serjeants at mace were also paid as constables, and there were two police officers in 1841. (fn. 152) In 1844 the city's police force was amalgamated with the Staffordshire county force, (fn. 153) but in 1847 the council appointed four watchmen to patrol the city and suburbs from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. between December and March. (fn. 154) In 1848 the police station was on the north side of Bore Street near its junction with Conduit Street. (fn. 155) In 1851 the police force consisted of a superintendent and six constables, four of them paid by the council. (fn. 156) It was evidently in that year that the George IV inn next to the guildhall was converted into the police station. (fn. 157) The city had its own force once more from c. 1860 until 1889 when it was taken over by the county force. (fn. 158) The station was then moved into the guildhall. (fn. 159) A new station was opened in Wade Street in 1898 and remained in use until 1971 when it was replaced by the new divisional headquarters in Frog Lane. (fn. 160)

In 1772 the bailiffs bought a hue-and-cry board for the display of the lists of offenders at large which Sir John Fielding, the Bow Street magistrate, began circulating that year to civil authorities. (fn. 161) By 1816 the city had an association for the prosecution of felons, which was still in existence in 1826. (fn. 162)

The watchman of the Close was mentioned in the late 13th century and the janitor in 1321. In the mid 1350s there was a subjanitor paid 4d. a week and a keeper of the west gate. The janitor was also known as the serjeant. (fn. 163) His office had developed into that of verger and constable by the late 17th century. (fn. 164) In 1523 the chapter ordered that the gates of the Close were not to be opened before the seventh hour in the morning except for bringing in ale and other goods, when only one gate to be opened. (fn. 165) In 1715 it ordered the verger to shut the gates at 10 p.m., leaving the wicket at the south gate open until 11 p.m. (fn. 166) In 1664 a watchman was employed in the Close for six weeks during a time of plague, and during the outbreak of 1665 two watchmen guarded the gates for nine weeks. (fn. 167) An instance of sanctuary in the Close, probably the last, occurred in 1532 when a thief took refuge there. (fn. 168)

In 1825 there was a specially appointed constable besides the usual constable in the Close. (fn. 169) The inhabitants of the Close established a night watch for six months from December 1830 to protect themselves 'against nightly depredations'. Four watchmen were appointed to patrol in pairs from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., each pair working on alternate nights. The dean and chapter paid half the cost from the fabric fund, and the other half was met by a rate on the inhabitants. The watch, evidently reduced to the winter months from 1831, was still maintained in 1839. (fn. 170) From 1876, in reaction to nocturnal thefts in Lichfield and the neighbourhood, the dean and chapter appointed a night watchman for the Close, supported by contributions from the inhabitants. (fn. 171) He had the authority of a constable evidently from 1880. (fn. 172) Albert Haycock, sworn as watchman in 1912, continued to hold the office until his death in 1956, although for some time he had been too ill to carry out his duties. He patrolled the Close from 9.30 p.m. to 4.30 a.m., calling out the time and the state of the weather. He had full powers of arrest and exercised them on occasion, but he never used the handcuffs, whistle, and truncheon provided. (fn. 173)

FIRE PRECAUTIONS.

Arrangements for fire fighting are recorded from the 17th century, with the Conduit Lands trustees playing a prominent part. Several wards were presented at the manor court in the 1650s for not having a hook and a ladder. (fn. 174) Buckets were stored in St. Mary's. The number dwindled from 36 in 1629 to 11 in 1668, and in 1669 five dozen were bought by the trustees. They were included among the goods for which the churchwardens were responsible, but they were maintained by the trustees. (fn. 175) On three occasions in the 18th century the trustees bought two dozen buckets, while in 1751 they bought a dozen and the Sun Fire Office bought another dozen. (fn. 176) In 1724 the trustees ordered the purchase of 12 fire hooks of the kind used in London and 4 ladders 30 or 40 ft. long. They took over responsibility for hooks and ladders from the wards in 1782. (fn. 177) In 1697, probably after a bad fire, the corporation ordered that all thatched buildings in the built-up part of the city were to be tiled within six months on pain of a fine of 10s. a month. (fn. 178)

A fire engine was brought from London at the trustees' expense in 1667, and they also paid for materials for a building to house it. (fn. 179) There was a second and larger engine by 1684. (fn. 180) By 1691 there were four new engines besides the old engine; one was known as the Bachelors engine and another as the Virgins. (fn. 181) A barn in Wade Street was rented as an engine house from 1690. (fn. 182) By 1695 there was a second engine house in the market place adjoining St. Mary's, to which the Wade Street engines were moved in 1734. (fn. 183) In 1736 the trustees fitted up part of the Roundabout House in the north-east corner of the market place as an engine house. (fn. 184) It was apparently about then that Richard Dyott bought the city a new engine, (fn. 185) and the trustees bought another in 1745. (fn. 186) In 1779 the Bachelors engine was converted from 'a squirt into a perpetual stream'. (fn. 187) Having leased land in Quonians Lane in 1774 for building an engine house, the trustees in 1779 instead converted two rooms under the guildhall leased from the corporation. (fn. 188) In order to improve the water supply in case of fire the trustees in 1782 ordered the fitting of a cock with a suction pipe at each conduit and the provision of two carts for carrying water to the engines. (fn. 189)

Fire precautions were not included among the responsibilities of the improvement commissioners in 1806 but remained in the hands of the trustees. In 1808 they repaired a treadle engine, a little engine, and a squirt engine. (fn. 190) The engine house at the guildhall was replaced in 1825 by one in Quonians Lane, also leased from the corporation. (fn. 191) In 1850 there were four engines, a small hand engine which was out of repair, 24 iron buckets and a number of useless leather buckets, a water cart, three old fire hooks, and four lengths of hose. Extra equipment was bought, including 24 iron buckets and two lengths of hose. (fn. 192) In 1860 the trustees decided to sell all the engines except the treadle engine and also to give up the tenancy of the engine house. (fn. 193)

Insurance companies also kept engines in the city. The Birmingham Fire Office had an engine there in 1850, and one was presented to the council by an insurance company in 1857. (fn. 194) The Lancashire Insurance Co., which had amalgamated with the Birmingham Fire Office, had an engine at Lichfield in 1871, probably the engine specially built by the company for Lichfield and its neighbourhood, which in 1875 was kept in Bore Street opposite St. James's Hall. It was moved to the Swan c. 1880. By then the company maintained a brigade of eight at Lichfield. (fn. 195)

There was public agitation in 1872 for improved fire precautions, notably the provision of a public engine and the establishment of a brigade. (fn. 196) In 1873, after a serious fire in Breadmarket Street, the council took over responsibility for fire fighting. It bought an engine and established a brigade, fitting up a building at the east end of Sandford Street as a fire station. (fn. 197) The Conduit Lands trustees contributed towards the cost of the new engine and also resolved to repair their own engine and hand it over, with an annual allowance, to the brigade; it was still kept in working order in 1884. The Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire presented the city with a fire escape in 1876, and the Conduit Lands trustees granted the council £50 to provide a shed for it in the market place. (fn. 198) In 1886 the council took over the control and maintenance of the Lancashire Insurance Co.'s engine in return for a payment of £50 by the company. (fn. 199) The south bay of the market hall at the Corn Exchange was turned into a station for both engines in 1888, and the insurance company's engine was still there c. 1894. (fn. 200) A steam fire engine was presented to the city in 1898 by A. O. Worthington of Maple Hayes in Burntwood, and the former police station at the guildhall was converted into a fire station. (fn. 201) A motor fire engine was bought in 1922, with the rural district council contributing half the cost and towards its maintenance. (fn. 202) In 1936 the city and the rural district formed a joint fire brigade and bought a second engine. (fn. 203) The fire station was moved to Friary Road during the Second World War. The county council became the fire authority in 1948 and opened a new station in Birmingham Road in 1963. (fn. 204)

MEDICAL SERVICES.

Medical practitioners are recorded in Lichfield from the early 14th century. (fn. 205) In 1767 the corporation subscribed 20 guineas to the Staffordshire General Infirmary opened at Stafford the previous year. It thereby became one of the trustees of the infirmary, with the right to recommend two in-patients a year and any number of out-patients. It ceased to be a trustee after 1834. (fn. 206) St. Mary's parish subscribed 2 guineas a year from 1802 and was entitled to recommend the same number of patients; from 1811 to 1831 it subscribed 3 guineas (5 guineas in 1814). St. Michael's subscribed 5 guineas from 1812 but reduced its subscription to 3 guineas in 1819 to be in line with St. Mary's; it ceased to subscribe after 1822. St. Chad's subscribed 3 guineas from 1815 to 1841. (fn. 207)

A dispensary for the poor, supported by subscription, existed at Lichfield by 1803. (fn. 208) In 1831 the St. Mary's select vestry voted the dispensary £10 a year to supply medicine to the poor of the parish. It also voted £5 a year for a physician to give occasional advice to the poor and £5 for a surgeon to be in attendance on them. At the same time the vestry stopped its annual subscription to the infirmary at Stafford as it considered the dispensary competent to provide the same assistance. (fn. 209) The St. Michael's vestry was employing a parish surgeon in the mid 1830s. (fn. 210) The dispensary was in Tamworth Street in the earlier 1830s. (fn. 211) By 1850 it was in Wade Street and then had a physician, Thomas Rowley, two surgeons, and a dispenser. There were some 500 patients a year, besides midwifery cases. Donations and subscriptions amounted to some £150 a year. (fn. 212) Rowley had also established a selfsupporting dispensary in St. John Street. (fn. 213) The Wade Street dispensary was still in operation in 1861. (fn. 214) and is probably identifiable with the Lichfield dispensary of 1868. The subscribers to that dispensary were allowed to recommend patients, who paid 6d. or 18d. according to the type of recommendation. In 1875 it became a provident dispensary with benefit members paying 3d. a month and subscribers providing further income. Those qualifying for membership were shopkeepers and tradesmen whose house rent did not exceed £10 a year, indoor apprentices earning up to 18s. a week, childless married couples earning jointly up to 23s. a week, and married couples who had children and earned up to 27s. a week. (fn. 215) In 1877–8 the Lichfield provident dispensary had 781 benefit members, and it was still in existence in 1946. (fn. 216)

A nursing institution was formed in 1879. It was supported by subscriptions and donations and maintained a nurse who worked under a lady superintendent. In 1888 the nurse visited some 12 poor a day. In 1882 the institution took over an invalids' kitchen established in 1870. The two moved from Dam Street to Bore Street c. 1891 and to Bird Street c. 1894. (fn. 217)

Both were taken over by the Lichfield Victoria nursing home, opened in 1899 in Sandford House, no. 15 Sandford Street, as a memorial to Queen Victoria's reign. It was intended for the poor of the city and depended on subscriptions and donations. Part of the initial outlay was met from the funds established to mark the queen's jubilees of 1887 and 1897 and the funds of the nursing institution. The scheme was originated by Canon M. H. Scott, vicar of St. Mary's 1878–94 and archdeacon of Stafford from 1888 until his death in 1898. One of the two wards was named after him and the other after Mary Slater of Haywood House, Bore Street (d. 1898), who left most of her residuary estate to the nursing association. (fn. 218) In 1910 the nursing home was enlarged by the addition of a third public ward, two private wards, and an operating theatre. An adjoining house left to the trustees by George Martin of Sandyway (d. 1908) was converted into nurses' quarters and offices. The nursing home was renamed the Lichfield Victoria nursing home and cottage hospital. (fn. 219) That was in turn renamed the Victoria hospital, Lichfield, in 1932, (fn. 220) and in 1933 the hospital moved into a new building in the Friary, designed by T. A. Pole of London. (fn. 221) A maternity wing was added in 1941, and a patients' day room, separate from the main building, was opened in 1958. In 1983 there were 36 general beds. (fn. 222)

The Sandford Street premises were bought by Staffordshire county council in 1934 and reopened as a clinic. That year too the Lichfield Orthopaedic and Aftercare clinic, a voluntary organization, moved there. Since its opening in 1923 it had occupied the house in Station Street formerly attached to the City flour mill. (fn. 223) In 1985 the Sandford Street building was used as county council offices.

In 1940 the former workhouse in Trent Valley Road became St. Michael's hospital. At first a general hospital, in 1984 it was a 135-bed hospital for the elderly. (fn. 224)

An isolation hospital was opened in 1890 at Wood End farm in King's Bromley, bought by the corporation a few years before to extend its sewage farm. The hospital was run jointly by Lichfield urban sanitary authority and Lichfield rural sanitary authority. By 1899 the farmhouse was used mainly for cases of scarlet fever, while cases of smallpox, diphtheria, and typhoid fever were treated in two cottages nearby. In 1904 a separate iron building was erected for smallpox cases. A new ward was added to the main block in 1910. (fn. 225) In 1941 the hospital was replaced by Wissage hospital, opened in the former girls' industrial school and closed in 1949. (fn. 226)

About the beginning of 1889 the corporation bought a carriage for conversion into an ambulance, it being illegal to use hired vehicles for carrying infectious cases. The converted vehicle was still in use in 1893 when the medical officer of health recommended the provision of a proper ambulance. (fn. 227) Lichfield was later included in the area served by the rural district council's ambulance service. A motor ambulance was bought by the rural district council in 1927 and kept at its offices in St. John Street. That vehicle was replaced by a new ambulance in 1935 and a new garage was built at the council offices. (fn. 228) In 1948 the service passed into the control of Staffordshire county council, which used a garage at Stowe House as the ambulance station until a new station was opened in Birmingham Road in 1963. (fn. 229)

About 1775 George Chadwick, a physician, appears to have begun using his house in St. John Street for the reception of lunatics. In 1778 he was licensed by quarter sessions to receive up to 10 patients there. Erasmus Darwin and a justice inspected the house in 1779 and found conditions good; there were eight patients, drawn from Staffordshire, Worcestershire, and Leicestershire and including one woman. In 1787 Chadwick was charging an entrance fee of 1 guinea, £17 for the first year, and £14 for the second year if the patient was not troublesome. Although the annual licence continued to be for 10 patients, there were 14 by 1788, and in addition Chadwick's wife was then confined to her room as a lunatic. A peak of 23 patients was reached in 1808. In 1811 the inspectors reported that patients in close confinement were kept in dirty conditions with insufficient straw; Chadwick protested that the inspection was made on a Saturday morning a few hours before the rooms were due to be cleaned. Although more favourable reports followed, numbers dropped to 9 in 1814, and that year the licence was not renewed. (fn. 230) Chadwick was probably a relative of the John Chadwick who ran an asylum at Abbots Bromley in succession to his father and died in the mid 1790s. His medicines for treating insanity passed to S. Bakewell, evidently a relative by marriage, who advertised them in 1797 and was then living in Lichfield. (fn. 231)

In July 1817 a licence for an asylum in a house adjoining George Chadwick's was granted to Thomas Rowley, a surgeon living in St. John Street. He had already received a criminal lunatic in January, and in July he had seven other patients, several of whom had been inmates of Chadwick's asylum. (fn. 232) Rowley transferred the asylum to a house at Sandfields apparently in 1818. (fn. 233) In 1820 two pauper lunatics were admitted from the workhouse in St. Mary's parish and another from Derbyshire; the St. Mary's vestry agreed in 1822 to allow Rowley 9s. a week for each pauper from the parish. (fn. 234) Although he continued to own the asylum, by 1826 it was run by Samuel Heighway, who had 13 patients in 1827 and was still superintendent in 1836. (fn. 235) In 1841 the superintendent was Samuel Smith, with 32 patients. (fn. 236) By 1846 there were 44 patients, 38 of them paupers. Inspectors that year found the establishment unsatisfactory; in particular the dormitories outside the house, which were occupied by the paupers, were cold and damp. Rowley was notified accordingly, and he sold the asylum. The reception of paupers then ceased and the worst buildings were abandoned. Even so, subsequent inspections revealed fluctuating standards. By 1854 the asylum was owned and run by Dr. H. Lynch with two classes of patient, the first class being charged £80 a year and upwards and the second £50. There were 11 private patients in 1855; there were also 13 paupers, again occupying outside buildings, and the inspectors recommended that they should be brought into the house. On further visits in December they found the place so dirty, cold, and neglected that in 1856 the lunacy commissioners urged the withdrawal of the licence and the asylum duly closed. (fn. 237) The house, known as Sandfields Lodge, dates from the 18th century, with additions of the early 19th century, but part is incorporated in the adjoining Sandfields House, dating from c. 1860. (fn. 238)

Hawthorn House in Burton Old Road, in the late 1980s a home for 60 mentally handicapped adults, was opened in 1968. It consists of two houses, Hawthorn House and the Hollies, the second of which was originally for children. (fn. 239)

Sir John Floyer, who practised as a physician in Lichfield from 1676, and the Conduit Lands trustees, of whom Floyer was one, promoted a chalybeate spring at Stowe north-west of St. Chad's Well. From 1695 the trustees paid for work at the spring and its approach, and they paid 10s. rent for it from 1698. (fn. 240) There was mention in 1717 of people resorting to Stowe 'to drink the waters and other diversion there to take'. (fn. 241) In 1725 the trustees built a brick 'cover or little house over the spaw well at Stowe'. (fn. 242) After Sir John's death in 1734 the spring's popularity declined, although the trustees were still paying the rent in the early 1760s. By the 1780s the spring again enjoyed a temporary popularity. (fn. 243) An attempt was made to promote it in the early 19th century. In 1818 its water was analysed and declared similar to that of Tunbridge Wells. The claim was repeated in 1824 by William Simpson of Stowe, who advertised the spring as open from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. daily. (fn. 244) The brick structure survived until 1968, though latterly as a tool shed, and it was then demolished and the site built over. (fn. 245)

BATHS.

As part of his general promotion of cold bathing Sir John Floyer built a bath at Unett's Well at Abnalls in Burntwood. The Conduit Lands trustees gave £10 towards the cost in 1700, and in 1701 Sir John took a 99-year lease of the site from the lord of Pipe. He agreed to spend £30 on building a bath house with two baths to be called St. Chad's Bath. There was to be a keeper supported by gratuities. (fn. 246) The two baths were in use by midsummer, the upper being for women and the lower for men. They were separated by a wall, and each had a changing room attached. (fn. 247) In 1703 Sir John assigned the lease to the Conduit Lands trustees but retained the appointment of the keeper, who was to pay the trustees 5s. a year to cover the rent. Sir John stipulated that the poor of the city and the Close were to be admitted free and that the other inhabitants were to pay. The trustees were still paying the rent in the early 1760s. (fn. 248) Only one bath house remained in 1770. (fn. 249) In 1780 the lord of Pipe let it to Erasmus Darwin, and he incorporated it in the botanic garden which he had laid out at Abnalls. It was restored in 1889–90 by A. O. Worthington of nearby Maple Hayes and survived in the later 1980s. (fn. 250)

About the mid 1780s James Falconer, prebendary of Ufton Decani and a resident of the Close, built two cold baths near Parchment House north of Stowe Pool. He may have been influenced by his nephew, Dr. William Falconer of Bath, who was an authority on cold-water cures. The baths still existed in 1826. (fn. 251)

In 1824 a group including Stephen Simpson, the town clerk, tried unsuccessfully to establish hot, cold, and vapour baths in the city, to be supported by subscription. (fn. 252) The Conduit Lands trustees, urged on by the council, had plans for building baths from 1844, (fn. 253) and in 1880 they gave permission for the cooling pond at their waterworks off Walsall Road to be used as a public bathing place. (fn. 254) In 1885 Bishop C. J. Abraham, precentor of the cathedral, being anxious that the choristers should learn to swim, put a proposal for a public swimming bath to the Conduit Lands trustees. They agreed to provide a site, and in 1886 Abraham formed a committee, which raised £200 from the dean and chapter, Abraham himself, Bishop Selwyn's widow, and Mrs. Bridgeman of the Close. The trustees promised £300, and in 1887 they leased a site adjoining the waterworks to the comittee at a nominal rent. Later that year the Victoria Baths, built 'with a view to economy rather than architectural style', were opened as a memorial of Queen Victoria's jubilee. (fn. 255) On the expiry of the lease in 1908 the trustees took over the running of the baths, extending them in 1914. (fn. 256) In 1928 the water was found to be polluted and the baths were closed. (fn. 257) After being refurbished they were reopened in 1933 on lease to the council. (fn. 258) The baths continued in use until 1977 when they were replaced by a pool at the Friary Grange sports centre in Eastern Avenue. (fn. 259)

HOUSING.

In the late 1880s Sophia Lonsdale, daughter of H. G. Lonsdale, vicar of St. Mary's 1830–51, stated that the city's slums were worse than anything which she had seen in London. (fn. 260) Old houses in Bakers Lane were condemned as unfit in 1891 and demolished in 1892. The medical officer of health commented in 1891 that there were others not much better in Greenhill and George Lane. (fn. 261) A block of houses in Cotton Shop Yard off Lombard Street was condemned in 1897. That year the medical officer of health noted the shortage of small tenements and the consequent overcrowding among the poor. (fn. 262) In 1904 the council demolished 14 cottages which it had bought in St. John Street and built 14 new cottages on the site, 'a much needed addition to the dwellings of the working classes in the city', but in 1914 there was still a lack of cheap houses for the poor. (fn. 263)

The council built 208 houses under the Housing Act of 1919 and the various Acts of the 1920s and another 168 under the Acts of the 1930s. (fn. 264) The Christ Church Gardens estate off Christchurch Lane was completed in 1921 and the Beacon Gardens estate off Beacon Street in 1925. (fn. 265) Houses in Hobshole Lane (later Valley Lane) were finished in 1927, and 22 were then being built nearby in Trent Valley Road. (fn. 266) The Dovehouse Fields estate west of Upper St. John Street was completed in 1931. (fn. 267) The main area of building in the 1930s was in the north-east part of the city. Houses had already been built in the Dimbles (later Dimbles Hill) in the late 1920s, and work continued there and in Curborough Road, Leyfields, Ponesfield Road, and Stychbrook Gardens. (fn. 268) By the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 the council owned 404 houses, about one in six of the total in the city. (fn. 269) The Ministry of Health gave permission for the completion of the 60 houses being built on the Ponesfield estate, provided that priority was given to workers at the R.A.F. station at Fradley in Alrewas. (fn. 270) Early in the war overcrowding resulted from the number of evacuees from West Bromwich, Birmingham, and elsewhere, notably London. Most of those from West Bromwich soon returned home, but at the end of 1940 there were 610 evacuees billeted in the city under official arrangements and 1,536 others who had found their own accommodation. (fn. 271)

Slum clearance was carried out in 1934, mainly in Wade Street. In 1935 fifty-three houses were demolished or scheduled for demolition, notably in the area between Church Street and Rotten Row, while 114 were condemned in 1937. Sixty-four in Sandford Street and Stowe Street were scheduled for demolition in 1939, and in 1940 the Ministry gave permission for the clearance of the 23 worst. Otherwise clearance was halted by the war. (fn. 272)

During the war new sites were bought and laid out in Curborough Road and Stowe Street, and with the end of the war in 1945 work was resumed on the Ponesfield estate and started in Stowe Street. Work also began on 50 prefabricated bungalows in Anglesey Road near the junction of Weston Road with Curborough Road, and the first was occupied in 1946. (fn. 273) The St. Michael Road estate between Stowe Street and Church Street was begun that year. (fn. 274) The Weston Road estate was in progress by 1947, and the first part of the Cherry Orchard estate was finished in 1951. (fn. 275) By June 1950 the council had built 301 houses since the end of the war and a further 87 were in progress; private builders had completed 71, with 19 under construction. (fn. 276) The council owned 1,038 dwellings by 1955. (fn. 277) Twelve houses in clearance areas were demolished in 1953; in 1959 fifty were demolished. (fn. 278)

In 1956, at the request of the Ministry of Housing, the council agreed with Birmingham city council and Staffordshire county council that it would provide 1,200 dwellings for families from Birmingham. The first, a house in Windmill Lane, was occupied in 1957, and 191 dwellings had been built by June 1962. By 1970 the council had let 837 houses, maisonettes, and flats under the agreement, all of them in the north of the city. Work had then begun on a 200-a. site on which 1,400 dwellings were to be built by the council and private builders; some 300 of the council's 700 were intended for Birmingham families. (fn. 279) The council's peak year for building was 1966–7, when 440 dwellings were erected, and by 1971 it owned 2,727 dwellings. (fn. 280)

The council's 500th dwelling to be built after the war was a four-room flat in a three-storey block in Friday Acre off Dimbles Lane, completed in 1953. (fn. 281) Plans for high-rise blocks were in hand by 1956, and the first, a five-storey block in Dimbles Lane, was opened in 1959. (fn. 282) By the mid 1980s many of the blocks had become dilapidated, with damp a particular problem. The district council, by then the housing authority, modernized some and sold others. (fn. 283) The four eight-story blocks in Hobs Road near the junction of Eastern Avenue and Trent Valley Road, built in 1962 and containing 128 flats, were sold in 1984 to Regalian Properties, which refurbished them, renamed them the Towers, and in 1985 began selling them. (fn. 284) Andrews House in Swan Road off Bird Street, an eightstorey block of 64 flats built in 1965, was sold in 1987 to Coventry Churches Housing Association for conversion into 59 flats for the elderly. The work was completed in 1989. (fn. 285) The district council opened the nearby Sandford House, a block of 60 flats for the elderly, in 1987. (fn. 286)

Nearfield House in Stafford Road in the north-east corner of the city, which dates from 1911, was opened as an old people's home by the county council in 1951. (fn. 287)

POST OFFICES AND TELEPHONE SERVICE.

Lichfield was a post town on the route between London and Ireland by the 1570s. (fn. 288) There was a local foot post c. 1680; it operated to Cannock in 1698, but that service had been discontinued by 1703. (fn. 289) The post office was in Sandford Street in 1779. (fn. 290) It occupied the parlour of a house in the same street in 1804, having moved there evidently in 1800. (fn. 291) By 1818 it was in Bird Street. (fn. 292) It was still there in the earlier 1850s but had moved to Bore Street by 1860. (fn. 293) It was transferred in the late 1870s to larger premises on the south side of the same street which had been a girls' boarding school. (fn. 294) In 1905 it moved to a new building in Bird Street south of Minster Walk. (fn. 295) That was replaced in 1968 by a post office in the Baker's Lane shopping precinct. (fn. 296)

The National Telephone Co. opened an exchange in Wade Street in 1897. (fn. 297) The exchange in the Friary dates from 1938. (fn. 298)

Public gardens, libraries, and museums are treated elsewhere. (fn. 299)