Lichfield and Erasmus Darwin's House

After leaving Wall we decided to pop into Lichfield to visit the Cathedral shop which has a good selection of advent candles and we were planning to buy one for December. There is a very handy small car park just opposite the Close in Beacon Street which is only about 100 yards from the Cathedral. Sadly, I suspect the car park won't be there for much longer due to development work.



Lichfield Cathedral - the bells were ringing as we approached which was rather atmospheric :)

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Timothy was a bit miffed I had forgotten to take him out of the backpack at Letocetum so here he is posing in front of the Cathedral.

Candles purchased we decided against visiting the Cathedral as a service was in progress and if access was allowed it would have been restricted. One of these days I will go back, probably on my own, and have a really good look round as I would so much like to see St Chad's Gospel and the Lichfield Angel which we missed last time.

Instead we paid our first visit to Erasmus Darwin's house (entry is free). Erasmus was Charles Darwin's grandfather. He was born in 1731 and moved to Lichfield in 1756 to work as a physician. He married Mary Howard (known as Polly) and lived in this house from 1758 - 1781. Erasmus Darwin was a man of many talents - he was a successful doctor, a scientist, an inventor, a poet, a botanist and a philosopher.

I would imagine the herb garden when in flower in the summer would look lovely attracting butterflies, bees and hoverflies.

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There are quite a few rooms to visit in the house - on the ground floor a parlour, Inventions Room and Study and on the First Floor a library, the Lunar and Seminar Room and The Exhibition Room


The Parlour as it would have appeared in the 1770's.

Erasmus Darwin

The Inventions Room

The Study

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Timothy enjoying his visit and

being a bit cheeky here!

The Flying Bird

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A beautiful view from the landing

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After leaving we went along to a tea room at the side of the Cathedral for hot chocolate and cake - I had Ginger Lemon Crumble :)

If you would like to see more of Lichfield then please follow the links below

For a brief visit to the Cathedral see here Edit apologies the link goes first to this post (for some unknown reason!!) but if you scroll down the Lichfield Cathedral post is (hopefully!) just below!

and for a visit to Samuel Johnson's birthplace museum please see here



*D = photos taken by my son with the Canon Bridge Camera SX50

Letocetum, Wall, Staffordshire

When D and E were little I was always trying to find ideas for local inexpensive days out in the school holidays and the Roman ruins at Wall were always on the list but somehow it was one of those places we never got round to visiting. D and I rectified that last Sunday when we went to have a look at Letocetum.



This Jubilee Milestone by the car park was erected by people living in Wall Parish to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of the Queen in 2012.

Wall once had a milestone dating back to Roman times which was located in a field at Chesterfield Farm near the Junction of Watling and Ryknild streets. The pillar was lost possible as a result of agricultural improvement in the 1970's although a fragment of a similar stone can be seen in the museum.


Signs of Halloween around the village.

Wall or Letocetum was an important staging post (where soldiers, messengers and Roman officials could stay overnight and change horses) located on Watling Street which was an important Roman Military Road. The Roman 14th Legion had erected a fortress here in AD50 in the hill behind the present church. This was replaced by a succession of smaller forts all abandoned by AD 130. During the end of the first century AD Letocetum had been constructed at the side of the road.

The ruins today consist of the remains of baths, hot and cold rooms, changing room, exercise hall, courtyard and The Mansio (or inn).

The ruins really did have a superb atmosphere - it was one of those magical places where you could almost sense the presence of (in this case) Romans from all those centuries ago.

If you click on the photos of the information boards to enlarge them hopefully you will be able to read all about the various ruins.

Plants and Mosses in Walls

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The church of St John the Baptist looks interesting - I am not sure if it was open or not.

The Street name "The Butts" has its origins in archery. Archery was important in medieval times and in the 15th century Edward IV stipulated that it was compulsory for archery practice to take place on Sundays. Each village had to set up butts (a target for the arrows or a pile of earth behind so that badly aimed arrows could land safely) and roads with this name will be at or near the archery practice site.


I enjoy doing Heritage Walks round villages so we hope to return next Spring

when the museum is also open.

Afterwards we popped into Lichfield which is only a few miles away but I will save that for another post later this week.

*D Photo taken by D with the Canon Bridge Camera