Editing Lichfield (section)

=== Early Modern ===
[[File:John Snape Lichfield Plan.jpg|thumb|left|Map of Lichfield in 1781]]
The policies of [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] had a dramatic effect on Lichfield. The [[English Reformation|Reformation]] brought the disappearance of [[pilgrim]] traffic following the destruction of St Chad's shrine in 1538, which was a major loss to the city's economic prosperity. That year too the [[The Franciscan Friary, Lichfield|Franciscan Friary]] was dissolved, the site becoming a private estate. Further economic decline followed the outbreak of [[Black Death|plague]] in 1593, which resulted in the death of over a third of the entire population.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42337|title='Lichfield: From the Reformation to c.1800', A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14: Lichfield (1990), pp. 14-24.|publisher=British History Online|access-date=22 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526054843/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42337|archive-date=26 May 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

Three people were burned at the stake for [[heresy]] under Mary I. The last public burning at the stake for heresy in England took place in Lichfield, when [[Edward Wightman]] from [[Burton upon Trent]] was [[Execution by burning|executed by burning]] in the Market Place on 11 April 1612 for promoting himself as the divine [[Paraclete]] and Saviour of the world.<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB |wstitle= Wightman, Edward |volume= 61 |last= Gordon |first= Alexander |author-link= Alexander Gordon (Unitarian) |pages= 195-196 |short= 1}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9AxAAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Edward+Wightman%22+treason&pg=PT379 Cobbett's complete collection of state trials and proceedings] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503213240/https://books.google.com/books?id=9AxAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT379&lpg=PT379&dq=%22Edward+Wightman%22+treason&source=bl&ots=4iNNPt1Fb1&sig=rhZEDpVPZoGMvaYAwawtyuf5nFg&hl=en&ei=K5txTIvhMcKB8gaQzsCtDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Edward%20Wightman%22%20treason&f=false |date=3 May 2016 }}, 735–736.</ref>
[[File:Dr-Johnson.jpg|thumbnail|upright|200px|[[Samuel Johnson]] was born in Breadmarket Street in 1709]]
[[File:Samuel Johnson Statue.jpg|thumb|200px|Statue of Dr Johnson in Lichfield's Market Square<br />"The Doctor's statue, which is of some inexpensive composite painted a shiny brown, and of no great merit of design, fills out the vacant dulness of the little square in much the same way as his massive personality occupies—with just a margin for [[David Garrick|Garrick]]—the record of his native town."—[[Henry James]], ''Lichfield and Warwick'', 1872]]
[[File:Cockle Lucas Johnson.jpg|thumb|200px|Photograph by [[Richard Cockle Lucas]] (sculptor) of Johnson statue taken in 1859]]

In the [[English Civil War]], Lichfield was divided. The cathedral authorities, supported by some of the townsfolk, were for the king, but the townsfolk generally sided with the Parliament. This led to the fortification of the close in 1643. Lichfield's position as a focus of supply routes had an important strategic significance during the war, and both forces were anxious for control of the city. The Parliamentary commander [[Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke|Lord Brooke]] led an assault on the fortified close, but was killed by a deflected bullet on St Chad's day in 1643, an accident welcomed as a miracle by the Royalists. The close subsequently yielded to the Parliamentarians, but was retaken by [[Prince Rupert of the Rhine]] in the same year; on the collapse of the Royalist cause in 1646 it again surrendered. The cathedral suffered extensive damage from the war, including the complete destruction of the central spire. It was restored at the Restoration under the supervision of [[John Hacket|Bishop Hacket]], and thanks in part to the generosity of [[King Charles II of England|King Charles II]].

Lichfield started to develop a lively coaching trade as a stop-off on the busy route between London and [[Chester]] from the 1650s onwards, making it Staffordshire's most prosperous town. In the 18th century, and then reaching its peak in the period from 1800 to 1840, the city thrived as a busy coaching city on the main routes from London to the north-west and Birmingham to the north-east. It also became a centre of great intellectual activity, being the home of many famous people including [[Samuel Johnson]], [[David Garrick]], [[Erasmus Darwin]] and [[Anna Seward]]; this prompted Johnson's remark that Lichfield was "a city of philosophers". In the 1720s [[Daniel Defoe]] described Lichfield as 'a fine, neat, well-built, and indifferent large city', the principal town in the region after Chester.<ref name="From 1990 pp. 14-24">From: 'Lichfield: From the Reformation to c.1800', A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14: Lichfield (1990), pp. 14-24. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42337 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526054843/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42337 |date=26 May 2011 }} Date accessed: 24 July 2009.</ref> During the late 18th and early 19th century much of the medieval city was rebuilt with the red-brick [[Georgian architecture|Georgian style]] buildings still to be seen today. Also during this time, the city's infrastructure underwent great improvements, with underground sewerage systems, paved streets and gas-powered street lighting.<ref name=clay>{{Citation | last =Clayton | first =Howard | title =Coaching City| publisher = Abbotsford Publishing| year =1981 | isbn =978-0-9503563-1-0}}</ref> An infantry regiment of the [[British Army]] was formed at Lichfield in 1705 by Col. [[Luke Lillingstone]] in the King's Head tavern in Bird Street. In 1751 it became the 38th Regiment of Foot, and in 1783 the 1st [[Staffordshire Regiment]]; after reorganisation in 1881 it became the 1st battalion of the [[South Staffordshire Regiment]].<ref name="From 1990 pp. 14-24"/>