LichfieldLore

So many ghosts, so much stuff hidden up chimneys, so many ways of seeing your future husband

Cross in Hand Lane, Lichfield is the old road to Stafford. A holloway haunted by pilgrims heading for the cathedral and highwaymen headed for the gallows.

Got the urge to compile some sort of gazetteer of Staffordshire folklore as most of the countrywide ones I’ve found do not do our weird old county justice. There’s a lot more to it than the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance (as wonderful as that is)

Episode one of our Lichfield Discovered History Show podcast in which we discuss the mysteries of Borrowcop Hill and the secrets of a squirrel seal found in a local field www.mixcloud.com/LichfieldRad...

The brilliant Shenstone History Group have sent me photos of a child’s shoe found up the chimney of one of the village’s oldest cottages.

Anyone out there able to date it?

My thoughts exactly!

Does anyone else’s local litter picking group find folk horror-esque art installations whilst out doing their good deeds or is it just a Lichfield thing?

It’s such a waste. There was a planning application made about 18 months ago but it was farcical

Death Match Here in Lichfield, Shrove Tuesday is celebrated with people dressed up as princesses, pirates or, um, slices of pizza racing along Bore Street as they flip pancakes. Visitors to the city tomorrow m…

Pancake Day. Yes it’s Pancake Day. P-P-P-P-P-P-Pancake Day.

To celebrate I’ve written a little about Shrovetide shenanigans in Lichfield and Atherstone.

Have a read here >> lichfieldlore.co.uk/2026/02/17/d...

I do love a day out in Birmingham

St Chad’s, Lichfield glowing beneath a rainbow in the sunshine and showers. Seems almost symbolic.

It’s so gloriously gruesome. You should definitely set your story here. Good luck with it! X

It is! Plus our city seal features three dismembered kings. The last one is on the railway bridge at the City Station to welcome everyone to the Field of the Dead

Actually there’s a place in the north of the city called Christian Fields and cartloads of bones were found there c.1800

A Sailor’s Skull at Shifnal We all love a bit of gothic fiction but I’ve often said that the strangest stories are those which are real. If you need further convincing, in April 1950, the following line appeared in an article…

My latest Lichfield Lore post is about a sailor’s skull and some other spooky goings on in Shifnal.

I think this might be the first time I’ve written about a phantom who haunts both its house and its local pub.

Have a read here >>>

lichfieldlore.co.uk/2026/02/07/a...

Caught Red-fingered If ever there was an instance of picking on the wrong person, it was at Fenton Toll Gate on a January morning in 1834. Mr Dawes, a surgeon from Stoke on Trent, was walking back home from Lane End, …

My latest Lichfield Lore post ‘Caught Red-fingered’ could be subtitled ‘Don’t mess with the wrong bloke from Stoke’. Disclaimer: Do not read whilst you are eating please.

And if you do know where I can lay hands on that bottle of spirits, do let me know 👉👉👉

lichfieldlore.co.uk/2026/01/24/c...

Thank you! That’s how we roll in Staffordshire.

Caught Red-fingered If ever there was an instance of picking on the wrong person, it was at Fenton Toll Gate on a January morning in 1834. Mr Dawes, a surgeon from Stoke on Trent, was walking back home from Lane End, …

My latest Lichfield Lore post ‘Caught Red-fingered’ could be subtitled ‘Don’t mess with the wrong bloke from Stoke’. Disclaimer: Do not read whilst you are eating please.

And if you do know where I can lay hands on that bottle of spirits, do let me know 👉👉👉

lichfieldlore.co.uk/2026/01/24/c...

A fantastic talk by Brian for our Lichfield Discovered history night!

The Bible Thief When John Duncalf was released from the House of Correction in Kingswinford in 1675, he swore he would never set his feet in the town again as long as he lived. It was a promise that was to become …

Just finished my latest Lichfield Lore blogpost about John Duncalf, the man from the Black Country who stole a bible and definitely lived to regret it. Although he didn’t live for long…

lichfieldlore.co.uk/2026/01/17/t...

Still a few tickets left so come and join us!

Yes please do!

The idea is to run a series of workshops at our Lichfield Discovered HQ which get people together to try sth new & get a taste of a traditional craft. So far I’ve asked a basket weaver, tile maker and a wood turner! We already do local history talks & walks but I want to do something hands on too!

Just getting my head into 2026 mode. I’m looking for local-ish people who could run a one-off (initially) workshop on a traditional skill in Lichfield from March onwards. If you can, or know someone that can, let me know!

Love a mystery which sounds like it could be the start of an antiquarian ghost story.

Sometime ago a woman arrived at Middleton Hall and handed over this medieval bell. She said it belonged to the house and so she was returning it before leaving without further explanation.

Written about the time we accidentally ended up in Acton Trussell and found that a Roman villa had been accidentally discovered beneath the local church.

lichfieldlore.co.uk/2026/01/02/t...

The Ruins at Shugborough where a Druid sits above a 250 year old folly, built by an Earl of Lichfield from the remains of the palace of the Bishops of Lichfield.

Something else which endures is the story that this crossing at the confluence of the Rivers Trent and Sow was constructed by Robert Devereux for Elizabeth I when she was staying with him for the week at Chartley.

Shame he burned his bridges with her in the end.

Fourteen of the original forty arches of the Essex Bridge at Shugborough survive making it one of the longest in the land.

According to the Staffordshire Advertiser, William Slater aged 28 married Martha Sollom aged 64 here at Baswich church in April 1826, after ‘a long and tedious courtship’. How romantic 💕