14th January 2009, 03:36 PM
Here you go my Lichfield Cathedral story.....
Loads of years ago I found myself in Lichfield for an afternoon. (I think Pompey were playing Wolves or West Brom in an midweek evening kick-off....). Anyway at a loose end for a few hours, I decide to have a wander around the cathedral. I am standing there staring at various Victorian restorations/repairs when a gentleman sidles up to me and says 'Do you want to see something interesting?'......
Being the kind of person open to offers of all kinds, I followed him into some dark corner of the cathedral. He knelt down, spat on his finger, rubbed it on the floor and said 'Look at this'. I thought he was rubbing his finger over some kind of black glazed tile alternated with white glazed tiles (Westminster Abbey chapter house type thing) but his finger came up absolutely black. 'Do you know what the Victorians used to restore this part of the cathedral floor?' he asked. I shook my head dumbly. 'Coal' he replied. 'It looks like black tile, but it's actually coal'!!
Just one of the problems that your '10 days a year in Lichfield' might have to address I guess.....
Loads of years ago I found myself in Lichfield for an afternoon. (I think Pompey were playing Wolves or West Brom in an midweek evening kick-off....). Anyway at a loose end for a few hours, I decide to have a wander around the cathedral. I am standing there staring at various Victorian restorations/repairs when a gentleman sidles up to me and says 'Do you want to see something interesting?'......
Being the kind of person open to offers of all kinds, I followed him into some dark corner of the cathedral. He knelt down, spat on his finger, rubbed it on the floor and said 'Look at this'. I thought he was rubbing his finger over some kind of black glazed tile alternated with white glazed tiles (Westminster Abbey chapter house type thing) but his finger came up absolutely black. 'Do you know what the Victorians used to restore this part of the cathedral floor?' he asked. I shook my head dumbly. 'Coal' he replied. 'It looks like black tile, but it's actually coal'!!
Just one of the problems that your '10 days a year in Lichfield' might have to address I guess.....