LICHFIELD, a city and municipal and parliamentary borough of Staffordshire, England, is situated in a pleasant and fertile valley, on a small tributary of the Trent, and on the South Staffordshire Railway, 16 miles north from Birmingham. The town is well built, and contains many handsome houses. Of the old Norman cathedral there are now no remains. The present building is supposed to belong to the end of the 12th or beginning of the 13th century. Its style is Early English approaching to Decorated, and it possesses an imposing central tower 285 feet in height, with two western spires 183 feet. The transepts, which contain some portions of Norman architecture, are richly ornamented, and adorned with windows of beautiful tracery. The total length of the building from east to west is 403 feet. The damage which it suffered during the civil wars was repaired by Bishop Hackett in 1671, and at present (1882) it is undergoing extensive restorations. A new building for the King Edward’s grammar school was erected in 1850. In the market-place is a statue of Dr Johnson, facing the house where he was born. A guild-hall, a market-hall, a corn exchange, and a public library and museum are the principal buildings of a secular character. There are several charitable institutions. The industries of the town include brewing and coach-building; and in the neighbourhood there are large nurseries and market gardens. The municipal and parliamentary boroughs have the same area (3416 acres); the population in 1871 was 7347, and in 1881 8360....