Chichester

Chichester stands on the coastal plain of Sussex, within the walls of the Roman city of Noviomagus. After the Norman Conquest the bishop's seat was moved here, and a cathedral rose in the old city in the late eleventh century. Its shrine of St Richard, bishop of Chichester in the thirteenth century, attracted pilgrims from across the region.

In December 1642, during the English Civil War, Parliamentary forces under William Waller besieged Chichester. The city surrendered after a siege lasting from 22 to 27 December, and the victorious soldiers ransacked the cathedral. The damage marked a violent moment in the history of a church that had stood at the centre of religious life in Sussex since the early years of the Norman age.