The Main Hall
The hall on the first floor is 87' (26m) long and 25' (7.5m) wide. It is wainscoted in oak, with a high pitched roof with hammer beams, giving a fine medieval appearance.
At the south end, the hall was permanently furnished for the Court of Quarter Sessions until December 1971, with a bench for the Recorder, the Mayor, Sheriff and Justices, a well of the court for barristers, and benches for the jury. The Recorder's bench and Jury benches remain
At the north end there is a large stained glass window which was originally in the north transept of Lichfield Cathedral, and shows patrons of the Cathedral. The Dean and Chapter offered it to the City Council in 1891 when the Cathedral wished to replace it with a lancet window.
After some opposition from a grandson of Dean Woodhouse, who objected to it being moved to a secular building, the window was installed in the Guildhall with the addition of a portrait of Queen Victoria, at a cost £138.
The nine original panels comprise:
- Oswy, King of Northumbria, who conquered the kingdom of Mercia in 656
- Chad, first Bishop of Lichfield, 669.
- Offa, King of Mercia, under whom Lichfield became an Archiepiscopal See in 786.
- Stephen, King of England, 1135 -1154.
- Roger de Clinton. Bishop 1129 - 1152.
- Richard I, King of England 1189-1199.
- John, King of England, 1199-1216.
- Walter de Langton, Bishop 1296 -1321.
- John Hacket, Bishop 1661 – 1670, who supervised the restoration of the Cathedral after the Civil War.
The oak board with the names of the Mayor's and Sheriffs since 1836, was given by Alderman Joseph Bridgeman in 1927. He also gave the Royal Arms over the Recorder's seat. The office of Mayor was created under the Municipal Corporations Act of 1836, replacing the earlier office of Senior Bailiff.
The office of Sheriff dates from 1553 when Queen Mary's Charter made Lichfield a County in its own right, separate from the rest of Staffordshire.
The fireplace bears the arms of Henry VII; a second fireplace was removed to make way for the communicating door to Donegal House.
The banners of the various old wards of the City were made by students of the Lichfield School of Art in 1975.
The present Guildhall is used for City Council meetings, civic events, including the ancient Court of Arraye and St George's Court, and is also widely hired out for meetings, dances, wedding receptions, etc.