This richly executed Gothic Revival font, installed in 1862, was designed by the architect William Slater and carved by the sculptor James Forsyth. Constructed from Caen stone with shafts and details in alabaster and coloured marble, it represents the ambitious, archaeological phase of mid-19th-century ecclesiastical design, in which medieval forms were reinterpreted with Victorian precision and material richness.

The octagonal bowl rests upon eight clustered shafts, each formed of polished marble columns with moulded bases and foliated capitals derived from Early English models. The underside of the bowl is supported by stiff-leaf corbels, giving the structure the effect of a miniature Gothic canopy raised upon a ring of colonnettes.

Each of the four principal faces contains a finely carved narrative relief panel depicting major biblical subjects associated with baptism and salvation:
• The Resurrection
• The Baptism of Christ
• Moses 
• Noah

The remaining faces are treated with blind arcading and carved ornament in a consistent Gothic idiom. The overall composition reflects Forsyth’s characteristic combination of strong architectural framing with deeply undercut figurative carving.

Standing upon a moulded plinth and approached by stone steps, the Lichfield font is among the finest Victorian baptismal monuments in an English cathedral, notable for its material complexity, sculptural ambition, and typological programme.