Factfile

The National Memorial Arboretum, containing 300 memorials, is located in Alrewas, a short drive from Lichfield.

If you are looking for ways to fill your day, take your cue from Edward Buckley, who used a penknife to whittle a 130-foot-long wooden chain from a single piece of timber.

Many readers may have connections to RAF Lichfield. Formerly Fradley Aerodrome, it was Staffordshire’s busiest, where planes were prepared and modified during the war.

In the play “The Beaux’ Stratagem” of 1707, set in the city, playwright George Farquhar wrote that Lichfield ale was “Smooth as oil, sweet as milk, clear as amber and strong as brandy.”

Edward Wightman, the last person to be executed for heresy by burning at the stake, met his end in Lichfield Market Place.

Lichfield is Britain’s seventh-smallest city.