Tamworth; Friday, 04 July, 2025

Another Friday, another half day, and so after powering down the laptop I grabbed my bag and caught the train into town and across to Euston where I took advantage of the Real Time Trains website to be at the top of platform 6 as the delayed inbound train arrived and myself and about 20 other people made a beeline for the good seats in the decommissioned former 1st class section of the train a good 5 minutes before the platform was announced up on the concourse.

The journey was OK, though speed restrictions and random delays meant we finally arrived in Tamworth just over 10 minutes late. From the station it was a 25 minute walk into the centre of town and then across it and back out the other side to my hotel for the weekend.

After dropping off my bag and freshening up I headed out to go for an explore of the town centre, first by heading back over the large Lady Meadow – a large plot of grassland that borders the River Tame on the edge of the town centre and takes you back to the Lady Bridge – originally a medieval wooden bridge, upgraded to stone in the late 18th century and upgraded to pedestrian only in the late 20th century.

The bridge drops you out right by the castle, which was already closed for the evening, but I was able to have a long wander around the grounds. The castle is a Norman rebuild of the original Mercian fortification that would have stood here – Tamworth was the capital and the Royal Seat of the Kings of Mercia and the town in particular celebrates Æthelflæd, The Lady of the Mercians, eldest daughter of Alfred the Great, who reigned from 911-918 and was responsible for the fortification and protection of the town.

From the castle it should have been a very short walk across the castle bridge to the Town Hall, but due to reenvisioning works being undertaken by the council, that route is closed and instead it’s a good ¼ mile diversion around the outside of the town centre shopping centre (obviously during the day it would have been a simple case of cutting through the centre, but that too was also closed for the evening.)

The Town Hall was built in 1701 and includes a space for a market on the lower floor with the council chambers on the upper floor. Immediately in front of the building is a statue to the towns most famous MP, Sir Robert Peel, who was responsible for the creation of the Police Force in the UK.

Just around the corner to the Parish church of St Editha, reportedly the largest parish church in the county, though once again closed for the evening, so I had a wander around the outside before starting to head back to the hotel, diverting into the leisure and retail park a little way beyond the hotel to have dinner and grab some water and snacks from the Sainsbury’s before heading back to my room.