Lichfield's Last Execution

June 1st 1810 is an inauspicious date in history. Indeed the whole year lacks any real major milestones - Napoleon was being Napoleon, Lord Byron went swimming, Chopin's mother went into labour with Frederick, Moose went extinct in the Caucasus, and in Ruthwell in Scotland the Rev Henry Duncan opened the world's first commercial savings bank.

Meanwhile in Lichfield an open cart leaves the Guildhall. From there the procession passes up Boar Street and St John's Street to Gallows Wharf with the Sheriff of Lichfield leading the procession. Here, by the canal bridge on London Road, John Never, William Wightman and James Jackson were, as the local paper termed it at the time, "allowed to say their piece before being despatched to eternity".

The men had earlier been convicted of uttering forged banknotes to a Mr Marshall, a draper in the city of Lichfield. These were the last three men to be executed in the city of Lichfield.

Of particular note is those last words spoken of. Someone, or someones, managed to make note of their last words and within days on sale courtesy of Mr Lomax's Printing Works. Based in Lichfield on the corner of Bird Street and Market Street, these words of wisdom were available for an old penny.

Note the canal was filled in years ago. However there are plans to reinstate this historic stretch of canal and work has already started as can be seen on their website.

Lichfield as a Place Name

Attracted by the sound of a train passing over the bridge just before entering the station at Lichfield City, I noticed the image on the shield on the side of the bridge and reminded of the story of how Lichfield got its name. As we will see, a very wrong story resulting in it still popularly being said to refer to the 'field of corpses'.

For years records suggested this place name described the 'grey battle field' and, when asked which battle, pointed to a 7th century conflict reported by one Caer Lwydgoed who stated the Welsh of Powys captured 1,500 cattle, 80 horses and five bondsmen in a raid. Now the problem here is the writer lived quite some time after the 7th century. Furthermore, he was Welsh and would never have written anything about it should the Welsh of Powys returned home beaten and empty handed - remember the victors write the histories.

During the Middle Ages the origin was said to be Middle English lic feld or 'the open land of corpses'. When questioned about where and when the corpses came into the story, recorders either pointed to the aforemention 7th century battle or to a report by Matthew Paris. It seems 999 Christians were slaughtered here on the order of the Roman Emperor Doicletian. Problem is Mr Paris of St Albans Abbey wrote his report in 1259, rather later than the events he was writing about. Putting this into perspective, Paris is writing almost 750 years ago and a long way back in history as you will surely agree. However he is describing an event which supposedly occurred more than twice that long ago, for Diocletian died in 305 and more than a thousand years earlier.

So how does the story continue to be told? Take a look at the shield depicted on the bridge. It is a depiction of this story of the death of 999 Christians and a copy of an image on the city's seal. In 1549, already 300 years after Mr Paris, the new city corporation adopted the image we see on the seal. More than a century later the corporation repeated the story of the murdered armies of three Christian kings. This was repeated yet again in the 19th century and seems will never go away.

The true origin of the name is 'the grey open land' and indeed has exactly the same origin as that of Letocetum, although today this name is associated with the nearby Roman remains found at Wall on Watling Street.

Further evidence of the nonsense of the Christian armies theory can be seen in the lack of an organised Christian faith in Britain at the time. While Christianity is rightly associated with the mission of Augustine in 597 AD, the Christian faith had had followers since the 1st century AD in the form of the Roman traders and artisans who came to our islands. Yet this was simply one of the untold Roman cults and not an overly popular one as it is monotheistic and frowned upon by the Romans meaning they had to worship in secret. Note also the Roman Empire was effectively Christian after Constantine converted in 313 - but still this is eight years after the latest possible date of the slaughter of three Christian armies.

UK County Nicknames

After last time looking at the nicknames of the US states, as promised I redress the balance by looking at some of the welcome signs of the counties on the other side of the Atlantic. In alphabetical order and not a complete list starting with England.

Cheshire is Home of England's Finest Gardens

Durham is Land of the Prince Bishops.

Herefordshire, where apparently you can.

Kent is the Garden of England.

Lancashire is a place where everyone matters.

Leicestershire is the Heart of Rural England.

Northamptonshire where you can apparently let yourself grow.

Northumberland is England's Border Country

Nottinghamshire is Robin Hood County.

Stafforshire is the Creative County.

Warwickshire is Shakespeare's County.

And in Scotland

Aberdeenshire is, apparently, from mountain to sea the very best of Scotland.

Clackmannshire is more than you imagine, or say it seems.

Kinrossshire was Scotland's first fairtrade county.

Moray is malt whisky country.

And in Wales

Denbighshire makes one wonder whether if it is rife with disease as it proclaims "you'll never leave".

And in Northern Ireland

Antrim is proud to be Northern Ireland's first fairtrade borough.

Fermanagh welcomes you naturally.

USA - State Nicknames

Recently heard of how each and every state of the USA is known by its own nickname. In truth there are a number known by more than one. Hence the following list will, where possible, have the official name explained and, when there are more than one, the example I found the most interesting.

Alabama is the Yellowhammer State, so called because of the nickname applied to Confederate soldiers from this state in the US Civil War who wore brilliant yellow cloth trimming the sleeves, collars and coattails.

Alaska is known as the Last Frontier State, and rightly so as it is (quite literally) the most recent wilderness for the US to contend with.

Arizona is the Grand Canyon State and in comes as no surprise to find this tourist magnet is found here.

Arkansas is the Natural State because of its natural scenic beauty.

California is the Golden State because of the Gold Rush of the middle of the 19th century.

Colorado is the Centennial State because it was 100 years since the founding of the Union when it joined.

Connecticut is the Constitution State as it was here at Hartford in 1639 that the first formal constitution was written on American soil.

Delaware is the First State as it was the first to be admitted to the Union, doing so in 1787.

Florida is the Sunshine State because its southern location means it has many hours of sunshine.

Georgia is the Peach State, it having been the official fruit since 1995.

Hawaii is the Aloha State, a Polynesian greeting.

Idaho is the Gem State, often said to be from the Native American reference to the name of Idaho meaning 'the gem of the mountains'. However sources also show how the name came mean 'territory of the fish-eaters' and thus the name refers to the precious metals found here.

Illinois is the Prairie State owing to its location on the prairie lands of North America.

Indiana has no official nickname but is usually known as the Hospitality State, for obvious reasons.

Iowa is the Hawkeye State, nobody really knows for certain why but most often explained by the character in James Fennimore Cooper's book The Last of the Mohicans.

Kansas is the Sunflower State as it is also the state flower.

Kentucky is the Bluegrass State as blue graas grows here. Correctly the grass is, of course, green but appears blue when the flower buds appear in the spring.

Louisiana is the Pelican State as this is the official state bird.

Maine is the Pine Tree State as it has a pine tree on its seal and there are indeed a lot of pine trees here.

Maryland is the Old Line State, from the old Colonial army and the Maryland Line.

Massachusetts is the Bay State as it is, unsurprisingly, where Massachusetts Bay can be found.

Michigan is the Great Lakes State as it borders Lake Michigan.

Minnesota is the North Star State, this appearing on the state seal in French.

Missouri is the Show Me State, reputedly taken from a speech by Missouri congressman William Vandiver.

Montana is the Treasure State because of its gold and silver deposits.

Nebraska is the Cornhusker State, taken from the nickname of the University of Nebraska's sporting teams.

Nevada is the Silver State as it has a wealth of silver.

New Hampshire is the Granite State as the rock was once quarried here in vast quantities.

New Jersey is the Garden State, albeit not officially. This was coined by Abraham Browning in a speech in 1876 at the Centennial Exhibition.

New Mexico is the Land of Enchantment, one of many such enthusiastic names applied to a state

New York is the Empire State as George Washington referred to it as 'the seat of the empire' in 1784.

North Carolina is the Tar Heel State, for the locals were known as 'tarboilers' and later 'tar heels'. While nobody really knows why, one suggestion tells of how a brigade failed to hold their position during a battle in 1869 and the Mississippians blamed this on them failing to tar their heels that morning. Indeed.

North Dakota is the Peace Garden State as the International Peace Gardens are to be found in the north.

Ohio is the Buckeye State, a variety of horse chestnut which is the state tree.

Oklahoma is the Sooner State as many white settlers made claims on land here even before the border restrictions were lifted.

Oregon is the Beaver State as the state animal is the beaver.

Pennsylvania is the Keystone State as it was toasted as 'the keystone to the union' in 1802.

Rhode Island is the Ocean State, abeit not officially, and for obvious reasons.

South Carolina is the Palmetto State after the palmetto palm.

South Dakota is thwe Mount Rushmore State as Mount Rushmore, with its presidential faces, is found here.

Tennessee is the Volunteer State and with several explanations, including the volunteer soldiers at the Battle of New Orleans in 1812 or 1847 and the Mexican War.

Texas is the Lone Star State as this is the symbol found on the flag of Texas.

Utah is the Beehive State, for the Mormon settlers were said to have brought with them swarms of bees.

Vermont is the Green Mountain State, itself from Green Mountain Boy and a reference to any inhabitant since 1772 and named from the militia.

Virgina is the Old Dominion, and earlier Ancient Dominion, as it was the site of the first colonies.

Washington is the Evergreen State because of its vast areas of conifer forest.

West Virginia is the Mountain State for the same reason as some sources give this as the Switzerland of America.

Wisconsin is the Badger State, nothing to do with the animal but to early lead miners who worked underground, just like badgers.

Wyoming is the Equality State as it was here, in 1869, when women's suffrage was granted.

With apologies to our American friends who undoubtedly know most if not all of these, I will redress the balance by giving the origins of the names of counties on this side of the Atlantic next time.

Yet I must end with some of the odder, alternative references used by states for more than two centuries. These include Seward's Ice Box, Cottondom, Baby State, Toothpick State, Mile-High State, the Cracker State, Spud State, Hoosier State, the Cyclone State, Hemp State, Old Dirigo State, Oyster State, Codfish State, Water Wonderland, Cream Pitcher of the Nation, Mudcat State, Stub-Toe State, Divorce State, Clam State, Knickerbocker State, Flickertail State, Boomer's Paradise, Iodine State, Artesian State, Hog and Hominy State, Cheese State, Uncle Sam's Pocket Handkerchief, Land of Steady Habits and, most unusual of all, the Land of Wooden Nutmegs.