A weekly newspaper has produced a guided tour of the town it serves as a special edition of its regular history publication.

The Tamworth Herald has dedicated the latest issue of Historic Tamworth, which is produced quarterly, to the 64-page guide to the town, which was the capital of Mercia during Anglo-Saxon times.

The guide has been produced with historian John Harper, who has been connected with the Herald for 35 years.

50 sites around the town centre and is designed for readers to carry with them as they explore landmarks including Tamworth’s Norman castle to a town centre café which was a haunt of Mick Jagger during the 1960.

Editor Gary Phelps said: “John has been connected with the Herald for more than 35 years and no-one knows more about the history of the town than him.

“He’s spent months and months putting this together, but I guess you could say that it’s actually been ‘in the making’ for 1000 years or more.”

Last month the Herald was named Midlands Newspaper of the Year for the second year running at the Midlands Media Awards.

Gary added: “Nostalgia and heritage pieces are always popular with our readers, but this is altogether on another level.

“John’s created something which is fun to read and easy to use but is academic in its breadth. It genuinely adds something to the study of local history in the area.”