Things you didn't know about... Staffordshire

Staffordshire was home to a famous sleuth

Dr Henry Faulds, inventor of police fingerprinting techniques, died in Wolstanton, Staffordshire in 1930, having lived his last 30 years in the county. Born in Scotland, Dr Faulds worked as a doctor in Japan, where, in 1880, he came up with the concept of using fingerprints to capture criminals.

Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in Staffordshire

Queen Elizabeth I chose Chartley Hall, Stowe-by-Chartley, Staffordshire, to hold her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots. While Mary was being held there, a Catholic plot to free her failed miserably. Mary was taken from Staffordshire and eventually executed.

Dr Samul Johnson is a son of Staffordshire

The writer of the celebrated first dictionary hailed from Lichfield.

Definitely no Flash floods in this Staffordshire village

Flash is 15,18ft (463m) above sea level and claims to be the highest village in England.

Last person burned at the stake in Staffordshire

When Edward Wightman was burned at the stake for heresy in 1612, he probably didn't know he would be the last person in Britain to be killed in this way. The execution took place in Lichfield Market Square, Staffordshire.

Haunted Staffordshire

In Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, a headless female ghost known as the Boggart is said to haunt one of the canal tunnels. The story goes that she was murdered on a canal boat by the man she was travelling with, and has hung around ever since.

Stoke in Staffordshire is sinking

The town of Stoke-on-Trent, one the largest in Staffordshire, has seen a great deal of coal and ironstone mining. As a result, there have been reports of holes opening up in the earth and buildings sinking. Satellite images have even shown that, between 1993 and 1995, significant areas of the city sank by up to 8 cm!