Where tourists seldom tread, part 14: three English towns form the unlikely end of the Silk Road

Lichfield Cathedral was admired by American author Henry James. Photograph: David Keith Jones/Alamy

Religion and mammon connect these three towns, linked as they are to Britain’s Christian heritage and to the ancient trade network that we now call the Silk Road. The British Museum’s Silk Roads exhibition (running until 23 February) concludes with the British Isles – the western extremity of the transport routes that ferried precious stones and ornate textiles, artistic ideas and craft techniques between Asia and Europe, with the exhibition focusing on the second half of the first millennium.

Lichfield, Staffordshire