A38. Fradley has a small Post Office/newsagent located in Church Lane and there are several retail units at the Stirling Centre near Fradley South - including two take-away restaurants, a Co-operative Food convenience store, a cafe, a hair salon and a gym. The Fradley Arms Hotel is located adjacent to the southbound carriageway of the A38, next door to the Premier Inn Lichfield and a new public house is planned for a site near Fradley Park. Currently, more new houses are being built adjacent to the Stirling Centre - this estate is nominally called Sheasby Park. This will be a large addition to the village and will introduce 700 new houses to the wider Fradley South development. Fradley Aerodrome/RAF Lichfield Construction on the Fradley Aerodrome (known as RAF Lichfield) started in 1939 and in August 1940 the Royal Air Force moved in, along with Hawker Hurricane, Airspeed Oxford and Avro Anson aircraft. Spitfire arrived in 1941 and Vickers Wellington aircraft followed in 1942. Alongside RAF personnel training in the Wellingtons, there were a large number of Australians and some Canadians and Czechs. The RAF left in 1958 and the whole site was sold by the Air Ministry in 1962. St. Stephen's Church is home to the war graves of a number of Australian aircrew and one German Luftwaffe pilot who lost their lives during World War II. In 2000 a memorial to all who served at RAF Lichfield was constructed in Fradley. Fradley Park In 1998 major redevelopment started on the former airfield, with the construction of factories, warehouses and 750 new houses. Today Fradley Park, a 300-acre warehousing and distribution development, covers most of the former airfield. Tenants of Fradley Park include Tesco, Faurecia, Hellman Worldwide Logistics, NTN Bearings (UK), Newell Rubbermaid, Caterpillar Logistics, Swish UK Zytek and Palletways Birmingham. Fradley Junction Fradley was first mentioned in 1768 when the Engineer James Brindley won the contract to build the canal from Coventry, to link with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Fradley. It was not until 1783 that this canal was completed, meeting the Trent and Mersey at Fradley Junction. Bown Pond Bown Pond is a man-made area of water to the south west of Fradley village. The pond was excavated for clay and gravel during the construction of the Coventry canal in 1782. The materials were manufactured into bricks at the brickyard at Hilliard’s Cross. The Bown Pond