[Malesherbes]

Modern Britain: the ruined castle of the Earls of Dudley; a modern mosque on the hilltop.

[Travis McGee]

There are signs of hope. Around the walls of Ahmed's office are full-colour plans for the grandly named Pride of Dudley Project - a vast £5 million hilltop mosque to rival the only other major landmark in this down-at-heel Black Country town: the crumbling ruins of its eleventh-century castle, home to the earls of Dudley.

A sign of the times. What a difference a thousand years makes...