Cannock Chase

Cannock Chase, often referred to locally as The Chase, is a mixed area of countryside in the county of Staffordshire, England. The area has been designated as the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is managed by Forestry England. The Chase gives its name to the Cannock Chase local government district. It is a former Royal forest. Geology With the exception of the southeastern area, the Chase is almost wholly underlain by sandstones and conglomerates of the Chester Formation dating from the Triassic period. Formerly known as the Cannock Chase Formation, these form a part of the Sherwood Sandstone Group. Overlying these rocks in the Rugeley area are the, often pebbly, sandstones of the Helsby Sandstone Formation, formerly referred to in this area as the Bromsgrove Sandstone. Older literature will often refer to the bunter sandstone, a name which geologists no longer apply to the New Red Sandstone of Britain. Southeast of Rugeley Road the bedrock is provided by the mudstones, siltstones and sandstones of the Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation, a succession dating from the end of the Carboniferous period, and which is separated from the overlying New Red Sandstone rocks by an unconformity. The Hednesford Hills are formed by the Chester Formation sandstones. A ‘humped profile’ dry valley running west–east, and followed by the bridleway between Brocton and Beggar's Hill is interpreted as a glacial overflow channel, operative during the ice age. An expanse of glacial till underlies Haywood Warren with smaller patches mapped elsewhere. Sand and gravel have been quarried in different parts of the Chase over the years, as at Wolseley today. Landscape, flora and fauna The Chase is located between Hednesford, Huntington, Lichfield, Rugeley, Brocton, Milford and Stafford. It comprises a mixture of natural deciduous woodland, coniferous plantations, open heathland, small lakes and the remains of early industry, such as coal mining. The Chase was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) on 16 September 1958 and is the smallest area so designated in mainland Britain, covering . Much of the area is also designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Despite being relatively small in area, the chase provides a remarkable range of landscape and wildlife, including a herd of around 800 fallow deer and a number of rare and endangered birds, including migrant nightjars.