View source for Cannock Chase

{{Infobox protected area
| name            = Cannock Chase
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| photo           = Cannock Chase Path.jpg
| photo_caption   = Cannock Chase AONB
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| map_image       = Cannock Chase AONB locator map.svg
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| map_caption     = Location of Cannock Chase AONB in the UK
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| location        = [[Staffordshire]], England
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| established     = 1958
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[[File:Katyn Memorial Cannock.jpg|thumb|250px|The Katyn Memorial at Cannock Chase]]

'''Cannock Chase'''  is a [[woodland]] and  mixed area of [[countryside]] in the [[county]] of [[Staffordshire]], [[England]]. The area has been designated as the '''Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty'''. The Chase gives its name to the local government district.
== Economy ==
Cannock Chase is between [[Cannock]], [[Lichfield]], [[Rugeley]] and [[Stafford]]. It is a mixture of natural [[deciduous]] woodland, [[coniferous]] [[plantation]]s, open [[heathland]] and the remains of early [[industry]], such as [[coal mining]].
== Nature ==
Cannock Chase was made an [[Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty]] (AONB) on 16 September [[1958]]. Much of the area is also a [[Site of Special Scientific Interest]] (SSSI). Despite its relatively small area, the chase has a remarkable variety of [[landscape]] and [[wildlife]].

The wildlife includes a herd of about 800 [[fallow deer]]. There are a number of rare and endangered birds, like the [[migration|migrant]] [[European Nightjar|Nightjar]]s. A feeding station attracts many species, including [[Brambling]], [[Yellowhammer]] and [[Bullfinch]].

Efforts are underway to increase the amount of [[heathland]] on the chase, reintroducing shrubs such as [[Calluna|heather]] in some areas where [[bracken]] and [[birch]] forest have crowded out most other plants. The local flora also includes several species of ''[[Vaccinium]]'', including the Cannock Chase Berry (''[[Vaccinium ×intermedium]]'' Ruthe).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cannockchasehistory.org.uk/_Bilberry.htm |title=The Flora of Cannock Chase |publisher=Cannockchasehistory.org.uk |access-date=2011-02-25 |archive-date=2011-09-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110911173228/http://www.cannockchasehistory.org.uk/_Bilberry.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On the Chase's north-eastern edge can be found [[Shugborough Hall]], ancestral home of the [[Earl of Lichfield|Earls of Lichfield]]. At its southern edge are the remains of [[Castle Ring]], an [[Iron Age]] [[hill fort]], which is the highest point on the Chase. Several [[glacial erratic]] boulders are also found on the Chase, remnants of [[glaciation]]. One is mounted on a plinth.

Since [[2006]], the forest has been used as an open-air music venue as part of the [[Forestry Commission]] nationwide [[Forest Tour]], with acts such as [[The Zutons]], [[The Feeling]], [[Status Quo (band)|Status Quo]] and [[Jools Holland]] playing in a forest clearing.
== Media attention ==
The area gained notoriety in the late [[1960s]] when the [[Cannock Chase murders]] made national headlines; the remains of three young girls were found buried on the Chase after going missing from areas along the [[A34 road]] between there and [[Birmingham]]. Raymond Leslie Morris, a motor engineer from [[Walsall]], was found guilty at [[Stafford]] assizes of one of the murders in [[1968]] and was sentenced to [[life imprisonment]]. He is still in prison over 40 years later and one of the country's longest serving prisoners.<ref>{{cite web |author=James Cartledge |url=http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2005/09/08/child-killer-should-rot-in-prison-97319-15944998/ |title=James Cartledge, '&#39;Child killer should rot in prison,'&#39; Birmingham Evening Mail, 8 September 2005 |publisher=Birminghammail.net |date=2005-09-08 |access-date=2011-02-25 |archive-date=2008-12-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202225803/http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2005/09/08/child-killer-should-rot-in-prison-97319-15944998/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.murderuk.com/child_killers_raymond_morris.html |title=Raymond Morris, updated August 2001 |publisher=Murder UK |access-date=2011-02-25}}</ref>
== Geology ==
The landscape owes much to the underlying [[Triassic]] "bunter" formations. These are [[sandstone]] deposits containing rounded [[pebbles]]. They can be found in [[Warwickshire]], [[Cheshire]], Staffordshire, [[Nottinghamshire]], [[Yorkshire]], [[Devon]] and [[Dorset]] in England. They are thought to be [[alluvium|alluvial]]  deposits.<ref>Alluvium: water-washed loose deposits, not consolidated (not cemented). Usually recent deposits laid down by a river.</ref> Judging from the rounding of the mainly [[quartzite]] pebbles, they were  carried for a long time in a large and [[turbulence|turbulent]] river. The hard pebbles got powerful [[abrasion]]. The deposits in the English Midlands are thought to have been carried northwards from [[Brittany]] in northern [[France]].
== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Forests of England]]
[[Category:Geography of Staffordshire]]