Chasetown is a village in the town of

Burntwood Burntwood is a former mining town and civil parish in the Lichfield District in Staffordshire, England, approximately west of Lichfield and north east of Brownhills. The town had a population of 26,049 and forms part of Lichfield distr ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

, England. It is split between the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

es of Burntwood and

Hammerwich Hammerwich is a small village and civil parish in the Lichfield District, in Staffordshire, England. It is southeast of Burntwood and northeast of Brownhills. Name The name may derive from ''hamor'' (Old English: a hammer) and ''wīc'' (Old Engl ...

History

Chasetown developed in the mid 19th century as a coal mining village. At first the village was simply known as Cannock Chase due to its proximity to the nearby

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

, it was known as Chasetown by 1867. The first pit was sunk by the

Marquess of Anglesey Marquess of Anglesey ( cy, Ardalydd Môn) is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for Henry Paget, 2nd Earl of Uxbridge, a hero of the Battle of Waterloo, second in command to the Duke of Wellington. The Marques ...

in 1849, when the Hammerwich Colliery opened at the base of Chasewater reservoir. Cannock Chase Collieries No.2 and No.9 opened in the 1850s to the west of the village where the Rugby club is sited today. As a result of the mining industry, housing for the miners began to be developed around High Street, Church Street and Queen Street. Three pairs of cottages were built on the north side of Church Street in 1854, and the adjoining Uxbridge Arms existed by 1856. By 1860 two shopkeepers, three beer retailers, The Miners'Rest and The Junction a builder, a drill owner, a shoemaker, and a market gardener were listed at the village of Cannock Chase. St Anne's Church was built by 1865 and by 1883 the village had spread as far north as Hill Street. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the village began to grow eastwards when the Oakdene estate began to be built. The estate was still expanding by 1958 when it became the largest council estate in

Lichfield district Lichfield () is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. It is administered by Lichfield District Council, based in Lichfield. The dignity and privileges of the City of Lichfield are vested in the parish council of the 14 km² ...

. The last mine closed in 1959 but the village continued expanding as it became an overspill area for people from the

Black Country The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands county, England covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised during its ...

. The rural green spaces between

and Chasetown were developed by the early 1970s which effectively joined the two villages. There is today little evidence of the mining industry left in the area other than

Chasewater Chasewater is a reservoir located in the parish of Burntwood and the district of Lichfield in Staffordshire, England. Originally known as Norton Pool and Cannock Chase Reservoir, it was created as a canal feeder reservoir in 1797. The reservoi ...

reservoir which provided water for the canals that were used to transport coal to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

and the

, and Chasewater Light Railway which has been restored for leisure use. St Anne's Church was the first church in England to have electric lights.

Sport

Chasetown Football Club, Burntwood Rugby Club,

Chasewater Watersports Centre Chasewater Watersports Centre is located within the surroundings of Chasewater Country Park and use Chasewater reservoir for watersports. The chasewater ski club offer activities such as Water skiing, Wakeboarding, Slalom skiing and Kneeboard ...

and Erasmus Darwin Academy are also based here.

References

External links

Villages in Staffordshire Cannock Chase Burntwood {{Staffordshire-geo-stub