Kingsmead Marsh is a local nature reserve near

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...

, in Staffordshire, England. Its area is about , and it is designated a Grade 1

Site of Biological Importance A Site of Biological Importance (or SBI) is one of the non-statutory designations used locally by the Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Staffordshire County Councils in England to protect locally valued sites of biological diversity which are describ ...

."Kingsmead Marsh"
Stafford Borough Council. Retrieved 6 June 2020.

History and description

The marsh is a remaining part of a large area of marshland, to the north and east of the later town; this and the

River Sow The River Sow is a tributary of the River Trent in Staffordshire, England, and is the river that flows through Stafford. Course The river rises to the south of Loggerheads, near Broughton and flows south-east beside the villages of Fairoak, ...

, to the west, made the location defensible. Stafford is said to have been founded about AD 700 by Beorhthelm (or Bertelin), a

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ye ...

n prince, who established a hermitage here. The Burh of Stafford was subsequently established in AD 913."History of Stafford"
Stafford Borough Council. Retrieved 6 June 2020. In the medieval period there was a mill, owned by the King, for which a

mill pond A mill pond (or millpond) is a body of water used as a reservoir for a water-powered mill. Description Mill ponds were often created through the construction of a mill dam or weir (and mill stream) across a waterway. In many places, the com ...

, known as King's Pool, was created. The site later returned to marsh, and, known as Kingsmead, was probably used more recently for summer grazing of livestock. The site was designated a local nature reserve (LNR) in December 2003. It supports a variety of flora and fauna, and there are plants not found locally such as

purple loosestrife ''Lythrum salicaria'' or purple loosestrifeFlora of NW Europe''Lythrum salicaria'' is a flowering plant belonging to the family Lythraceae. It should not be confused with other plants sharing the name loosestrife that are members of the family P ...

and brown sedge. The site is managed in order to protect and improve it; this includes

coppicing Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management Forest management is a branch of forestry concerned with overall administrative, legal, economic, and social aspects, as well as scientific and technical aspects, such as silviculture, pro ...

of willow scrub which is encroaching from the edge of the site.

References

{{Reflist Local nature reserves in Staffordshire Marshes of England