__NOTOC__ Brindley Heath is an area of heath land on Cannock Chase situated between

Hednesford Hednesford (pronounced ) is a historic market town in the Cannock Chase district of Staffordshire, England. Cannock Chase is to the north, the town of Cannock to the south and Rugeley to the southwest.The population at the 2011 census was 1 ...

and

Rugeley Rugeley ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is situated north of Lichfield, south-east of Stafford, nor ...

in the

Cannock Chase District Cannock Chase is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. Its council is based in the town of Cannock; other notable towns are Rugeley, Bridgtown and Hednesford. The district covers a large part of the Cannock Chase Area of Outs ...

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. The area also forms a

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 ...

, which at the 2001 census, had a population of 862, decreasing to 827 at the 2011 Census.

History

There are remains of disused coal mines in a number of areas of Cannock Chase, including Brindley Heath. The area has been used for many things including

RAF Hednesford Royal Air Force Hednesford or more simply RAF Hednesford is a former Royal Air Force station situated south-east of Stafford, Staffordshire, England. History The RAF station of Hednesford was built just south of Cannock Chase, above the vill ...

which was set up in 1938 as home to the 6th Technical Training School. In 1957 the camp was used to house around 900 Hungarian refugees. The camp was then demolished in 1960. The area was also used a tank training ground, leading to much soil disturbance. A military hospital was built on the heath during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. After the hospital was closed in the 1920s, local miners moved onto the site and dubbed it Brindley Village. It was finally demolished around 1951, and the occupants moved to Hednesford. The parish electoral ward for the southern part of Brindley Heath parish is also named Brindley Village.

Brindley Heath railway station Brindley Heath railway station served the civil parish of Brindley Heath, Staffordshire, England from 1939 to 1959 on the Chase Line. History The station opened to the public on 26 August 1939 by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, al ...

served Brindley Heath from 1939 to 1959 on the

Chase Line The Chase Line is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs from its southern terminus, Birmingham New Street, to Walsall, and then Rugeley in Staffordshire, where it joins the Trent Valley Line. The name of the ...

There was also a POW camp at Flaxley Green near

where the foundations can still be seen to this day.

Flora

Brindley Heath is home to a high concentration of the relatively rare hybrid

bilberry Bilberries (), or sometimes European blueberries, are a primarily Eurasian species of low-growing shrubs in the genus '' Vaccinium'' (family Ericaceae), bearing edible, dark blue berries. The species most often referred to is ''Vaccinium myrti ...

References

External links

00090002 Summary information about Brindley Heath
Villages in Staffordshire Cannock Chase Civil parishes in Staffordshire {{Staffordshire-geo-stub

History

Flora

See also

References

External links