Ambrose, K, Mcgrath, A, Weightman, G, Strange, P, Lattaway, S, Lott, G, Barrett, D, Dean, S, and Liddle, P. 2012. Exploring the landscape of The National Forest. A walkers’ guide to the landscape and natural environment of The National Forest. Keyworth, Nottingham: British Geological Survey.
The Guide and map is available to purchase from the BGS shop
Technical terms have been avoided where possible, but those that do occur are either explained in the text, or in the glossary of geological terms (p.102).
The geological age of rocks is classified according to periods of time. Fossils are used to date some rocks, and place them within one of these periods. In The National Forest, fossils are generally only found in the Carboniferous and Precambrian. Some rocks can be dated in millions or thousands of years, measured by the radioactive decay of certain elements in the minerals that they contain.
Throughout geological time, continents have moved across the Earth’s surface by a mechanism known as plate tectonics.
Since the Precambrian rocks of Charnwood Forest were formed over 600 million years ago, plate movements have shifted England from the southern to the northern hemisphere. In doing so, it has passed though every major climatic zone we see today, from equatorial to arctic. Throughout this journey, the land has been submerged under the sea on many occasions, but has also been raised above sea level, washed by major rivers and covered by tropical rain forest or desert. Most recently, it has been in the grip of ice ages. These changes in climate and environment have helped to create a great diversity of landscape and geology.
Tectonic plates are rigid portions of our crust that are continually moving. These movements are so slow, rarely much more than a few millimetres per year, that we cannot see them happening. However, they generate earthquakes which are sometimes felt along the zones where the plates meet. Where plates move apart (diverge), such as in the middle of the Atlantic, molten rock (magma) rises and solidifies to form new oceanic crust. In England we are a long way from a plate boundary and so the incidence of earthquakes is very low; when they do occur, they are generally insignificant, causing little damage.
The Precambrian rocks of Charnwood Forest are some of the oldest in England. They were formed when England was in the southern hemisphere, located along an immense structure called a subduction zone. This was the meeting point between two colliding tectonic plates, one of which was forced down beneath the other. This caused the rocks to melt at depth; the resulting magma rose to the surface, forming a chain of active volcanoes surrounded by the sea — known as an island arc. These volcanoes were very violent and explosive. They produced virtually no lava flows that we can see, but spewed out huge amounts of ash, accompanied by solid but red-hot debris that avalanched down the slopes of the volcanoes and into the sea as pyroclastic flows. The fine-grained ash settled on the sea floor after falling out from the air, amassing a great thickness of volcanic (or volcaniclastic) material (at least 3.5 km) forming a sequence of rocks known as the Charnian Supergroup. The active volcano on the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean is thought to be a modern-day example of how the Precambrian volcano of Charnwood Forest would have erupted.
The volcanic debris formed layers of sediment in the sea which hardened over time to form rocks that we know as tuffs(Walk 4). One of the most spectacular finds in these rocks has been the discovery of primitive marine organisms. These impressions are amongst the oldest known fossils in the world and many, such as Charniodiscus concentricus and Charnia masoni, have been named after the Charnwood Forest area.
Late in the Precambrian, the volcanic magma chambers cooled very slowly at depth, forming intrusions of coarse grained igneous rocks — the North and South Charnwood Diorites. The South Charnwood Diorites were originally named Markfieldite, after the village of Markfield where they occur.
Eventually, subduction stopped, the volcanoes ceased erupting and erosion began to wear them down. A subdued, low-lying landscape resulted, enabling the sea to advance across the region in early Cambrian times. The sea floor was made up of sands and muds washed in by rivers from the nearby land. These compacted to form layers of sedimentary rocks that we call the Swithland Slates.
The Swithland Slates were originally thought to be of Precambrian age, but recent discoveries of trace fossils in Swithland Slate show evidence of burrowing activity by sea-floor animals. This has led geologists to revise their age to the younger Cambrian period, about 530 million years ago. You may be able to see these fossils on Swithland Slate gravestones in Ratby churchyard
The rocks of Charnwood Forest and several more walks in that area are described in the companion book: ‘Exploring the Landscape of Charnwood Forest and Mountsorrel’, published by the British Geological Survey.
Mountain building, or ‘orogeny’, is one of the more dramatic events in geological history. It occurs when two continental plates collide, and one is driven down, or subducts, beneath the other as is happening along the Himalayan mountain chain today. During this event, the rocks become heated up and compressed, a process called metamorphism. In Charnwood Forest, we can see evidence of a major mountain building event at the end of the Silurian Period, about 420 million years ago, during the final stages of the Caledonian Orogeny. One feature produced by this process of compression is cleavage — a series of generally near- vertical subparallel fractures in the rock, caused by the crystallisation of new minerals with a parallel alignment at right angles to the direction of maximum pressure. Typically, rocks with a cleavage will break easily along these surfaces. It can be seen in all Charnian rocks but is particularly well developed in the Swithland Slates (p.22).
When our story started, England and Scotland were a long way apart. By Carboniferous times, they were joined together and very close to the Equator where they became partially covered by warm tropical seas. The resulting sediments formed the rocks we know as the Peak Limestone. Many of these rocks are rich in fossil corals and shells (brachiopods) that can be seen at Grace Dieu and Ticknall. (Walk 10). The best exposures are just outside of the Forest, at Breedon (Walk 3) and Cloud Hill quarries where there are viewing platforms. Much of the original limestone has been altered, converting the calcium-rich mineral calcite into the magnesium-rich mineral dolomite and the rocks into dolostones. At this time, the Carboniferous sea lapped onto Charnwood Forest which was still standing up as a mountain range.
Slightly later in the Carboniferous, the sea level fell and large rivers washed over the area, forming major deltas like that of the Mississippi. Sandstones of the Millstone Grit were deposited, which can be seen around Melbourne and at Carver’s Rocks (Walks 3 and 6). At times, the sea level rose and the deltas became submerged. The muds that were deposited yield fossils including a class of molluscs (cephalopods) called goniatites that were related to the ammonites. In the town of Melbourne, you can see the Millstone Grit sandstones in many buildings and walls. It is also exposed around the Staunton Harold reservoir visitor centre and at Carver’s Rocks.
At the end of the Carboniferous, the environment was hot and humid. Vegetation flourished and much of England was covered with equatorial rainforests just as we see in the Congo or Amazon regions today. Thick piles of rotting vegetation accumulated and over time became deeply buried and compressed to form the coal seams of the local coalfields. The Coal Measures are very diverse and contain an abundance of fossilised plant remains. They are important for the natural resources — coal, ironstone, fireclay — that fuelled the Industrial Revolution.
The landscape of The National Forest was dramatically shaped by the extraction of these resources in the 19th and 20th centuries. Periodically, sea level rose and flooded the land. We know this by the presence of marine fossils in thin beds of mudstone. The end of the Carboniferous Period was marked by another episode of earth movements, known as the Variscan Orogeny. This resulted in the formation of the vast supercontinent of Pangaea. Evidence of these earth movements can be seen from the viewpoints overlooking Breedon (Walk 3) and Cloud Hill quarries, where the rocks are tilted and dip very steeply westwards.
Following the humid Carboniferous, the Permian Period was very arid and represents a major period of erosion lasting for at least 40 million years. Many of the Carboniferous rocks were stripped away and Charnwood Forest was reduced to a range of barren mountains. The debris from this erosion can be found in rocks of the Moira Formation, preserved along much of the northern and western flanks of the Carboniferous outcrop.
Erosion during the Permian resulted in a low-lying landscape at the start of the succeeding Triassic period. In the earliest part of the Triassic, much of England was drained by a major river that flowed northwards from France, skirting around the rugged hills of Charnwood Forest. In its early stages, the river was fast- flowing with many branching channels depositing coarse sands and gravels (a braided system). Later, as the flow waned, it developed a more meandering course, depositing finer sediments. In The National Forest, the deposits of this river are seen as sandstones and conglomerates. These rocks occur between Burton upon Trent and Melbourne and are known as the Kidderminster and Bromsgrove Sandstone formations. Along the northern fringes of Charnwood Forest, the Shepshed Sandstone represents the sediments of more local tributary streams that carried pebbles of Charnian rocks into the main river. Where these rocks are exposed (Walks 1 and 6) and where they have been used as building stones, you will be able to see cross-bedding. This feature was formed by underwater sand dunes that migrated down-current along the river bed and it recorded the direction in which the river was flowing; in The National Forest this was towards the north and north-east.
Later in the Triassic, when England had moved to a position about 20° north of the Equator, a vast desert developed across Pangaea. It is thought that the climate resembled that of modern-day Saudi Arabia.
It was not a sandy desert, but was dominated by fine, wind-borne (aeolian) dust. After burial and compaction, this material was transformed into the red mudstones and siltstones of the Mercia Mudstone Group. Just as in modern deserts, cloudbursts periodically caused flash floods that covered large areas of the flat desert, depositing thin layers of greenish grey sandstone or siltstone. As the water evaporated, temporary lakes formed, known as playas.
The landscape was now predominantly very flat, but Charnwood Forest continued to stand up as low hills. Other hills, such as Breedon and Mountsorrel, stood up above the low-lying ground as islands (known as inselbergs). The sea was not far away and periodically, parts of the land subsided below sea level. Subsidence due to faulting happened on the west side of The National Forest in an area known as the Needwood Basin, where thick Triassic sediments were deposited. When the sea flooded the land it was very shallow and the evaporation rate was high, enriching the water with dissolved salts. As the concentrations increased, rock salt, or halite, precipitated out and formed layers within the mudstones. We don’t see halite at the surface but we know it is there from boreholes drilled in the area. At Hanbury 30 m of halite is interbedded with mudstone, about 150 m below the surface. At other times, rivers deposited sandstones of the Arden Sandstone Formation and Cotgrave Sandstone Member. You can see the former exposed in an old quarry at Tatenhill, just south-west of Burton upon Trent. We know from cross-bedding in other areas of England that this river was flowing eastwards.
The Mercia Mudstone Group of the East Midlands contains thick deposits of gypsum (p.15). The main seam is the Tutbury Gypsum which varies in thickness from about 1 to 5 m. It was formed by the evaporation of saline water just beneath the sediment surface. Gypsum is common throughout the Mercia Mudstone Group.
Because the Triassic climate was very arid, plants and animals had little chance of being preserved as fossils. Some reptile bones, sharks’ teeth, burrows (trace fossils) and crustaceans have, however, been found. One reptile living at this time left only footprints, Chirotherium, preserved in the sandstone. One of these footprints has been found in the Tarporley Siltstone Formation at Newhurst Quarry near Shepshed. Plant spores have also been found in some rocks and have been used to date them.
By the end of the Triassic Period, the Charnwood Hills and Breedon Hill had been buried under sediment, reducing the landscape to a low-lying plain close to sea level. The area continued to subside and a warm, tropical sea advanced across the whole area. The first indication of this marine transgression is a unit called the Blue Anchor Formation, with its distinctive greenish grey siltstones and mudstones. When fully marine conditions were established, dark grey, fossiliferous mudstones of the Westbury Formation, were deposited. These two rock units can be found at the western end of the Forest around Newchurch, and just outside at Marchington Cliff.
The rugged nature of the Charnwood hills and steep dips of the Charnian rocks resulted in a very uneven and spectacular contact between the Triassic and the older rocks. This contact, known as an erosional unconformity, can be seen in many of the quarries in Charnwood Forest. You may also be able to see some deeply carved channels that are known as wadis. In Charnwood Forest, the unconformity represents a time gap of around 350 million years. Where the Triassic overlies the younger Carboniferous rocks, the interval is about 110 million years.
The Jurassic Period was characterised by fully marine environments that lasted throughout most of the next 140 million years up to the end of the Cretaceous. During this time, a considerable thickness of fossiliferous mudstones and limestones was deposited but due to later erosion, none of these rocks are preserved in The National Forest. The nearest outcrops are in and to the east of Leicester. At the end of the Cretaceous Period, the land was uplifted and the sea withdrew from this area. These movements were related to the final break-up of the supercontintent of Pangaea. Britain now occupied the margin of the Eurasian Plate which continued to ‘drift’ northwards. A period of intense erosion removed all of the Jurassic, and Cretaceous as well as parts of the Triassic succession from The National Forest to reveal the older rocks.
Sediments of Quaternary age, including modern times, are referred to as superficial deposits. The last great geological event affecting England happened in the Pleistocene Period, around 2 million years ago. During this period, our climate changed from warmer than today to very cold Arctic conditions. Scientists have been able to accurately plot the dates of these climate changes by measuring oxygen isotopes in deep-sea sediments. They show several very cold periods that we call the ice ages, but we can find evidence of only two glaciations in The National Forest. The first occurred during the Anglian Quaternary Stage, about 440 000 years ago, when ice sheets covered most of England.
As the ice sheets melted they left behind debris which we call till or boulder clay. They also left sands and gravels deposited by melting waters from the ice sheet, as well as laminated clays that were deposited in lakes in front of the melting ice. Two ice sheets were involved, each producing a distinctive type of till. The Thrussington Till was deposited by ice that travelled from the north-west and carried red clay-rich material derived mainly from the Triassic Mercia Mudstone together with Carboniferous rocks. A later ice sheet deposited the Oadby Till, from the north- east. This till is grey, due to a high content of Jurassic mudstone. It also contains common fragments of Cretaceous flint and chalk.
The second ice age to produce deposits in this area occurred during the Quaternary Devensian, between about 30 000 and 15 000 years ago. This ice sheet only covered parts of England but just crept eastwards into The National Forest, to Burton upon Trent. Rather surprisingly, we see very little evidence of landforms associated with this recent glaciation but there is clearly a younger layer of glacial till on the surface. This till is brown to red- brown in colour and resembles the earliest Thrussington Till of the Anglian ice sheet. Away from this ice sheet, the climate was extremely cold and tundra-like, producing what we know as a periglacial environment. England was populated by animals such as woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros and reindeer, some of which are now extinct. Fossil remains of these animals, including bones, tusks, teeth and antlers, have been found in the Trent valley river gravels around Burton upon Trent.
The Trent, a major river in the Pleistocene Period, has changed its course many times. For example, 300 000 years ago it was approximately 30 m above the present-day river, in a much wider flood plain. At this time, the river was a fast-flowing braided system, transporting large amounts of sand and gravel that are now seen as river terrace deposits. These are perched on the sides of the modern Trent valley at four different levels. Today, the Trent and its tributaries flow much more slowly and tend to meander across the floodplains, depositing alluvium in the form of clay and silt. In the very recent postglacial (Holocene) period, the landscape has been further modified by processes that have deposited hill wash (colluvium) in valley floors and solifluction deposits (head) on valley sides. The melting permafrost from the last ice age produced unstable, waterlogged ground that resulted in landslides on some steep slopes although these are few in number in The National Forest.
A diverse range of minerals occurs in the rocks of The National Forest and originated in many different ways. Igneous rocks can be sources of mineral fluids and fractures in these rocks, as well as faults, can also act as pathways for fluids. Unconformities between different rock types may represent former land surfaces along which minerals may have been deposited, for example, where younger Triassic strata overlie the ancient and extensively fractured Precambrian and Carboniferous rocks.
At Bardon Hill Quarry, minerals such as native copper, and other copper minerals have been found at the unconformity between volcanic rocks and overlying Triassic sediments; the minerals are sometimes found in ancient river valleys known as wadis. There are also small occurrences of gold at Bardon Hill, Whitwick and Morley quarries. Some of the gold may be associated with igneous rocks that were forced up (intruded) into the sedimentary rocks as near-vertical sheets or dykes. Small grains of gold have been panned from the streams of northern Charnwood but these may be related to mineralisation along the Triassic unconformity.
At Newhurst Quarry, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) near Shepshed, there is mineralisation associated with an igneous rock called the North Charnwood Diorite, which was intruded into Precambrian sedimentary rocks. The minerals formed along joints in the diorite and are commonly copper-bearing. The lead sulphide mineral galena occurs in the overlying Triassic sandstones, their porosity allowing the easy passage of mineralising fluids. Nearby at Tickow Lane
Farther west, a large structure known as the Thringstone Fault forms a boundary between the older basement rocks in Charnwood Forest and the younger Carboniferous strata of the Leicestershire Coalfield. This fault formed a plane of weakness in the rock, providing an important passage for later migrating fluids that deposited a wide variety of minerals, including quartz, calcite and various iron, lead, copper and zinc minerals.
The Carboniferous limestones of The National Forest are very reactive rocks enabling minerals to be readily deposited. At Breedon and Cloud Hill quarries, many minerals have been found; the solution of the limestone along numerous fractures has resulted in the formation of caves and small cavities which are commonly lined with calcite crystals and various sulphides. A large mass of iron oxide mineralisation was recently uncovered in Cloud Hill Quarry and is associated with the Triassic unconformity.
Some examples of minerals from The National Forest can be seen on display in the Extractive Industries Gallery at Snibston Discovery Park, Coalville.
Gypsum has been mined around Fauld and Hanbury (Walk 5) since the 12th century. This soft, chalky-looking mineral is used to make several products, including plaster of Paris, but a stronger, crystalline type known as alabaster is famous as an ornamental stone. Some National Forest churches contain carvings, memorials and tombs made from alabaster, especially in the western part of the Forest. The seam worked for this purpose is the Tutbury Gypsum, which is 6 m thick at Fauld. Gypsum (calcium sulphate CaSO4.2H2O) is actually only found at or close to the surface. Underground, the compound found is anhydrite (CaSO4, anhydrous calcium sulphate). This was originally deposited as gypsum and was later converted to anhydrite due to the increase of pressure and temperature with depth. It then reverted back to gypsum by the addition of water after erosion had exposed the seam.
The earliest extraction of gypsum occurred between Tutbury and Draycott in the Clay with three working mines at Hanbury in 1894. The Fauld Mine started much earlier, before 1800, and is currently worked by the pillar-and-stall method. This method of mining removes only part of the resource, leaving 25 per cent of the mineral behind as roof supports (pillars) in order to minimise caving of the mine.
A school for the carving of alabaster developed in Burton upon Trent. It specialised in tombs and church monuments, and supplied many parts of Britain and Europe as long ago as 1462. It died out in the 17th century, but plenty of examples remain, such as carvings in Yoxall and Breedon churches. Farther afield, local alabaster was used for the building of Cornelius Vanderbilt’s mansion in New York, USA, and local plaster was used in the ceiling of the Tower ballroom in Blackpool. One of the last uses of Fauld alabster was for a bath carved as a wedding present for Princess Margaret. Mining in the area continues to the present day, with the workings extending more than 6 km to the south, underneath The National Forest (Walk 5). The alabaster was worked out in the 1990s, and today, the mine is still worked by British Gypsum for anhydrite, used in cement manufacture.
The Fauld mine had a major catastrophe during the Second World War. At about 11 am on the morning of November the 27th 1944, around 3500 tons of explosives in an old part of the mine, used by the RAF as a munitions store, blew up. The huge explosion was, at the time, the world’s largest accidental blast and was seen or felt up to 60 km away and heard in London; it registered on seismographs across Europe. Over one million tons of rock and soil were ejected up into the sky, leaving behind a crater 250 m in diameter and 50–100 m deep. A farm sited directly above the explosion completely disappeared. Flying rocks damaged buildings nearby in Hanbury where the Cock Inn and village hall had to be completely rebuilt; other debris landed up to 10 km away. The exact death toll is uncertain but up to 90 were reported dead or missing, and 200 cattle were killed.
Rivers and springs are the most obvious supplies of water, but it can also come from rocks that are permeable and therefore suitable for storing and transmitting groundwater — known as aquifers. The best are the sandstones and conglomerates that occur at depth. They typically need layers of impervious rocks (rocks that do not store or transmit water), such as mudstone, to contain them. Well-fractured rocks can also form good aquifers. One of the most important aquifers in England is the Sherwood Sandstone Group, and in The National Forest this supplies many towns and villages. It also supplies the brewing industry of Burton upon Trent (p.35). Other rock formations can supply small amounts of water, such as the Arden Sandstone, Cotgrave Sandstone and Tarporley Siltstone from the Mercia Mudstone Group; the thicker sandstone beds of the Millstone Grit and Coal Measures, and the Carboniferous limestone. The latter is an important aquifer in parts of the country but not in The National Forest. The other main source is the various river terrace deposits along the River Trent. These consist of highly porous sand and gravel and are therefore ideal aquifers. Groundwater from the Trent gravels around Burton contains high calcium and sulphate concentrations due to the dissolution of gypsum in the underlying Mercia Mudstone. This means that it is also ideal for the brewing industry supplementing the supplies from deeper wells.
Man’s influence has created artificial water storage facilites. Underground, the abandoned mines of the local coalfield can store considerable quantities of water but it is commonly polluted. Above ground, there are five main reservoirs in The National Forest, at Blackbrook, Cropston,Thornton, Foremark and Staunton Harold.
The importance of coal mining to the industrial heritage of The National Forest cannot be overstated, as the exploitation and extraction of ‘King Coal’ was once the mainstay of the local economy. Coal mining was fundamental to the economic development of the area and fashioned both the landscape and the way of daily life.
Coal mining in The National Forest, dates back to Roman times. The first irrefutable records date to the 13th century in Swannington (1204) and Swadlincote in 1290, 1374 and 1377. During the 15th and 16th centuries, coal was extracted in situ; when a seam cropped out at the surface it was dug out in opencast workings.
A bell pit is a primitive method of mining coal, iron ore or other minerals where these lie near to the surface. A shaft is sunk to the mineral which is then excavated by miners, using a winch to raise it to the surface. The name comes from the pit’s cross-section, which resembles a bell. Usually there were no supports and mining continued outwards until the cavity became too dangerous or collapsed. At this point, another mine was started, usually very close by. This type of mining dates back to prehistoric times and was common in the Middle Ages. A few continued in use until the early 20th century in parts of England. The remains of bell pits can be seen as depressions left when they collapsed, commonly surrounded by small piles of spoil (Walk 7). Recent excavations in the Coleorton area have uncovered evidence of more sophisticated deep-mining techniques, using timber-lined shafts, dating from the 1450s, the earliest known in Britain.
The demand for coal greatly increased during the Elizabethan period, due to a large population growth and a shortage of timber. The coal pits in the Coleorton– Swannington area expanded and records from the time report that colliers far out- numbered all other occupations in the district. The industry continued to grow throughout the 18th century, reaching new heights in the 19th century, due to the Industrial Revolution. However, the lack of good transport links in the region hampered growth of the industry until the early 19th century, when the Ashby Canal was built.
The coming of the railways during the 19th century further expanded the coal industry.
In 1831, the extension of the coalfield beneath the Triassic cover was proved and Snibston colliery opened, served by the Leicester to Swannington Railway, transporting coal to the major market of Leicester. Miners came to the area from County Durham to work at the colliery, the settlement around Snibston growing into the new town of Coalville. Snibston Colliery closed down in 1984, but is now an interactive museum of science and industry, with tours of the colliery buildings and the historic colliery railway.
At the end of the 19th century the local coalfield had an output of three million tons of coal per year, or one per cent of national production. Coal mines were taken under government control during First World War and Second World
War, and in 1947 the coal industry was nationalised, which triggered the closure of many of the smaller pits. Large sums of money were injected into the eleven remaining large collieries in order to improve productivity. The modern form of ‘longwall retreat’ mining together with the first computer-controlled operations was pioneered in this area. Bagworth Colliery featured in the 1975 Guinness Book of Records as the most productive mine in Britain. Further closures began in the 1980s and after the National Miners’ Strike of 1984–85 a massive programme of pit closures began. All collieries closed over successive years; Bagworth was the last of the traditional deep coal mines to close in Leicestershire, in 1991.
Operations moved towards opencast methods, with much of the coalfield being worked and large quantities of coal extracted. Many of the sites have been restored creating a mixture of agricultural land, woodland, meadows and open water habitats (Walks 2 and 7).
Ironstone occurs at several levels in the Leicestershire and South Derbyshire coalfields. It was worked from numerous bell pits at Southwood near Dimminsdale, where there was a local smelting industry, with records going back to 1306. In the early 17th century, a smelting works was constructed in the vicinity of Lount.
The Moira collieries operated an iron furnace (the Moira Furnace) built in1804 close to the Ashby Canal (Walk 2), for smelting iron ores brought in from the local mines by canal. Limestone needed for the smelting process was brought in by tramway and canal from Ticknall (p.28). The industry produced mainly wrought iron goods but was unsuccessful and closed in 1807. An attempt was made to reopen it in 1810 but it was soon abandoned as a failure. However, the foundry continued to flourish, becoming the main workshop for the Earl of Moira’s collieries. It eventually closed in the 1850s.
Stone from Charnwood Forest has been quarried for many thousands of years. These early uses of Charnian stone are documented on page 29.
The aggregate industry was boosted by the invention of ‘granite Macadam’ (now known as tarmac). The abolition of the turnpikes in 1827 encouraged greater use of the roads, which in turn required additional maintenance. A second turning point was the Local Government Act in 1888 making local authorities responsible for the maintenance of their own roads. Demand for hard rock was further boosted in the 19th century by the construction of the railways. Such changes led to the opening of new hard rock quarries in Charnwood Forest.
By 1890 Charnwood Forest stone had become the main source of aggregates for the country, from the Midlands southwards, with Leicestershire producing over a million tonnes per year by 1900.
Today, Leicestershire has the only reserves of hard rock suitable for roadstone in the south of England and therefore provides the nearest and cheapest rock resources to these ever-expanding markets. The latest available production figures are for 2008, when Leicestershire’s total production of igneous rock was 13 446 000 tonnes. This comes from four large quarrying operations at Cliffe Hill, Bardon, Mountsorrel and Croft. Between 1997 and 2006, Leicestershire igneous rock represented 44–49 per cent of the East Midlands’ total crushed rock production and about 30 per cent of Great Britain’s total igneous rock production.
Today, Bardon Hill and Cliffe Hill are the only quarries to operate within The National Forest, whilst older quarries are either undergoing restoration or have been ‘mothballed’. The quarry industry has been vital to the socio-economic development of the Charnwood area of The National Forest for well over a century now, and will continue to be so for at least another 50 years. Abandoned quarries often become a positive feature of the landscape, as with age they produce a wealth of geodiversity features and varied habitats for wildlife and plants, as well as providing a multitude of recreational uses.
Extensive quarrying for sand and gravel aggregates has also taken place in Staffordshire along the Trent valley to the south of Burton upon Trent. The quarries here work the river terrace deposits. Outcrops of sand and gravel deposited by melting ice throughout The National Forest have also been worked on a small scale in the past.
The use of Swithland Slate for building dates back to Roman times (p.32). In the 14th century, Borough Records show that it was used to roof major buildings in Leicester. The actual locations of the slate quarries are first cited in 1343, when the quarries at Swithland and Groby Park are referred to in the Records of the Borough of Leicester 1103–1603. It is also known that Bradgate House (p.35) was roofed with Swithland Slate.
Slate was generally only used for the houses of the nobility and gentry in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. A huge increase in quarrying activity took place in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the principal slate quarries were at Swithland Wood, The Brand, Groby and Woodhouse Eaves (Walk 4). By then, Swithland Slate was used for a multitude of purposes, including the manufacture of roofing slates, headstones, milestones, sundials, gateposts, kerb-edging and some household items. Traditionally the slates were laid on a roof in sizes that reduced from eaves to ridge, thus enabling even the smallest pieces of slate to be used.
Slates from the Swithland quarries tend to be pale grey, blue-green-grey or purple in colour. In the Great Pit the best bed of slate was apparently only 5 m wide and almost vertical. As a result, the quarry was worked to a depth of more than 60 m.
Records indicate that three quarries existed in the Groby area between 1773 and 1829: the Groby Slate Works north of Grey Lodge at Alder Spinney, and two earlier quarries, located close to Bradgate Hill Farm and the present A50. The slates in the Groby quarries are more brittle, cleave more easily, and are greenish grey in colour.
Some of the Woodhouse Eaves quarries are not true slates, as they actually belong to the older Precambrian Maplewell Group of the Charnian Supergroup. They did not cleave so easily as the true Swithland slates, and, as a result, their use was not so widespread. However, this distinctive deep purple slate was used locally as a building stone, a good example being the Almhouses in Woodhouse Eaves.
The Swithland Slate quarries supplied stone to local markets. The area’s rivers and the later Grand Union canal opened up markets farther afield such as Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire.
However, the improvements in transport- ation that allowed them to be more widely distributed also made the cheaper Welsh slates more accessible. The lifting of taxes and the coming of the railways resulted in the Welsh slates flooding the market and as a result, the Swithland Slate industry went into rapid decline.
By 1887, most of the Leicestershire Slate quarries had closed, signalling the end of an era, although the Old Groby Slate Quarry continued working until March 1897. Today, recycled Swithland Slate is very much in demand for building extensions or restoration, and can command a high price.
The Coal Measures that were the foundation of the coal mining industry also contained important deposits of pottery clay in South Derbyshire. Domestic and decorative pottery was made at Ticknall from the late 15th century, although clay- pits are mentioned as far back as the 13th century. By the mid 17th century, Ticknall was famous for the production of earthenware goods, mainly dairy ware and kitchen pots, and was a major producer of ‘Midland Purple’ and finely decorated Cistercian ware. However, during the 18th century, ceramics from Stoke-on-Trent started to flood the market and Ticknall’s cottage industry diminished, until the last pottery closed in 1891.
The clay industry really started to expand with substantial clay extraction from the so-called ‘Pottery Clays Formation’ of the Coal Measures in the area around Swadlincote in the late 18th century. Clay was extracted via opencast ‘clay-holes’ and by 1790, robust bricks (known as ‘Tough Tom’) were manufactured from the local yellow clay. A pottery was then established at Church Gresley in 1793, producing large earthenware pans, known as ‘pancheons’ used for storing milk and cream. By 1811 seven potteries existed in the Swadlincote– Gresley–Woodville area. Sharpe’s Pottery, founded in 1821, produced yellow-coloured ‘Mocha Ware’, in its early years. The world’s first rim-flushing toilet was made here.
Following the 1848 Public Health Act, improvements in sanitation and civic hygiene created a huge demand for sanitary ware. South Derbyshire clay pipes proved to be well suited to the salt glaze required to safely transport waste to the sewage treatment works. By the late 1850s, Swadlincote potteries were producing an array of pipes and sanitary goods. The development of an improved flushing water closet in 1855 helped to establish Swadlincote as a world leader in the manufacture of sanitary ware.
Some of Swadlincote’s potteries continued to produce domestic and decorative pottery. The Bretby Art Pottery produced some of the 19th century’s most exotic and vibrant ceramics. This unique design of pottery was not produced after 1920 when less flamboyant styles were adopted. The pottery finally closed down in 1996. Other notable potteries include the famous blue and white Cornish ware produced by TG Green at Church Gresley (1864–2007) and Measham bargeware pottery, characterised by its treacle glaze and polychrome sprigged decoration, and specialising in colourful teapots.
The clay industry in Swadlincote went into a decline after the Second World War and many of the iconic bottle kilns were demolished. Sharpe’s pottery closed in 1967 as a result of competition from the larger potteries of Stoke-on-Trent, which could afford greater investment. However, the bottle kiln at Sharpe’s Pottery survived, and happily re-opened as a museum, heritage and arts centre in 2003.
Brickmaking was once widespread in The National Forest and old maps indicate local brickpits close to many villages.
Currently, there are six localities for active brick production at Ibstock, Measham, Heather, Desford, Ellistown and Shepshed. The pits all work the Triassic Mercia Mudstone Group, the presence of iron minerals producing the typical red brick. Most of the brickworks use the Tarporley Siltstone, which provides a good mix of micaceous sandstones and mudstones for creating a wide range of bricks. The quartz grains in the sandstone are necessary to prevent excessive shrinking during firing and the presence of mica contributes favourably to the process of vitrification (the transformation of a substance into glass) that produces a glassy bond that gives the product strength. The mineral dolomite, commonly present in the Mercia Mudstone, has the effect of producing paler bricks. The blending of different clays and importing of other materials such as fireclay, anthracite and chalk, produces bricks with different properties and colours.
Fireclays are fossil soils or seatearths that supported the vegetation that formed the coal seams. Compared to most other coalfields, the seatearths of the South Derbyshire Coalfield are unusually thick, up to 4 m, and 13 of them have been worked. Fireclay was originally extracted underground from the coal mines but with the advent of opencast coal working after the Second World War, the resource was more easily and cheaply worked. Since production was far greater than usage, large stockpiles of fireclay have been produced which continue to supply the industry today. The South Derbyshire Coalfield supplied 35 per cent of all fireclay consumed in the country in 1998.
The term ‘fireclay’ is derived from an ability to resist heat. Consequently, the South Derbyshire fireclays were originally valued as refractory raw materials used in the manufacture of firebricks and other goods. Today they are valued for their low iron content, which produces a pale buff, strong and durable (frost resistant) brick. Vitrified clay pipe, chimney pot and flue liner production has been the mainstay of the Swadlincote area. Fireclays enhance the fired strength and minimise porosity, both properties being essential for sewerage and drainage applications.
The latest development in the brick industry of Leicestershire was the opening in 2010 of a new £50 million brick factory at Measham, operated by Hanson Building Products. The new factory can produce 30 000 bricks per hour and at the time of opening it was the most modern of its type in Europe. Measham has more than 6 million tonnes of clay reserves, sufficient to last for 25 years at the current production level of 100 million bricks per year.
The other main producer in The National Forest is Ibstock Brick, a company that was established in 1825 for mining operations. By the 1830s the mining site was producing supplies of clays suitable for making bricks. Over the next ten years, a primitive brickworks was developed.
This sideline grew due to mechanisation and assumed a greater importance at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1928 the coal pits closed and the company’s sidelines of brick-, tile-, and pipemaking were elevated to centre stage. Ibstock Collieries changed its name to Ibstock Brick & Tile Company in 1935. It is now the largest brick manufacturer in the UK with an annual capacity of more than 900 million bricks.
Limemaking was only a small-scale industry in The National Forest because of the very limited supplies of limestone. Records show that quarrying for lime at Ticknall (Walk 10) began as early as 1393 and continued to 1950. Limestone in the Ticknall area was also worked for building stone, mortar and fertiliser for soil. To produce mortar, an early cement for building, the limestone was stacked in kilns in layers with coal and set alight to produce quicklime, which was then mixed with sand and water. This process at Ticknall may well extend back into Roman times; indeed, it is thought that the Romans developed this process. The process of ‘marling’ the land, or the spreading of lime, dates back to medieval times when fields were only used once every three years due to lack of fertility. Any unburned limestone was used to build houses and walls. The lime yards expanded in the 17th century and again in the 18th century, when caves were excavated into the rock faces. The lime was mainly used locally but transport networks developed to export it farther afield with theTicknallTramway, opened in 1802, linking the pits to the Ashby Canal. New markets were found and the lime-burning expanded. The coal needed was brought from local pits. Although the tramway has now been removed, its course can still be seen, as embankments and cuttings to the south ofTicknall (Walk 10). A tunnel in the grounds of Calke Abbey still remains and is a scheduled monument.
The first kiln was built around 1804, providing lime for mortar in the construction of Moira Furnace. Soon after, six additional kilns were built and a separate limeworks established, although the limeworks had ceased production by 1850.
When abandoned, the caves formed popular picnic spots with the local inhabitants, but this practice ceased in 1952 with the collapse of a cave. The caves can be seen in the extreme south eastern part of the former workings and evidence of cave collapse is apparent within the main part of the limeyards (Walk 10). The decline of the Ticknall limeyard was caused by the failure to use new technology and the coming of the railways. This made limestone in the Peak District much more accessible.
There is little written of the limeworkings at Dimminsdale. Principally, the mining and burning of lime started in the 13th century and continued through to the latter part of the 19th century. Between 1830 and 1891, the quarries were served by a branch of the Ticknall Tramway.
Lime production at Grace Dieu dates back to the medieval period. The nunnery was selling lime from around 1414. Coal from nearby at Coleorton and Swannington probably provided fuel for the process.
The exact date of closure is not known but was probably in the first part of the 19th century. An 1836 map still marks the limeworks, but it is not marked on the 1885 OS map.
Good building stones are only found in three areas of The National Forest. The best quality building stones come from Charnwood Forest. Commonly, buildings are constructed from a variety of rocks, resulting in a diversity of colours and an attractive appearance. These stones had been in demand since Neolithic times, but the first evidence of use for building was by the Romans. In 1235, Grace Dieu Priory was built from Whitwick stone. Other notable buildings include Mount St Bernard Abbey, built in the 19th century and, more recently, the Blackbrook Reservoir dam. The Charnwood stone was generally used as rubble stone so there are rarely any hand cut or sawn blocks. Another Charnwood stone, from just outside The National Forest, is the Mountsorrel granodiorite. This has been used for the construction of local buildings, walls (Walk 4) and paving stones.
The other main building stone resource in The National Forest area is the Bromsgrove Sandstone, which is best seen in many of the churches dating from the 12th and 13th centuries.
Bromsgrove Sandstone was also used for the construction of Ashby Castle (p.34). The sandstone used varies from reddish brown to ‘white’ (pale greenish grey to buff) in colour and individual buildings are often composed of a mixture of the two. Bromsgrove Sandstone was sometimes supplemented with Carboniferous sandstones from the local coalfields, for example the church in Walton-on-Trent. Occasionally, Carboniferous sandstone was the sole building stone, for example at Dunstall church.
Other stones that have been used very locally for building in The National Forest are the Millstone Grit sandstone, which was used quite extensively in the Melbourne area, and Carboniferous limestone, quarried from Grace Dieu and other outcrops.
Any account of the archaeology of an area can only ever be a snapshot of a developing picture. Evidence continues to accumulate from fieldwork by professional and amateur archaeologists and our picture of the The National Forest area has been transformed over the last 30 years.
Tuffs from Charnwood Forest may have been exploited 500 000 years ago for hand-axe production, but the earliest known site is an Upper Palaeolithic (about 10 000 BC) hunting stand discovered in Bradgate Park. The northern fringes of Charnwood show scatters of Mesolithic (8500–4500 BC) flint tools at Grace Dieu and Charnwood Lodge, probably representing hunter-gatherer camp sites. Flint finds of unknown age have been recovered from around Shepshed, Coalville and Ibstock. There was considerable activity in the area in Neolithic (4500–2200 BC) and Early Bronze Age (2200–700 BC) periods. Charnian stone axes (the Charnwood Axe industry) are known, with a concentration west of Blackbrook Reservoir. Early Bronze Age axe heads are known from Bardon Hill and burials are known from Mount St Bernard Abbey. In the glacial sands and gravels between Heather and Swepstone up to a dozen ring ditches, thought to be tombs or barrows of this period, have been recorded as well as a number of rectangular enclosures probably dating from the Iron Age (700 BC– AD 43 ). A hill fort at Beacon Hill is also tentatively dated as late Bronze Age, yielding bronze tools. Iron Age hill forts on the edge of The National Forest at Breedon and Ratby were presumably important local centres. Cropmarks visible from the air indicate rectangular enclosures, and finds of stone grinding tools (quern stones) and pottery suggest many sites existed in the Bronze Age period, but only a few have been excavated e.g. at Normanton le Heath and Botcheston.
Two major Roman highways cross the forest. One, Ryknild Street, followed the line of the A38. The second, theVia Devana, ran from Leicester to Moira, continuing through Burton upon Trent, possibly to Chester. A Roman town lay on this highway between Ravenstone and Ibstock. The town produced pottery and tiles, and there is also evidence of a fort. Beveridge Lane, which runs east of this town, is probably also a Roman road. It may be a continuation of the Salt Way that crosses the River Soar at Barrow and clearly leads into Charnwood Forest. There is thought to be a north–south road running through The National Forest area linking the towns of Mancetter (Warkwickshire) and Ratcliffe on Soar (Nottinghamshire). Close by this road, a rare high-status Roman villa was discovered at Ibstock. A site at Blackbrook Farm on the northern edge of The National Forest has also yielded considerable amounts of tile, suggesting a production site here. The Romans quarried Swithland Slate from Swithland Wood and Groby in Charnwood Forest during the period AD 100–400, mainly for roofing purposes. Swithland Slate and various Charnian rocks were used as rubble building stone, while there is also evidence of a rural pottery industry at Groby, Markfield and Normanton le Heath.
There is currently little evidence for early Saxon activity in The National Forest. Pottery of this age has been found at Swepstone and a complete pot recovered from Breedon Hill. The Breedon Hill site became important in the late 7th century, when a monastery was founded within the ramparts of the Iron Age hill fort and the carvings preserved in the present parish church are of national importance. An abbey was established at Burton upon Trent in 1002–1004. Close to The National Forest is the village of Repton. Formerly the headquarters of a Viking army, it became the burial place of the Saxon kings of Mercia. It was a major religious centre but Lichfield has a better claim to be the ‘political’ capital.
Charnwood Forest was one of the least populated areas of Leicestershire but despite this, it was an important resource for grazing, hunting and the quarrying of slate and hard rocks. In the 12th and 13th centuries religious communities were created at Charley, Ulverscroft and Grace Dieu. Hunting parks were created at Bardon and Bradgate, and monastic granges at, for example, Hugglescote. To the west of Charnwood Forest, Bagworth was an important centre which had a castle by the 14th century. Other castles existed at Whitwick, Groby, Ravenstone and Ashby, the latter a centre for the area.
The Grey family created their own centres at Groby and later Bradgate, both of which, in part, survive. At a lower social level, Donington le Heath Manor House is a well-preserved example of a 13th century middle-class residence.
Around Oakthorpe, Donington le Heath and Swannington there is evidence of early coal mining. During excavation of the Lounge opencast site, archaeologists recorded galleries of mines dating to the 15th century and recovered clothing, shoes, candles and tools. Outcrops of limestone from Breedon down to Grace Dieu were also quarried for limemaking in the medieval period and later.
During and after the Norman Conquest, buildings of note were generally either defensive structures such as castles, or religious or monastic establishments. Norman castles were generally built of wood, so they soon decayed and no evidence remains of them today. However religious buildings were usually built of stone and, as a result, have lasted through the centuries.
A Benedictine monastery was established at Burton upon Trent in 1002–1004 and a shrine to St Modwen (a 7th century nun) was constructed on an island in the River Trent. The abbey fell into disrepair and was plundered for stone following the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539; there are only a few remnants today. The 14th century moated manor house of Sinai Park, thought to have been a convalescent home for the monks, is apparently linked to the abbey via a subterranean passageway. It is a classic timber-framed, wattle-and-daub construction. The house was badly neglected after the Second World War and nearing collapse, but is now being carefully restored to its 16th century appearance. In the 13th century, the Cluniac Monks of Bermondsey also built a tiny religious house at Alderman’s Haw, in Charnwood Forest.
The ruined Augustinian priory of St Mary, established at Ulverscroft in 1134, is the best-preserved example of this type of monastery in The National Forest. A priory was also established at Grace Dieu in 1240. This monastery also fell into disrepair after the dissolution of the monasteries, and is now a ruin apparently haunted by the spectre of a nun wearing a white habit, known as the ‘White Lady’. Other monasteries in the Forest disappeared completely.
Augustinian priories were also established at Breedon on the Hill (p.56) (rebuilt by the Normans in the early 12th century) and Repton (re-established 1172); they are both just outside The National Forest, but owned extensive tracts of land within the Forest. Today only the chancel survives from the priory at Breedon, and serves as the parish church. All that remains of the priory at Repton is the original guest house, now transformed into the school. The Cistercian abbey of Mount St Bernard is a relative newcomer to Charnwood Forest, established in the 1830s. The abbey was designed by the celebrated Augustus Pugin. It was not actually completed until 1939, the monks supplying much of the labour.
Many churches in The National Forest have medieval origins or earlier. An example is St Michael and St Mary in Melbourne (Walk 3) with an ornate 12th century interior. Other churches of note include that on the Staunton Harold estate (Walk 10), founded by Sir Robert Shirley in 1653, and the beautiful Victorian church of Holy Angels at Hoar Cross, Yoxall. Many of the 12th and 13th century churches were rebuilt in the 19th century.
The ancient castle at Whitwick has origins in the 11th century, whilst Groby Castle had links with late Anglo-Saxon England and later become a medieval garden, the remains of which survive to this day. Ashby-de-la-Zouch Castle was also a fortified manor house, originally built in the 1160s. If you visit the remains of Ashby Castle, you will see good sections through some of the walls that show a thin outer facing of Bromsgrove Sandstone, and a thick interior of rubble stone. This is mainly Bromsgrove Sandstone but also includes some pieces of Charnian rocks. Bagworth Castle was another fortified moated manor house, probably built during the 14th century.
Fortified manor houses were built after the Norman Conquest. Donington le Heath manor house, near Coalville, was one such dwelling, built from local Charnwood stone in the 1290s. From 1670 the house was tenanted, and remained unchanged for three centuries; it deteriorated badly in the 1960s and was rescued from dereliction by Leicestershire County Council in 1965. Donington le Heath now functions as a museum.
Wealthy landowning families, often of Norman descent, commonly built grand country houses in what was to become The National Forest. The Beaumont family acquired the manor of Overton (now Coleorton) in 1428, and built three successive houses, the last of which, Coleorton Hall, was constructed in 1807. The Ferrers family are associated with Staunton Harold Hall, which they obtained in the late 11th century. A succession of houses existed on the site; the current Palladian-style house was built by the 5th Lord Ferrers in the 1760s and is considered to be one of the finest country houses in Leicestershire.
One of the most famous great houses in the Forest is Bradgate House, situated in Bradgate Park and once home to the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey. The house was constructed by Thomas Grey between 1499 and 1520 and was unusually built of brick manufactured from red clay quarried from nearby Triassic Mercia Mudstone. Lady Jane Grey was born at Bradgate in 1537, and spent much of her short life there. Following the death of her cousin Edward VI she was proclaimed Queen of England, only to lose the crown nine days later. She was tragically executed for treason by Mary Tudor on 12th February 1554. The house was unoccupied by 1720, in ruins by 1790, and has changed little over the centuries.
Calke Abbey, one of the most distinguished country houses in The National Forest, is associated with the Harpur Crewe family, who acquired it in 1622. Over the period 1701 to 1704, they turned the original Elizabethan courtyard house into the Baroque mansion that exists today. A 12th century Augustinian priory once stood on the site, but despite this, the house was renamed ‘Calke Abbey’ in 1808. It has changed little since the 1880s and was taken over by the National Trust in 1985.
The manor of Catton was bought by the Horton family in 1405. The current house dates from 1742 to 1745 and remains virtually unchanged today. However, many grand houses have sadly disappeared, particularly in the years after the Second World War. Casualties include Drakelow Hall, one-time home of the Gresley family, and Byrkley Lodge, once owned by the Bass family of brewing fame, who also owned Rangemore Hall which still survives today.
Burton upon Trent has been closely linked with the brewing industry for centuries, as the local water from wells was particularly well suited for the brewing of ales. The monks of Burton Abbey (p.32) were probably the first to recognise this: they collected water from wells in the Trent Washlands to brew their own beer. In those days water was not safe to drink, so ale was brewed in huge quantities for daily consumption by all. Inns were built to house travellers visiting the Abbey and its shrine to St Modwen. After the dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, local inns continued to produce beer on a small scale.
But why was the water so well suited to brewing ale? The answer lies in its chemistry, which in turn is due to the geology of the area. It naturally contains a high level of gypsum in solution, derived from the rocks beneath Burton. The high sulphate content brought out the flavour of hops in the beer and the distinctive sulphurous aroma of Burton beer earned it the quirky nickname of ‘Burton Snatch’. The high sulphate content also enabled more hops (a natural preservative) to be incorporated into the beer, increasing its shelf-life. Incidentally, brewers elsewhere in England today replicate this process, known as Burtonisation, by adding gypsum to the water used for brewing.
Commercial beer production began in Burton in the late 17th century when local tavern owners started to sell their beer farther afield. Beer was transported to London where it attracted the attention of shrewd businessmen. One, Benjamin Printon, moved to Burton in 1708 to open the first commercial brewhouse. Burton’s brewing industry was further helped by the opening of the Trent Navigation Company in 1712 allowing the shipping of beer to Hull and then by sea to London, Europe, the Baltic Sea and Russia. This led to the evolution of Burton as a major town for brewing and exporting beer.
Subsequently, many brewers established themselves in Burton in the mid 18th century, the most notable being William Worthington (1744) and William Bass (who bought Worthington’s brewhouse in 1777). By 1830, the Bass brewery had grown to be the largest in the world, employing more than 2500 people and by the late 1880s, producing almost one million barrels per year.
Problems with the overseas market in the early 19th century terminated this profitable market for Burton beer.
However, a new market was found in India, initially supplied by London-brewed beer.
In 1822, Burton-based Samuel Allsopp successfully produced a hoppier-tasting version of the beer, thanks again to the sulphate-rich local water, and supplied the Indian market. Allsopp’s beer became very popular and other brewers quickly followed suit. By 1888 Burton had 31 breweries, turning out three million barrels of beer a year at the height of production. This heralded the beginning of a golden age of brewing for Burton; at its peak, one quarter of all beer sold in Britain was produced there.
At the beginning of the 20th century, another slump in overseas beer sales caused many breweries to fail, and the First World War imposed a decline, due to shortage of labour and grain supplies. This time, no new markets were found and the number of breweries shrank from 20 in 1900 to eight in 1928. Despite this, during the Second World War Burton beer was still popular enough to spawn the euphemism ‘gone for a Burton’ (RAF pilots used this black humour when a comrade was killed or went missing in action; they had not died, they had simply nipped out for a pint of Burton beer). Today brewing remains an important industry in the town, and is currently home to six breweries. A small brewery also exists in Woodville near Swadlincote.
The biodiversity of The National Forest reflects its varied landscapes, their history and their underlying geology. Within the Forest, there are six main landscape ‘zones’ which each have characteristic mixes of habitats and wildlife. The best way to appreciate this is to visit each one in turn.
The Trent is one of England’s great rivers and, over the millennia, its passage across The National Forest has carved out a wide valley with a distinct collection of habitats and wildlife. Despite intensive development pressures, its wide floodplain still contains fragments of open grassland and wet woodland. Elsewhere, decades of sand and gravel extraction have left a string of large lagoons, many of which are now oases for wildfowl, otters and water voles. At Croxall Lakes, the bank of the Trent has been remodelled and pulled back to create pools, riffles and islands. The result has been to reintroduce the natural processes of erosion and deposition that would, historically, have occurred along the length of the river.
The key characteristics of this landscape are a rolling plateau capped by glacial till, and prominent wooded heights west of the Trent with frequent plantations and ancient woodland. A manorial hunting ground of the Duchy of Lancaster until about 1366, it is now a sparsely populated mosaic of woodland, pasture, old parkland and arable farmland. The hedgerow pattern is generally subrectangular and the fields predominantly pasture but with some areas of more open arable farming. Hidden away in this landscape are real gems such as Brankley Covert, where ancient woodland and wood pasture (similar to parkland) are being expanded across former arable fields; orYoxall Lodge, which is carpeted with bluebells each Spring. The woodlands at Jackson’s Bank, part of the Duchy of Lancaster’s estate, retain much of their seminatural flora, such as bluebell, wood anemone, wild garlic, early purple orchid, herb Paris and wood spurge. East of the village of Tatenhill, a wooded scarp marks the edge of the Needwood Forest, from which the land falls dramatically away to the TrentValley. There are red brick and half timber villages with sandstone churches. The road pattern is varied, linking a scattered settlement of villages and hamlets.
Flowing west to the Trent, the River Mease forms the southern boundary of The National Forest. The key characteristics of the Mease and Sence lowlands are gently rolling landforms of low, rounded hills and valleys with flat land along river valleys, and a well-managed agricultural landscape. The Mease is internationally important for its wildlife; key species including spined loach, bullhead, white-clawed crayfish and otters. Between the Mease and the Trent, there is a low-lying swathe of rich farmland with hay meadows full of wild flowers and woodland copses that are home to a range of animals. This combination of habitats means that the area supports a great selection of woodland and farmland birds. Farm ponds provide refuges for dragonflies and amphibians. There are extensive, very open areas of arable cultivation and a strongly rectilinear hedge pattern of late enclosure, often dominating an open landscape. There are some deserted settlements and ridge and furrow, the latter possibly dating back to the immediate post-Roman period in the late 5th century. Tree cover is generally sparse and confined to copses and spinneys, with intermittent hedgerow trees and parks. Small red-brick villages often occur on hilltop sites and with prominent church spires.
Forming the core of The National Forest, the coalfield is its most populated landscape and probably the most altered by human activity dating back to the Industrial Revolution. As long ago as the 13th century coal has been mined from this area and, by the 20th century, the extraction of coal and clay had completely changed the landscape. The key characteristics of the coalfield are prominent coal tips, derelict land, clay pits, opencast coal workings and sprawling mining towns and villages.
It is in this area that the creation of The National Forest has led to the most visible transformation. Where once coal was king, spoil tips have been ‘greened’ with trees and now support a wide range of birds. Colliery yards are now grasslands filled with flowers, and what were once massive opencast mines are now some of the best sites for wildlife in the area. Even former sewage works have been transformed into nature reserves. The area has a gently- undulating landform of shallow valleys and ridges dominated by mainly low, thin hedges with few hedgerow trees, small woodlands and an increasing number of new woodlands. It is an open and rolling agricultural landscape of mixed arable and pasture farming, with areas of small fields, dense hedgerows and prominent groups of red brick miners’ cottages. There are many industrial archaeological features of interest for surface and underground coal workings, together with cottages, tramways, the Ashby Canal and Moira Furnace.
Extending north from the coalfield towards Derby, the Melbourne parklands roll down to the Trent. The area’s key characteristics are steeply undulating landforms dominated by sandstone ridges, plateau tops with good views and large landscape parks with grand country houses, such as Calke Abbey. Characterised by large plantation woodlands, wide open fields, former market gardens and historic estates, the area is dominated by two reservoirs, Foremark and Staunton Harold. Foremark Reservoir is popular with wildfowl and other birds. At its southern tip lies Carver’s Rocks, an SSSI for its ecological importance, which includes one of the last remnants of lowland heathland in Derbyshire. Nearby, the Calke Abbey estate contains nationally important parkland with spectacular ancient trees, some of which are thought to be almost 1000 years old. The estate also includes a series of ponds that are home to the threatened white-clawed crayfish. There are also grasslands grazed by a large herd of deer and an area of former limestone workings supporting lime-loving species which only occur in this part of the Forest. There is localised quarrying for a variety of products and imposing and dramatically sited churches, such as at Breedon on the Hill (Walk 3).
At the eastern end of The National Forest lies Charnwood Forest, a hunting forest in the early 12th century. Charnwood is a unique upland landscape that is dominated by its geology, rising out of a lowland farming area. Rocky outcrops are common and the underlying volcanic and granitic rocks create ideal conditions for open heathland, bracken and acid grasslands. These are interspersed with mudstone vales of pasture fields. The increase in grazing in the 16th century meant that much of the original woodland was cleared to create Charnwood Forest as it exists today: a mosaic of ancient woodlands, species- rich meadows and heathland, with dry stone walls and hedges. The result is the richest assemblage of wildlife within The National Forest. Nature reserves such as Ulverscroft and Lea Meadows showcase grasslands full of wild flowers; ancient woodlands provide shelter for a range of plants and animals, and open heathland such as Charnwood Lodge provides some of the last ‘wilderness’ in the Forest.
There are also a number of SSSIs for both their geological and biodiversity interests. The Forest itself has attractive villages and scattered farmsteads at its centre, with the large settlements of Leicester, Loughborough and Coalville at the edge. There is a strongly rectilinear pattern of parliamentary enclosure fields and roads, and attractive historic parks such as Bradgate Park. The village buildings are dominated by dark Charnwood stone. Also dominating the landscape are reservoirs and man’s influence in the shape of the quarrying (aggregates) industry. Currently two working quarries operate in The National Forest but numerous abandoned ones provide havens for wildlife.
Most walks can be completed in half a day although some include the chance to visit other attractions that would extend the walk into a whole day. All of the walks are unsuitable for disabled people apart from the building stones walk in Burton uponTrent.