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Che Ancient Industries of Cannock Chase. 
By Gerorce M. Cocxin, F.G.S. 
READ BEFORE THE SOCIETY, NOVEMBER 9th, 1905. 
CHASE, as it is now called, originally formed part 
of a Royal Forest, one of the numerous great hunting grounds 
claimed by Saxon and Norman Kings, within whose boundaries the 
right of hunting was exclusiveiy reserved to the King or to those 
privileged to share it with him, A Royal Forest consisted of an 
extensive area of waste lands, which, in the case of Cannock Chase, 
seems to have been for the most part well covered with timber. All that 
now remains of it is an open moorland with here and there a decay- 
ing oak, or a dwindling group of birches, solitary reminders of the 
glories of the past. With the destruction of the Forest trees and 
cultivation of the land, has come a vast increase in population; the 
few scattered agriculturists have been joined by thousands of miners, 
and from collieries and factories, shops and houses, comes the busy 
hum of industry, where for countless ages all was silent. It is inter- 
esting to look back and endeavour to trace the causes which produced 
these mighty changes. The history of the locality in which one lives 
appeals very strongly to the thoughtful mind, and I may safely con- 
clude that the members of this Society will be willing to listen to 
these fragments of industrial history—not the less interesting 
