RAF Hednesford Trail

‌‌‌‌Distance: 2 miles | Start: Cannock Chase Visitor Centre | Grid Ref: SK 003 153

RAF Hednesford Trail follows level, well-surfaced paths for most of the route and is accessible by all. The trail is a circular walk around a former RAF Second World War training camp.

Download route guide (2.1 MB)

Useful information

• Difficulty: Easy
• Route terrain: Tracks and lanes
• Start/finish: Cannock Chase Visitor Center
• Toilets: Adjacent to Cannock Chase Visitor Center
• Grid ref: SK 003 153
• Postcode for SatNav: WS12 4PW
• OS map: OS Explorer 244 Cannock Chase & Chasewater

The walk

Start the route at Cannock Chase Visitor Centre. Follow the RAF roundel waymarkers around the route. There are five interpretation panels on the trail to help you discover more about the story of RAF Hednesford. Each of the letters correspond to the letters on the downloadable trail map.

1. Take the path to the side of the Visitor Centre, with the toilet block on your right. Just behind the Visitor Centre is the Great War Hut, a reconstructed barrack hut from the Great War training camps. Go left to follow the path to Marquis Drive with the children’s play area on your left.When you get to the road (Marquis Drive), turn right and follow through the metal barrier, noticing the camp perimeter fence posts on your right. After about 200m pause at the first interpretation panel and imagine that you’re a young RAF recruit at the start of the Second World War in 1939.
2. After a while (300 yds) you will come across the camp entrance. The track ahead of you leads down to the Rugeley to Hednesford railway line, and the former station at Moors Gorse Halt. New recruits arriving by train would have to walk up this incline, infamously known as ‘Kitbag Hill’. On your left is the turning circle for buses and other vehicles dropping off at the camp entrance, these recruits being fortunate in not having to endure the uphill struggle.Turn right now, entering the camp, where over the years, aeroplanes, including a Spitfire and a Meteor, stood either side as sentries. Also, on the right was the sentry box itself. Make your way now to the interpretation board and commemoration stone ahead. Behind the stone would have stood the Station H.Q. where the day-to-day running of this busy camp was undertaken. The post office, guardhouse, armoury and fire tender house were on the opposite side of the road.
3. Continue on to the T-junction, where the educational huts stood in a row, on the grass opposite. Amongst these buildings were the camp’s own synagogue and Jewish club, and all Jewish RAF recruits were posted to Hednesford for this reason. Turn left here, and follow this road for about 400m all the way to the T-junction at the end and the next interpretation board.
4. Row upon row of billet huts once stood at either side of the road up to here. The road to your left snakes around to the site of the camp’s very own cinema, the ‘Astra’, where recruits were shown training and educational films, as well as a full programme of the best films of that era. Turn right here and follow to the end, bear right, then take your first left, following the marker posts. At the end turn left, and follow to the next track.
5. This point gives you a chance to take in the lovely panoramic view across the valley. On the opposite side of the track, and to your left, beyond the tree line, is the area known as Moors Gorse. Take the path to your right, up to the crossroads, and turn right.
6. Follow the track to the post (F) and the next interpretation board. The area to the left contained the Bellman and Hinaidi training sheds and hangars, where the ground crews learnt their trade. Also, on the left, in front of these buildings, stood one of the camp’s Spitfires. The landscape at the southern end of the site has altered considerably, owing to the fact that the spoil from the West Cannock No. 5 Colliery was deposited here after the closure of the camp.
7. Continue along this road to the junction, turn left, and follow to post (G) and the next interpretation board, near to the bench on your left. The large, flat, grassed area in front of you was the parade ground where recruits undertook their drill, affectionately known as ‘square bashing’. At the end of their training they would take part in the ‘passing out’ parade. On the right-hand side was the flag staff and saluting base.On the opposite, south side of the road were dozens of technical huts. Again, this area, including the parade ground, was built up with mining waste. The parade ground itself suffered over the years from mining subsidence, and many a story is told of recruits sliding away to one side, during icy weather!
8. As you continue on this road, you pass through ‘Goon Valley’, named after the show of the time and where, on your left, the camp assault course stood. At the top of the hill, take the second track on your right. At this crossroads, down the track to the left, is the site of the camp hospital and sick quarters. This, and the billets opposite, were later used to house a total of 1200 Hungarian refugees fleeing from the uprising in 1956. The stone seen here commemorates the work done by Hungarian youngsters in 1987, on the track around the hospital site. The firing ranges for the camp, one indoor, one outdoor, were situated at the end of the road ahead. Take the track to the right, and take the first path on the left. Follow this track, past the compound gates, back to the Visitor Centre.