Image: The remains of a rifle range from the First World War, Cannock Chase.

Two huge military camps were built on Cannock Chase in Staffordshire during the Great War; Rugeley Camp in the autumn of 1914 and Brocton Camp in January 1915. These camps could accommodate up to 40,000 men. Over 500,000 soldiers underwent basic training here in riflery, scouting, signalling, physical drills, and gas warfare, before being shipped abroad for service. Earthworks were constructed to replicate conditions on the Western Front, in order to practice the defence and attack of trenches.

The camps were self-sufficient, with their own grocery stores, banks, bakeries, chapels, sports grounds, recreational and social facilities, with even a theatre and cinema. There was a water tower, plumbing, and a power station, as well as a cross-Chase rail line. There were two types of huts, one for accommodating officers and others for the enlisted men. Officers each had their own stove (or at worst, two shared one), whereas the ordinary soldier had to make do with a single stove per hut. The huts were dismantled and removed around 1920, many of them sold to locals who used them as workshops, houses and even as a village parish hall. A replica hut can be found at the Cannock Chase Visitor Centre.

Today the Chase is preserved as an Area of Outstanding National Beauty, and mostly inhabited by cyclists, hikers and dog walkers. Trees, bracken, heather and bilberry cover much of the remains of the camps, but if you look carefully you can find some of the concrete foundations marking the base of the original huts.