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Description:This view of a group of young trainees at Brocton camp shows the single stove located in the centre of each hut. The ordinary soldiers had to share their stove whereas the officers each had their own stove.
Cannock Chase had been used as a military training ground since the 1870s. During the First World War two military camps were built on the Chase - Brocton Camp, which was located near to Anson's Bank, and Rugeley Camp, which extended along Penkridge Bank. The two camps were separated by the Sherbrook Valley.
Brocton Camp provided troops with canteen facilities, a bank, post office, shops and even a theatre. A standard gauge railway, built by West Cannock Colliery Company, carried food and other supplies around the camp to the troops stationed there. Soldiers who died in the camp, through wounds received in France, accidents or illness, were buried in the military cemetery to the south of the camp. Many died during the influenza epidemic of 1918.
After the war the soldiers left and the huts were sold. In the 1930s gravel workings covered large areas of the site, but today some traces of the camp still exist.
The alternate view is a digitally colourised version of the image.