60-504: Pye Green is an English village on Cannock Chase in the south of Staffordshire standing nearly 800 feet above sea-level, literally overlooking Hednesford , Cannock , Walsall and much of the Black Country . Birmingham city centre can be clearly seen when the weather is good. Pye Green is served by roads running from Hednesford to Stafford and from Chadsmoor to Slitting Mill and Etchinghill . The closest trunk roads are
120-537: A camp on nearby Cannock Chase and guarded by soldiers of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade . The model was of the village and surrounding area of Messines in Belgium, which included replica trenches and dugouts, railway lines, roads, and accurate contours of the surrounding terrain. In September 2013 Staffordshire County Council allowed a team of local archaeologists and volunteers to excavate
180-477: A circumference of 59 m (194 ft). The display is switched off at 10:30pm each day. On 31 October 2009, the screen began displaying a countdown of the number of days until the start of the London Olympics in 2012. In April 2019, the display spent almost a day displaying a Windows 7 error message. In October 2009, The Times reported that the revolving restaurant would be reopened in time for
240-588: A community centre, several shops (butcher's, takeaways, general dealers and convenience stores), a funeral director's, a pub and social club, a pavilion and sports ground, and an equestrian centre. The nearest secondary schools are Staffordshire University Academy and Kingsmead School, Hednesford . The pub is named after a former local farmer, his Pye Green Farm predating the first housing estate comprising Clarkes Avenue and Cotton Grove, erected before WWII . Just after WWII, prefabs were erected west of this estate. They were replaced with more permanent dwellings in
300-507: A hotel. BT will retain ownership for a few years until the tower has been vacated. The tower was commissioned by the General Post Office (GPO). Its primary purpose was to support the microwave aerials then used to carry telecommunications traffic from London to the rest of the country, as part of the General Post Office microwave network . It was to be built by end of 1963, and cost £1.5M, on Howland Street. It replaced
360-477: A kitchen. At the top was a pulley room and above that the left motor room and ventilation plant. There were sixteen equipment floors between 115ft and 355ft. The restaurant was called 'Top of the Tower', where meals were about £4. In its first year the Tower hosted just under one million visitors and over 100,000 diners ate in the restaurant. A set of two stamps, designed by Clive Abbott (born 1933), 3d and 1/3,
420-652: A motor engineer from Walsall , was found guilty at Stafford assizes of one of the murders in 1968 and was sentenced to life imprisonment . He died in prison in March 2014, aged 84, after serving 45 years. Since the 1970s, sightings of Black Eyed Kids , Black Dogs , Werewolves , British big cats , UFOs , and even Bigfoot have been reported in the local press. However no conclusive evidence has ever been produced verifying these claims, and they may best be thought of as forming part of local folklore . The 1972 Labi Siffre album Crying Laughing Loving Lying features
480-532: A much shorter steel lattice tower which had been built on the roof of the neighbouring Museum telephone exchange in the late 1940s to provide a television link between London and Birmingham. The taller structure was required to protect the radio links' "line of sight" against some of the tall buildings in London then in the planning stage. These links were routed via other GPO microwave stations at Harrow Weald , Bagshot , Kelvedon Hatch and Fairseat, and to places like
540-587: A pub) overlooked a quarry which was subsequently used for landfill and is now a green space. The nearest working quarry now is to the west, above Pottal Pool , the latter having once been a lido . Oldest artefact of all is the Wishing Stone on or near the (possible) route of Blake Street (or Blake Road) . Before the coming of canals and railways, this provided one of a few alternative routes for stage-coach travel between London and Chester or Birmingham and Manchester, via Hednesford through to Stafford. As for
600-443: A reinforced concrete pyramid. The stainless steel clad windows were made by Henry Hope & Sons, of Halford Works, Smethwick. The tower was officially opened to the public on 19 May 1966, by Postmaster General Tony Benn (then known as Anthony Wedgwood Benn) and Billy Butlin , with HM Queen Elizabeth II having visited on 17 May 1966. As well as the communications equipment and office space, there were viewing galleries,
660-455: A souvenir shop and a revolving restaurant on the 34th floor; this was called The Top of the Tower, and operated by Butlins . It made one revolution every 23 minutes. Butlins were given the lease to restaurant in November 1963; it would open by the end of 1965. The section above the microwave dishes had two observation floors, a tea bar, a revolving restaurant, a cocktail bar, and above that
SECTION 10
#1732794143011720-678: A track, written on Cannock Chase, and named after it. BT Tower The BT Tower is a grade II listed communications tower in Fitzrovia , London , England, owned by BT Group (formerly British Telecom). It was also known as the GPO Tower and the Post Office Tower , and later officially renamed the Telecom Tower . The main structure is 581 feet (177 m) high, with a further section of aerial rigging bringing
780-548: Is a mixed area of countryside in the county of Staffordshire , England. The area has been designated as the Cannock Chase National Landscape , an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty , and much of it is managed by Forestry England for its important ecology and for recreational use. The Chase gives its name to the Cannock Chase local government district . It is a former Royal forest . With
840-506: Is a more technical trail that splits from 'Follow the Dog' at about the halfway point, then rejoins slightly further on. There are several features mountain bikers can look out for when riding on the chase, such as Kitbag Hill, Rabbit Hill, Quagmire Bridge, Roots Hall and Brocton Shorts. Increasing popularity of the MTB trails led Network Rail to install a cycle bridge in 2013 at Moors Gorse to replace
900-466: Is often said that the tower did not appear on Ordnance Survey maps, despite being a 177-metre (581 ft) tall structure in the middle of central London that was open to the public for about 15 years. However, this is incorrect; the 1:25,000 (published 1971) and 1:10,000 (published 1981) Ordnance Survey maps show the tower. It is also shown in the London A–Z street atlas from 1984. In February 1993,
960-551: Is popular with cross-country mountain bike users. The purpose-built XC 'Follow the Dog' trail is an 11 km (6.8 mi) technically challenging route, opened in 2005, starting and finishing at the Birches Valley Visitors/Cycle Centre. It is open to all; however, it is not recommended for beginners. A new section of XC trail was opened in April 2010. The 'Monkey Trail' (11.2 km (7.0 mi))
1020-448: Is the smallest area so designated in mainland Britain, covering 68 km (26 sq mi). Much of the area is also designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Despite being relatively small in area, the chase provides a remarkable range of landscape and wildlife, including a herd of around 800 fallow deer and a number of rare and endangered birds, including migrant nightjars . Efforts are underway to increase
1080-562: The A34 from Cannock to Stafford and the A460 from Cannock to Rugeley . Bus services are provided by Chaserider PyeGreen--Hednesford--Cannock--Pye Green and vice-versa, circular services 25/26 with a 15-or 30-minute frequency, Mon-Sat. The closest railway station is at Hednesford, which is on the Chase Line running from Rugeley Trent Valley to Birmingham New Street . In the past 100 years,
1140-642: The London Air Traffic Control Centre at West Drayton . The tower was designed by the architects of the Ministry of Public Building and Works : the chief architects were Eric Bedford and G. R. Yeats. Typical for its time, the building is concrete clad in glass. The narrow cylindrical shape was chosen because of the requirements of the communications aerials: the building will shift no more than 25 centimetres (10 in) in wind speeds of up to 150 km/h (95 mph). Initially,
1200-484: The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and this has continued in a more permanent form as BT Tower Observatory, an urban atmospheric pollution observatory to help monitor air quality in the capital. The aim is to measure pollutant levels above ground level to determine their source. One area of investigation is the long-range transport of fine particles from outside the city. On 21 February 2024, BT Group announced
1260-764: The 1970s and 1980s. In the meantime, council housing was developed east of this estate in conjunction with the coal board, bringing in an influx of mining families from Ayrshire, Northumberland and Durham , and South Wales in the 1960s to work in various pits in the Cannock Chase Coalfield . The land in the Pye Green Valley was developed in the 1980s onwards. This development has removed any green space gaps between Pye Green and Hednesford or Pye Green and Chadsmoor, and so it may not always be clear who lives in Pye Green and who doesn't. Land to
SECTION 20
#17327941430111320-474: The 2012 London Olympics. However, in December 2010, it was further announced that the plans to reopen had now been "quietly dropped", with no explanation of the decision. For the tower's 50th anniversary, the 34th floor was opened for three days from 3 to 5 October 2015 to 2,400 winners of a lottery. The BT Tower was given Grade II listed building status in 2003. Several of the defunct antennae attached to
1380-699: The Bromsgrove Sandstone. Older literature will often refer to the bunter sandstone, a name which geologists no longer apply to the New Red Sandstone of Britain. Southeast of Rugeley Road the bedrock is provided by the mudstones , siltstones and sandstones of the Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation, a succession dating from the end of the Carboniferous period, and which is separated from
1440-486: The Chase over the years, as at Wolseley today. The Chase is located between Hednesford , Huntington , Lichfield , Rugeley , Brocton , Milford and Stafford . It comprises a mixture of natural deciduous woodland, coniferous plantations, open heathland, small lakes and the remains of early industry, such as coal mining . The Chase was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) on 16 September 1958 and
1500-482: The MP Kate Hoey used the tower as an example of trivial information being kept officially secret, and joked that she hoped parliamentary privilege allowed her to confirm that the tower existed and to state its street address. The tower is still in use, and is the site of a major UK communications hub. Microwave links have been replaced by subterranean optical fibre links for most mainstream purposes, but
1560-403: The amount of heathland on the chase, reintroducing shrubs such as heather in some areas where bracken and birch forest have crowded out most other plants. The local flora also includes several species of Vaccinium , including the eponymous Cannock Chase berry ( Vaccinium × intermedium Ruthe). In January 2009, an outbreak of the plant pathogen Phytophthora ramorum was discovered on
1620-572: The area, and 3.2 million people live within a one hour drive of the area. It received an estimated 2.3 million visitors in 2010-11. There are a number of visitor centres, museums and waymarked paths, including the Heart of England Way and the Staffordshire Way . There are also accessible trails to enable people to experience the health benefits of the Chase, such as The Route to Health. Additionally, there are many unmarked public paths. On
1680-590: The bomb was claimed by members of the Angry Brigade , a far-left anarchist collective. A call was also made by a person claiming to be the Kilburn Battalion of the IRA . That act resulted in the tower being largely closed to the general public. The restaurant was closed to the public for security reasons a matter of months after the bombing in 1971. In 1980, Butlins' lease expired. Public access to
1740-456: The building ceased in 1981. The tower is sometimes used for corporate events, such as a children's Christmas party in December, BBC's telethon Children in Need ( Children in Need 2010 was hosted from the tower), and other special events; even though it is closed, the tower retains its revolving floor, providing a full panorama over London and the surrounding area. The first documented race up
1800-476: The building is by two high-speed lifts, which travel at a top speed of 1400 feet per minute (7 metres per second (15.7 mph)) and reach the top of the building in under 30 seconds. The original equipment was installed by the Express Lift Company of Northampton, but it has since been replaced by new elevators manufactured by ThyssenKrupp . Due to the confined space in the tower's core, removing
1860-413: The building were protected by this listing, meaning they could not be removed unless the appropriate listed building consent was granted. Permission for the removal of the defunct antennae was approved in 2011 on safety grounds, as they were in a bad state of repair and the fixings were no longer secure. The last of the antennae was removed in December 2011, leaving the core of the tower visible. Entry to
Pye Green - Misplaced Pages Continue
1920-571: The building's height and its having a tower crane jib across the top virtually throughout the whole construction period, it gradually became a very prominent landmark that could be seen from almost anywhere in London. A question was raised in Parliament in August 1963 about the crane. Reginald Bennett MP asked the Minister of Public Buildings and Works , Geoffrey Rippon , how, when the crane on
1980-469: The chase, at Brocton Coppice. Various restrictions were put in place in an attempt to prevent its spread. The chase is an important local amenity for recreation, with 58% of the National Landscape area publicly accessible, and several visitor attractions lie within it. While only around 10,000 people live within the National Landscape area itself, 135,000 people live within a 30 minute walk of
2040-408: The early 2000s introduced a 360° coloured lighting display at the top of the tower. Seven colours were programmed to vary constantly at night and intended to appear as a rotating globe to reflect BT's "connected world" corporate styling. The coloured lights give the tower a conspicuous presence on the London skyline at night. In October 2009, a 360° full-colour LED-based display system was installed at
2100-514: The early land management of the Chase, and aspects of the landscape's use in the First World War . 565 archaeological sites were mapped, with 436 of these sites new to the record. The area gained notoriety in the late 1960s when the Cannock Chase murders made national headlines. The remains of three young girls were found on the Chase after going missing from areas along the A34 road between there and Birmingham . Raymond Leslie Morris,
2160-830: The exception of the southeastern area, the Chase is almost wholly underlain by sandstones and conglomerates of the Chester Formation dating from the Triassic period. Formerly known as the Cannock Chase Formation, these form a part of the Sherwood Sandstone Group . Overlying these rocks in the Rugeley area are the, often pebbly, sandstones of the Helsby Sandstone Formation, formerly referred to in this area as
2220-486: The first 16 floors were for technical equipment and power. Above that was a 35-metre (115 ft) section for the microwave aerials, and above that were six floors of suites, kitchens, technical equipment, a revolving restaurant, and finally a cantilevered steel lattice tower. To prevent heat build-up, the glass cladding was of a special tint. The construction cost was £2.5 million. Construction began in June 1961; owing to
2280-511: The former are still in use at the tower. The second floor of the base of the tower contains the TV Network Switching Centre which carries broadcasting traffic and relays signals between television broadcasters, production companies, advertisers, international satellite services and uplink companies. The outside broadcast control is located above the former revolving restaurant, with the kitchens on floor 35. A renovation in
2340-596: The mining, and the canals, railways and other infrastructure which went with it, the closest pits were sunk down the Pye Green Valley, fringing the Green Heath, Blake Street (Belt Road) and the railway to Cannock. This was the site of West Cannock pits nos. 1, 3 and 4 . Pye Green is the administrative headquarters of Hednesford Town Council , which meets in the Pye Green Community Centre (opened 1974. and renovated about 2012). Pye Green lies in
2400-456: The motors of the old lifts involved creating an access hole in the cast iron shaft wall, and then cutting the 3-ton winch machines into pieces and bringing them down in one of the functioning lifts. In the 1960s an Act of Parliament was passed to vary fire regulations, allowing the building to be evacuated by using the lifts – unlike other buildings of the time. In 2006, the tower began to be used for short-term air-quality observations by
2460-748: The nearby M6 motorway and the West Coast Main Line ). The tower relays line-of-sight microwave communication links between equivalent towers at Sutton Common in Cheshire and in the centre of Birmingham , eventually down to London BT Tower . Near to the BT Tower is an older structure, the Pye Green Pumping Station and Water Tower , which has operated since 1934. Other pieces of history, now barely visible, included gallops for thoroughbreds dating from when Hednesford
Pye Green - Misplaced Pages Continue
2520-541: The north-eastern edge of the Chase can be found Shugborough Hall , ancestral home of the Earls of Lichfield . At its southern edge are the remains of Castle Ring , an Iron Age hill fort , which at 242 metres (794 ft) is the highest point on the Chase. Several glacial erratic boulders are also found on the Chase, remnants of glaciation . One is mounted on a plinth. The Chase has several war memorials , including German and Commonwealth war cemeteries. A memorial to
2580-475: The overlying New Red Sandstone rocks by an unconformity . The Hednesford Hills are formed by the Chester Formation sandstones. A 'humped profile' dry valley running west–east, and followed by the bridleway between Brocton and Beggar's Hill is interpreted as a glacial overflow channel , operative during the ice age . An expanse of glacial till underlies Haywood Warren with smaller patches mapped elsewhere. Sand and gravel have been quarried in different parts of
2640-481: The population of village has grown from possibly less than 150 people to perhaps as many as 6,000. This is mainly though council and coal board housing, and latterly through private housing, mainly down the Pye Green Valley. Today, therefore, the housing is mainly owner-occupied, with some private rentals and some council housing, being the remnants of the council housing which was not privately purchased by former tenants . The area also boasts nursery and primary schools,
2700-507: The previous pedestrian level crossing where multiple near misses indicated a high risk to cyclists. Since 2006, the forest has been used as an open-air music venue as part of the Forestry England nationwide Forest Live , with acts such as The Zutons , The Feeling , Status Quo and Jools Holland playing in a forest clearing. A model World War I battlefield was constructed near Brocton by German prisoners of war held in
2760-425: The sale of BT Tower to MCR Hotels , who plan to preserve the tower as a hotel. The tower has appeared in various novels, films, and television shows including Smashing Time , The Bourne Ultimatum , Space Patrol (1962) , Doctor Who , V for Vendetta , The Union and Danger Mouse . It is toppled by a giant kitten in the 1971 The Goodies episode " Kitten Kong ", a parody of King Kong . It
2820-460: The territories administered by Cannock Chase District Council and Staffordshire County Council . It is also in the Cannock Chase (UK Parliament constituency) . 52°43′01″N 2°00′58″W / 52.717°N 2.016°W / 52.717; -2.016 This Staffordshire location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Cannock Chase Cannock Chase , often referred to locally as The Chase ,
2880-406: The top of the new Tower had fulfilled its purpose, he proposed to remove it. Rippon replied: "This is a matter for the contractors. The problem does not have to be solved for about a year but there appears to be no danger of the crane having to be left in situ." Construction reached 475 ft by August 1963. The revolving restaurant was prefabricated by Ransomes and Rapiers of Ipswich. The steel lattice
2940-425: The top of the tower, to replace the previous colour projection system. The new display, referred to by BT as the "Information Band", is wrapped around the 36th and 37th floors of the tower, 167 m (548 ft) up, and comprises 529,750 LEDs arranged in 177 vertical strips, spaced around the tower. The display was the largest of its type in the world, occupying an area of 280 m (3,000 sq ft) and with
3000-455: The top. Much of the telecommunications equipment made by GEC of Coventry. Due to its importance to the national communications network, information about the tower was designated an official secret. In 1978, the journalist Duncan Campbell was tried for collecting information about secret locations, and during the trial the judge ordered that the sites could not be identified by name; the tower could only be referred to as 'Location 23'. It
3060-574: The total height to 620 feet (189 m). Upon completion in 1964, it overtook the Millbank Tower as the tallest structure in London until 1980, when it was overtaken by the NatWest Tower . It was opened in 1965 by Prime Minister Harold Wilson . A 360° coloured LED screen near the top of the tower displays news across central London. In February 2024, BT Group announced the sale of the tower to MCR Hotels , who plan to turn it into
SECTION 50
#17327941430113120-408: The tower's stairs was on 18 April 1968, between University College London and Edinburgh University ; it was won by an Edinburgh runner in 4 minutes, 46 seconds. In 1969, eight university teams competed, with John Pearson from Manchester University winning in a time of 5 minutes, 6 seconds. The first microwave link would be to Norwich on 1 January 1965. The Met Office put their weather radar on
3180-535: The victims of the Katyn massacre was unveiled by Stefan Staniszewski, whose father Hillary, Zygmunt Staniszewski, died in the massacre. Preserved below the memorial are phials of soil from both Warsaw and the Katyn forest . Freda, the Harlequin Great Dane mascot of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade (Earl of Liverpool's Own) is also buried on the chase marked with a memorial marble headstone. The Chase
3240-433: The well-preserved battlefield, revealing many new details. Staffordshire County Council used laser-scanning technology to recreate the site as a 3D interactive model that can be explored online. The model was open to public view for a few weeks before being buried again to ensure its preservation. The Chase Through Time project (2016–18) explored two thousand years of the history of the landscape of Cannock Chase AONB. It
3300-549: The west and north of the built area comprises what remains of The Chase , or Cannock Forest . Close by are the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and German Military Cemetery , and the ruined remains of Brindley Village and of RAF Hednesford . The road out of Pye Green to the north-west towards Stafford climbs to the highest point for miles around. Because of this height, it hosts the local BT communications tower landmark (which can be seen from
3360-574: Was a partnership between Staffordshire County Council , Historic England and the Heritage Lottery Fund . An archaeological survey using lidar which enabled researchers to see beneath trees coverage, and map usually unseen archaeological features in combination with historic aerial photographs, which illustrated changes to the landscape over the last 70 years. The project mapped archaeology from prehistoric burnt mounds, medieval and later coal mining, post medieval land division showing
3420-421: Was a significant training centre, before and during the advent of coal mining. They included a mission church (St. Marks) and a chapel (top of Bradbury Lane) which were part of the extension of christian buildings into the area in the 1890s. They included three working men's clubs which went with mining - only one still operates. The chapel (which was later part of one of the clubs and turf accountant's and then of
3480-549: Was founded in 1915 by Danish Peter Lind (he died aged 66 in Surrey in December 1966), headquartered on Watling Street in Cannock . The tower was originally designed to be just 111 metres (364 ft) high; its foundations are sunk down through 53 metres (174 ft) of London clay , and are formed of a concrete raft 27 metres (89 ft) square, 1 metre (3 ft) thick, reinforced with six layers of cables, on top of which sits
3540-507: Was issued on 8 October 1965 for the new tower, which had followed a set of stamps in the previous month for the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Britain . The stamps also featured Nash Terrace. A bomb exploded in the roof of the men's toilets at the Top of the Tower restaurant at 04:30 on 31 October 1971, the blast damaged buildings and cars up to 400 yards (370 m) away. Responsibility for
3600-564: Was made by Tubewrights Ltd of the Kirkby Industrial Estate (established in 1952, after it moved from Newport in Monmouthshire), owned by Stewart's & Lloyd's. The tower was topped out on 15 July 1964, by Conservative MP for Norwich South , Geoffrey Rippon . It was officially opened by the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson on 8 October 1965. The main contractor was Peter Lind & Company . The company
#10989