Charnwood Forest

Charnwood Forest is a hilly tract in north-western Leicestershire, England, bounded by Leicester, Loughborough and Coalville.

On its western flank lies an abandoned coalfield, with Coalville and other former mining villages,[1] now being regenerated and replanted as part of the National Forest.

The forest is an important recreational area with woodland walks, noted for their displays of bluebells in the early spring, rock climbing and hillwalking.

[7][8] Many of the craggy rocks of Charnwood Forest are of volcanic origin and are very old, dating back through 600 million years to Precambrian times.

These are sedimentary and are very variable in character, They were formed by material from volcanoes, settling in deep water, and it is in these beds that the fossils are found.

Uplifting, tilting and erosion have produced the distinctive jagged exposures found across the highest parts of Charnwood.

This forms one of the last surviving visible features in the landscape known to the Coritani, the tribe who occupied most of the East Midlands area at the time of the Roman Conquest.

In the 200 years after the Norman conquest, newly created settlements took major areas of land out of the forest for use in agriculture.

There were comparatively few major changes in land use in the post Medieval period, until the demand for timber and charcoal for the early Industrial Revolution contributed to a further loss of woodland.

Footpaths and bridleways give views and limited access to the other sites listed, and to the rest of the Charnwood Forest landscape.

Plants found within the woods include Digitalis purpurea, Dactylorhiza fuchsii, Sorbus torminalis and Vaccinium myrtilus.