Rugeley: Staffordshire Town Between Cannock Chase and the Trent Valley
Rugeley sits on the northern edge of Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, about 10 miles southeast of Stafford. The population is around 24,000. The town occupies a position between the elevated heathland of Cannock Chase to the south and the Trent Valley to the north. Rugeley Power Station, a coal-fired plant with cooling towers that dominated the skyline for decades, was demolished in 2021 and 2022. The site is being redeveloped. The town has older associations too: William Palmer, the "Rugeley Poisoner," was convicted in 1856 of murdering a friend by strychnine, and his case was one of the most sensational murder trials of the Victorian era. There was a subsequent attempt to rename the town to distance it from Palmer, though the effort failed.
The town centre along Horse Fair, Brook Square, and Albion Street has a market on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Rugeley has two railway stations: Rugeley Town on the Chase Line with services to Birmingham New Street in about 40 minutes, and Rugeley Trent Valley on the West Coast Main Line with longer-distance connections. Cannock Chase, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, begins immediately south of the town. The A51 connects to Lichfield and the A460 heads south to Cannock.
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Rugeley sits on the northern edge of Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, about 10 miles southeast of Stafford. The population is around 24,000. The town occupies a position between the elevated heathland of Cannock Chase to the south and the Trent Valley to the north. Rugeley Power Station, a coal-fired plant with cooling towers that dominated the skyline for decades, was demolished in 2021 and 2022. The site is being redeveloped. The town has older associations too: William Palmer, the "Rugeley Poisoner," was convicted in 1856 of murdering a friend by strychnine, and his case was one of the most sensational murder trials of the Victorian era. There was a subsequent attempt to rename the town to distance it from Palmer, though the effort failed.
The town centre along Horse Fair, Brook Square, and Albion Street has a market on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Rugeley has two railway stations: Rugeley Town on the Chase Line with services to Birmingham New Street in about 40 minutes, and Rugeley Trent Valley on the West Coast Main Line with longer-distance connections. Cannock Chase, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, begins immediately south of the town. The A51 connects to Lichfield and the A460 heads south to Cannock.
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