Charnwood Forest is ahilly tract in north-westernLeicestershire,England, bounded byLeicester,Loughborough andCoalville. The area is undulating, rocky and picturesque, with barren areas. It also has some extensive tracts ofwoodland, and significantPrecambrian geology. Its elevation is generally 600 feet (180 m) and upwards, the area exceeding this height being about 6,100 acres (25 km²). The highest point,Bardon Hill, is 912 feet (278 m). On its western flank lies an abandonedcoalfield, withCoalville and other former mining villages,^[1] now being regenerated and replanted as part of theNational Forest. TheM1 motorway, between junctions 22 and 23, cuts through Charnwood Forest.

The hard stone of Charnwood Forest has been quarried for centuries,^[2] and was a source ofwhetstones andquern-stones. Thegranite quarries atBardon Hill, Buddon Hill andWhitwick supply crushed aggregate to a wide area of southern Britain.

The forest is an important recreational area with woodland walks, noted for their displays ofbluebells in the early spring,rock climbing andhillwalking. Popular places with public access includeBardon Hill,Beacon Hill,Bradgate Park,Swithland Wood, theOutwoods andStoneywell cottage (National Trust).

The area of hills and open land known as Charnwood Forest has no jurisdictional boundary (theBorough of Charnwood covers roughly two thirds of Charnwood Forest, and the eastern half of the borough is not part of the forest). Furthermore, despite its name, Charnwood was never aroyal forest, and was never subject toforest law.^[3] So although it is an ancient and well-established locality,^[4] it has only recently been officially defined, by theNatural EnglandNational Character Area (NCA) process,^[5][6] which takes a somewhat wider definition than many previous attempts to define the area.^[7][8]

Many of the craggy rocks of Charnwood Forest are of volcanic origin and are very old, dating back through 600 million years toPrecambrian times.^[9] It was the site of the first-ever recorded discovery ofCharnia masoni, the earliest-known large, complex fossilised species on record, recovered from a quarry near the Charnwood village ofWoodhouse Eaves. It was discovered separately in 1956 and 1957 by local schoolchildrenTina Negus andRoger Mason, although it was Mason who received the credit (thusmasoni). Since this find in Charnwood Forest, Precambrian fossils have been discovered across the world.^[10][11][12]

Along the western edge of Charnwood Forest the rocks are mainly Precambrian igneousdiorites. These formed from molten lava deep within the sedimentary rocks, cooling slowly to produce hard, blocky rock with large crystals. This is extensively quarried for roadstone aroundGroby,Markfield andWhitwick, and is known as granite (formerly also called Markfieldite).^[13]

The central area of the forest has older rocks still. 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.^[14] On the eastern side, a much more recent series of rocks are found. Again igneous diorites, that formed deep underground, but these areOrdovician, from a mere 450 million years ago.^[15] These are extensively quarried in the areas nearMountsorrel.

The earliest form of the name Charnwood is probably derived fromcerne woda, from the Celticcarn, meaningcairn, and theOld Englishwudu, meaning wood. Some sources givecwern as the derivation, meaning a tool used to grind grain and other materials by hand. The area was a source of stone for these tools, calledquern-stones.^[16]

Archeological evidence has shown that the area was inhabited as far back as the Neolithic period, approximately 4,000–2,000 BC. Beacon Hill is the site of a Bronze Age hill fort, dating from between 600 BC and 43 AD. This forms one of the last surviving visible features in the landscape known to theCoritani, the tribe who occupied most of theEast Midlands area at the time of the Roman Conquest.

According toDomesday Book, there was only one settlement in Charnwood Forest in 1086, atCharley whose name would appear to come from the same root, with the suffix-ley denoting open land, rather than forest.

In the 200 years after theNorman conquest, newly created settlements took major areas of land out of the forest for use in agriculture.Quorn was established between 1086 and 1153, and all the land up toWoodhouse had been deforested by 1228.

There were comparatively few major changes in land use in the post Medieval period, until the demand for timber and charcoal for the earlyIndustrial Revolution contributed to a further loss of woodland. By the end of the 18th century, most of the woodland had disappeared leaving large areas of moorland and pasture.

In 1957, Charnwood Forest was considered for designation as anArea of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), but the designation was not made due to the construction of theM1 motorway through the area.^[17][18]

The area was the inspiration for "Charnwood Poems", a collection of poems by the author, playwright and poetAlbert Francis Cross (1863–1940). It is also the setting for the speculative fiction novelSome Kind of Fairy Tale byGraham Joyce (2012), in which it is depicted as a possible portal to the realm offairies.

Charnwood Forest covers approx 67 sq mi (170 km²) ofLeicestershire, split over three local government districts:Charnwood Borough,North West Leicestershire District andHinckley and Bosworth District. It includes anational nature reserve (NNR), 19SSSIs (Some subdivided in the list of sites below), 4Geological Conservation Review (GCR) sites of international geological importance plus a further 6 GCR sites, 13regionally important geological sites (RIGS), fivelocal nature reserves (LNRs), sevenLeicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust (LRWT) nature reserves, and oneWoodland Trust woodland. Seventeen sites have open access to the public. Footpaths and bridleways give views and limited access to the other sites listed, and to the rest of the Charnwood Forest landscape. Over half of Charnwood Forest is included within the EnglishNational Forest. It is also crossed by two waymarked long distance walking routes—the Leicestershire Round and the Ivanhoe Way.^[19] The 45 sites listed here include sites with statutory wildlife or geological designations, plus other sites included in published lists of notable sites. On both the map and table, green denotes a site open to the public, amber denotes a site with limited access or restricted by permit or membership. Red denotes a site with no public access except by special arrangement with the owners.

Plants found within the woods includeDigitalis purpurea,Dactylorhiza fuchsii,Sorbus torminalis andVaccinium myrtilus.

Abbreviations used in the table:National nature reserve (NNR).Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) (B=Biological, G=Geological).Geological Conservation Review (GCR)(I=of International importance).^[61] Regionally Important Geological Site (RIGS).Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust (LRWT). National Trust (NT).Local nature reserve (LNR).

• Henry Walter Bates
• Thomas George Bonney
• Borough of Charnwood
• Quorn Hunt
• Charnia

• Ambrose, Keith; Carney, John; Lott, Graham; Weightman, Gill; McGrath, Annette (2007).Exploring the landscape of Charnwood Forest and Mountsorrel: a walkers' guide to the rocks and landscape of Charnwood Forest and Mountsorrel. Keyworth, Nottingham:British Geological Survey.ISBN 978-0-85272-570-2.
• Bevins, Richard E. (2010).Mineralization of England and Wales. Geological Conservation Review Series. Peterborough: Joint Nature Conservation Committee.ISBN 978-1-8610-7566-6.
• Carney, J. N.; Horak, J. M.; Pharaoh, T. C.; Gibbons, W.; Wilson, D.; Barclay, W. J.; Bevins, R. E.; Cope, J. C. W.; Ford, T. D. (2000).Precambrian Rocks of England and Wales(PDF). Geological Conservation Review Series, No.20. Peterborough:Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
• Carney, J. N. (2010).Guide to the Geology of Bradgate Park and Swithland Wood, Charnwood Forest(PDF). Occasional Report, OR/10/041.British Geological Survey. (This report includes two high-quality geological maps)
• "Charnwood History Overview". People Making Places 2000: A creative Map of Charnwood. Archived from the original on 14 February 2010. Retrieved7 August 2010.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Charnwood Forest".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 948.
• Crocker, John, ed. (1981).Charnwood Forest: a Changing Landscape. Loughborough Naturalists' Club.ISBN 0-905837-10-X.
• Hirst, Alison (1997).Charnwood Forest: Natural area Profile(PDF).
• Squires, A. E.; Humphrey, W. (1986).The Medieval Parks of Charnwood Forest. Sycamore Press.ISBN 0-905837-15-0.
• Squires, A. E. (1981). "History of the Charnwood Forest Landscape". In John Crocker (ed.).Charnwood Forest: a Changing Landscape. Loughborough Naturalists' Club.ISBN 0-905837-10-X.
• Webster, Michael (1997).Birds of Charnwood. Kairos Press.ISBN 1-871344-12-3.

• Charnwood forest geology.
• Beacon Hill Country Park

52°42′N1°15′W / 52.70°N 1.25°W /52.70; -1.25

• Forests and woodlands of Leicestershire
• Hills of Leicestershire
• Borough of Charnwood

• CS1: unfit URL
• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from July 2014
• Use British English from July 2014
• Articles with OS grid coordinates
• Lists of coordinates
• Geographic coordinate lists
• Articles with Geo
• Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference
• Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
• Coordinates on Wikidata