Hednesford (pronounced ) is a historic market town in the Cannock Chase district of Staffordshire, England. Cannock Chase is to the north, the town of Cannock to the south and Rugeley to the southwest.The population at the 2011 census was 17,343. It also comprises the civil parish of Hednesford and part of the civil parish of Brindley Heath. History Hednesford was a coal mining community for over a century. This is commemorated in the town centre, where a Miner's Lamp has been erected, surrounded by a wall with individual bricks giving the names of former miners. The oldest sections of the town surround the hilltop areas of the existing town; however, the lower part of the town became the focal point as the community grew with the mining industry. Between 1914 and 1918 two army training camps were built in the area and over a quarter of a million British and Commonwealth troops passed through destined for the Western Front. In 1938 a Royal Air Force training camp was established to train technicians in maintenance and repair of airframes and engines. No. 6 School of Technical training became better known as RAF Hednesford. The camp was later used for resettlement of Hungarian refugees fleeing from the Russian invasion of Budapest, in 1956. The site is now a part of Cannock Chase Country Park. The urban area of Hednesford now spreads across a swathe of the northern fringe of Cannock, from Pye Green across to Heath Hayes, and is the southern gateway to Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Economically Hednesford has suffered since the 1980s as more people travel to the larger towns and cities nearby and due to the absence of redevelopment it retains a traditional street scene with many sole traders operating speciality shops. However, the area around Anglesey Square has been landscaped to provide a public space with a public clock as a central feature. A £50 million regeneration of the town centre has taken place, with an 80,000sq ft Tesco store being the centre piece. Also, a new drill hall for the local Army Cadet Force Detachment, shops and bingo hall were constructed in 2012. The Tesco site is known as Victoria Shopping Park and the Bingo/Aldi site as Chase Gateway. Currently, a £2.2 million grant, from Heritage Lottery Fund Grant, is being used to fund a refurbishment of Hednesford Park. Demography Town In