The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-21 00:00:00

PROPOSED INTERNAL ARSENAL ON CANNOCIC

__CHASE.
•
During the investigations of the National De-
fence Commissioners, the question of the expediency
of establishing a central depot, or internal arsenal;
considering the exposed situation of Woolwich,
continuously occupied their attention, and the more
so as, towards the end of November last, the Go-
vernment decided that it was desirable that the

store of guns and warlike materiel should no longer
be concentrated in one place and requested the com-
missioners to report upon a suitable site, pointing
to Weedon in particular, which had been recom-
mended by a previous commission. The Defence
Comissioners, after a visit to Weedon and a care-
ful Aa*sination of the Government establishment
there and the surrounding country, came to the
conclusion, which they reported to the Secretary
for War, that the place did not afford facilities for
such defences by intrenchment as would be necessary
to give security to the valuable public pi operty which
it is proposed to deposit there ; that the defensive
works would be divided into four detached portions,
in as many deep valleys, and that the fall of any
one part would give an enemy fatal command of the
proposed arsenal. On the eastern and western sides,
they said, it could not be defended from bombard-
ment without such a development of fortification as
would be justified only on the score of defend-
ing a place of most vital importance. Besides, they
added, the buildings now existing at Weedon are of
second-rate consideration, and the place is difficult
of access from the sea. • A new arsenal, they said,
involving as it must considerable outlay in fortifica-
tion, as well as the maintenance of a large garrison,
should be so situated as to form a rallying point for
defenders of the country in the event of London
falling into the hands of an enemy. The commis-
sioners haw since, and that very recently, reported
their opinion that the proposed second arsenal
should, as far as possible, be complementary to
Woolwich, that it should possess those properties in
which the latter is deficient, that it should be situated
nearly in the centre of the country, and, as far as
possible, out of the reach of an enemy making a
descent on our shores from any quarter. The dis-
trict of Cannock Chase, situated in Staffordshire, is
in their opinion the best that could be selected as
regards its strategical position ; besides possessing
all the requirements for an internal arsenal in a very
remarkable degree. The particular spot to which they
direct attention is the highest plateau of that open
moorland district, containing about 3,000 acres,
principally common land, having few enclosures, and
possessing every capability for defence. It is divi-
ded, they say, from a district rich'in coal, only by a
" fault" on the upper side of which no minerals are
found, and the land being gravel and sand, without
any loam on the surface, is wholly unsuited for
agricultural, and almost equally so for even grazing
purposes, and may, therefore, they assume, be
obtained at a moderate cost. The district, they
add, is healthy, well supplied with water, and
possesses excellent stone for building purposes ; lime-
stone is also abundant in the locality, and excel-
lent clay for making bricks. It is, moreover, near
to Wolverhampton, Walsall, Birmingham, and
other great centres of the iron manufacture, and
thus able to command an almost unlimited sup-
ply of skilled labour on an emergency. Being
in the middle of Staffordshire they point to its cen-
tral position with reference to sea-ports, while it is,
at the same time, well retired from the coasts. They
remark, also, on its being in the centre of an exten-
sive system of railways and canals, requiring only
to be connected by short branches to afford easy
communication with every part of the kingdom. A
locomotive railway, they state, might, if desired, be
carried round the enclosure. They continue to say,
" On the west Side tke site would thus be connected
with the Cannock Mineral Railway of the London
and North-Western system, and by means of it with
the Trent Valley Railway, near Rugeley, which
runs to the ports of London, Liverpool, and Holy-
head. On the east side the line will connect the
proposed works with the South Staffordshire Rail-
way, and by means of it will have another inde-
pendent communication with the Trent Valley at
Lichfield, and also with the Midland Railway,
running to the ports of Bristol and Morecambe
Bay on the west coast, and Hull and Great Grimsby
on the east coast of England, and, by means of it
and the Great Northern, with London and Edin-
burgh. On the south side it will join the Norton
branch of the South Staffordshire Railway, and
by means of it will form a junction with
the London and North-Western and Grand Junc-
tion lines, and thus form another route to Liver-
pool and London. By means of the South Staf-
fordshire it will form a junction with the mixed
gauge lines of railway at Wednesbury, and thus
secure another independent route to the north,
south, and west of England. At Dudley it will
join the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton
Railway, which opens another route to the west
and to South Wales. A canal may also bo run
round the enclosure, and join by means of loc)s,
with the Birmingham Canal, which is con-
nected either by basins or branch canals with nearly
every work in the manufacturing district of South
Staffordshire, and is on the same level from Cannock
Chase to Wolverhampton, Oldbury, Smethwick, and
Birmingham. It also communicates with the other
canals of England, ,and affords access to London,
Liverpool, Glocester, and Hull." The question of
the cost of the proposed arsenal is reserved by the
commissioners for a subsequent report.

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