Cannock is a town in Staffordshire, England, just north of the West Midlands conurbation. It sits to the south of Cannock Chase, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is administered as part of Cannock Chase district. Cannock lies on the M6 Toll, A34 and A5 roads, to the north of the Black Country (about 11 km) and south of Stafford (about 13 km). It is served by a railway station on the Chase Line. Its nearest towns and villages include Hednesford, Cheslyn Hay, Heath Hayes, Rugeley, Norton Canes, Great Wyrley, Cannock Wood, Bridgtown and Burntwood. Its name comes from the Celtic cnoc, meaning hill. It is first recorded in the unlikely form Chenet in the Domesday Book, probably due to the information being written down by a Norman scribe with less than perfect knowledge of English. The town was very small until coal mining increased heavily during the mid to late nineteenth century. The area then continued to grow rapidly with many industries coming to the area because of its proximity to the Black Country and because of its coal reserves. After the Second World War the town's population again increased and has kept on increasing ever since as many new residential developments are built as commuting areas for Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall and Stafford. Cannock railway station was closed in the 1960s as part of the Beeching Axe. It reopened in 1989. More on Cannock