This morning, I received a blog comment from [Amme], who asked this:
Hi bob, I have a challenge for you.
WE live in clayhanger and my hubby was looking for a bike route when has found a map of where we live and it has a lake on it where our house is!!!!! I have tried to find an old map of the area but have failed can you help at all??? I know it used to be an old pig farm but thats all. I will gladly send you the link of the map privatley.
Kindest regards
Amme
Never one to resist a challenge, I hurriedly prepared the following:
Clayhanger, from the Ordnance Survey 1834 edition
Clayhanger, from the Ordnance Survey 1901 edition. The highlighted area is Swingbridge Farm, the former Pig Farm
Clayhanger, from the Ordnance Survey 1902 edition
Clayhanger, from the Ordnance Survey 1950 series
Clayhanger Common - then known as 'The Spot', from a 1956 OS survey. This was an area that later became a refuse tip. It was prone to flooding, and before drainage works and subsequent landscaping, the village regularly flooded.
The pig farm will be well-remembered by the residents of both Clayhanger and Brownhills, both for the distinctive smell that used to permeate the town, and for the regular escapes of pigs who used to root and churn up the canal towpath. I think it closed in the late eighties or early nineties. It was where the area of wasteland exists beside the new estate, between the meadow and canal. The meadow was left untouched during the housing development due to its’ use as a disposal pit for the livestock culled during the 1960’s foot and mouth outbreak. There’s still some footings left from the farm, recorded in my Panoramio gallery (click the image for a larger view):
In case you’re wondering, there’s an old saying in Brownhills that Clayhanger is an Island; you can’t get in or out without crossing water. The village has improved much over the past couple of decades, and it’s a subject I shall return to in future posts. As to bike tracks, in the local area, if you can cycle there, I know the route… I hope this has been of some help, if you need and further help, please don’t hesitate to ask.
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Hello Bob with regard to the pool in Clayhanger ( shown in your multi coloured map which straddles the yellow road entering Clayhanger from Shire Oak direction) This was known then as Jones pool and actually went under the road through large pipes. As kids then we used to fish the larger piece of water which was eventually filled in by the refuse tip as it expanded. It was known as Jones pool because we believed it to belong to the Jones family who lived in the big house in the grounds where the smaller part of the pool was. The Jones’s owned and ran a fleet of Tipper lorries in the name of Gentleshaw sand and Gravel who’s yard was on the same road but on the other side of the ”sandy bridge” going over the canal. Kind regards oakparkrunner
Talking of Clayhanger and crossing water, how about the old canal bridge- it made Black Cock Bridge look very tame, and I remember it gained traffic lights for a few years before it was replaced.