When we discussed a couple of missing pubs in the area, The Coach & Horses and Royal Oak, an interesting observation was made by reader Caz.
I’ve been talking to a man today who’s lived near the Blackcock all his life and he said that the Royal Oak pub was across the road from the Blackcock pub in Green Lane, Walsall Wood. There was also a mortuary there and a row of houses. Hope this jogs someones memory.
I’ve heard the mortuary thing before, and disregarded it. Talking about the map I featured in the last post about Walsall Wood Colliery, the sharp-eyed top local history buff [Howmuch?] pointed out that the morgue in question was marked at the edge of that extract. In disbelief, I checked, and he’s quite right, there’s a small building marked ‘mort’, just the other side of the canal. I decided to pull up some old maps, that better show the area, formerly known as Bullings Heath.
1938 1:2500 Scale extract of Bullens Heath: note changes in the arrangement of the Hall Lane Junction. The mortuary is marked just north of that junction, above the wharf.
Central extract showing the mortuary.
I’m puzzled by this – it was still marked on the 1956 maps, but no trace remains today. To try and clarify the situation, I overlaid the map extract on Google Earth.
It can be seen that the farmhouse still exists, and that the area where the mortuary was is clear of buildings, although the scrub shows a different coulour.
You can download the overlay yourselves and play around with it in Google Earth. I know nothing about the mortuary itself – I can find no reference on the internet, and it’s existence has quite surprised me. Whether it was a civil facility, or that of a local undertaker I have no idea, but I’d like to find out more about it. Here’s a series of maps that show the same area over time:
1888 1:2500 shows the building present, but unmarked.
By 1902, buildings had appeared alonside the canal. Note Camden Street is called Bullings Heath.
As usual, if you know anything, please do comment or mail me. I’d love to hear what you have to say…