Sometimes you just have to go with your heart. I’ve been so taken with the book I recently acquired, ‘Memories of Old Walsall Wood’ by Bill Mayo and John Sale, that I just had to raid it yet again for some of the excellent pictures it contains. I love The Wood; it still retains its village atmosphere long after it became joined to Brownhills by development, and this charming, leafy place still hums with activity on weekdays.
‘Memories of Old Walsall Wood’ was very hard to obtain, but is a fascinating evocation of times past. Sometimes, you can’t really theme a feature, so I just thought I’d pull some interesting pictures out into the light that may trigger a few memories or queries.
I pay tribute to the authors, and thank them for their work to preserve our history.
I can't imagine trams rattling down the High Street, but it's stunning to see just how many of these buildings remain.
This is a lovely image. I wonder if David Yates is still around? It conjours up the passing of an age, and of a slightly more rural Walsall Wood. Anyone know why this bridge - still present at the bottom end of Vigo Road - was so called?
I'm interested in the background of this one, because I can't make sense of it. There's the pithead and slag heap of Walsall Wood Pit in the background of the lower picture, so the photographer must be facing north, with what would become Oak Park's football field in the middleground. What's the house? Not noticed that recorded anywhere. Who lived there? When was it demolished? I geuss it would be around about where the derelict groundsmen's compound is now?
It took me a while to work this one out. The train is legendary - I have a couple of mates who swear they travelled on it - looks to be heading north toward Clayhanger. The bridge under the Lichfield Road is in the background, old station building to the left of shot; that house must have been Claytons, where the newsagents was in the eighties. Nice to see that train enthusiats don't change much... that pose with the jacket behind the back can be seen on platforms accross the country daily.
Walsall Wood Cricket Club was behind the Church, just between what is now Bridgewater Close and the High Street. I remember the railings and grass, but it was sadly lost in the eighties. Do you know any of these gentlemen?