There’s some great stuff coming in about local wartime air raids. Please keep it coming, I will post some more later, but in the mean time, I received this comment on my original post about Jockey Meadows and the apparent scarring in the fields.
For what it’s worth, I’m not convinced that it’s just a wet patch in the fields in Walsall Wood; looking at several editions of aerial photograph show water nearby, but not corresponding with that outline. Besides which, compare the larger pool to the other two; does that not look like it’s surrounded by freshly turned soil? It’s a conundrum, for sure. I also can’t find any official sign of abstraction rights being granted for that side of the Lichfield Road, either. The plot thickens.
Reader Jim had this to say:
If its bomb craters you’re looking for Bob I’ve got a prime candidate I assume it must be from the Highbridges raid the Google earth coordinates are below just scroll back to the 1945 coverage. You don’t usually get perfectly round craters like that from anything other than bombs and I recon from its size its got to be from a 2000lb.
52°38’17.73″N 1°58’14.12″W
I dutifully headed off to Google Earth to check this out – Jim is quite correct, there’s something quite unusual there. To save time, I’ve taken a screenshot and highlighted the indentation that I think he’s referring to. I’s lost under a pool in more recent editions of maps and aerial photographs. It is, of course, possible that the pool formed because of the crater.
Gogle Earth 1945 imagery of Pelsall North Common, just by the Fingerpost Pub (formerly the "Royal Oak'). Jim's right: that's a big, round crater. CLick on image for a larger version.
If you have anything to add, please do comment here – I’d really like to form a comprehensive record of raids in the Walsall area, and the effect they had on local communities.