Top reader, local history ferret, plotter and friend of the Brownhills Blog [Howmuch?] raised a good question the other day that readers may be able to assist with – particularly those of a Walsall Wood/Shelfield persuasion. He posed the following conundrum:
Hello Bob,
Can you ask the readers if anyone knows how an area located between Walsall Wood and Shelfield got the name of Irondish?I have seen it on a map dating 1760s and I have spoken to a man from Shelfield who still knows it as the Iron Dish. Can anyone out there help with an answer?
Cheers…
Howmuch?
Irondish is marked on the 1834 1:2500 scale Ordnance Survey plot of the area, which I include below, the location in question ringed in red. It stands to the west of where the commercial vehicle sales pitch is today, just on the Shelfield border with Jockey Meadows. The track marked alongside it to the east, heading toward Green Lane can still be discerned, and indeed, still exists, now truncated and leading to green fields Road. It’s interesting to note that at least the partial outline of Irondish can be seen in the modern landscape and shape of the land enclosing it.
Come on folks, what do you know? Comment here, or BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com.
1884 1:2500 map of Jockey Meadows. Irondish is bottom left, just off the Lichfield road.
The above map overlaid onto Google Earth imagery. If anyone wants a copy of the overlay, please shout up.