Situtated at the fenced off, disused Lichfield Road entrance to Sandhills Quarry, I spotted this derelect, boarded up bungalow. Anyone know the story? Who lived here? What was it used for, if not a dwelling? 5:36pm, Sunday, 15th May 2011.
Returning to the subject of an old post, I had an email yesterday from reader Becky, whose father was probably the last person to live at the old bungalow, built on the abandoned access road to the former quarry (now a landfill) at Sandhills.
There’s a little bit of information here, previously spotted by ninja local historian, Paul Ford.
Becky is interested in the current status of this tiny, forgotten house:
Hi Bob
A while ago you posted a section on your website , about the derelict Bungalow, on the entrance of the Sandhill quarry, on the Lichfield rd.
My dad , who worked for Tarmac, and lived in that house during the 90’s. I spent a lot of time there as a child.
The reason I am writing to you is that I was quite sad to see the bungalow all boarded up, especially since my dad passed away from cancer a few years ago. I was just wondering whether the bungalow is still standing? And if so, do you know what the plans are for it?
I’d love to travel over and have a look , before it’s knocked down.
Any info you can offer is much appreciated.
Thank you,
Becky.
This is interesting to me, as a couple of months ago I’d have sworn I saw a For Sale sign up by the old driveway, and made a note to photograph it the next day – by which time, it had gone.
There is nothing on the Walsall planning system, but since the driveway to the quarry is now blocked beyond the bungalow, it must be quite a saleable patch of land.
I think the house itself is still just about standing, but inaccessible as heavy gates prevent you getting close.
If you have any info, please comment here or mail me on BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com. Cheers.
RSS - Posts
Evening all…….. There was (still is as far as I am aware) a proposed sale of land which may or may not include this old house. I’m fairly sure I saw it detailed in the Advertiser or similar quite recently, I think what has put people (developers) off is that the drive from the Lichfield Road to the land is the old Quarry entrance / exit, and whilst the Quarry owners have stated that they have no intentions of using it in the future, any sale would involve sharing the driveway with the Quarry owners. So, whilst you will have access to the land it would be on land that you owned in partnership with the Quarry. What happens if they change their mind………..???
The Quarry owners have put up for sale the land containing the derelict house, the small piece of land on the opposite side of the entry, and the land at the back of the 4 houses on the south side of the entry. The land was being offered for sale without any planning consent and they were asking £65000. The chances are that they will get permission to replace the old bungalow, but nothing else, as it is in Green Belt.
Wow, I can’t believe I came across this! I lived in the house from 1974 aged 8yrs old until I was 15yrs old. I have a few pics somewhere. My Dad was working for the Topmix/ Hoveringham Group.. He was the Area Sales Manager based in the quarry. It was a working quarry back then. We rented the house but My Dad wanted to buy it but they wouldn’t sell as the land was owned by the company and they wouldn’t leasehold because they said no owners would put up with concrete trucks coming past all day.. It was seriously dusty in the summer.
Ok here’s what I know about the house… It was 28 Lichfield Road and was called ‘The Bungalow’. It had to be ‘renovated’ for us to move in because it had been vandalised by what my mum called ‘Hells Angels’ while standing vacant. I did meet someone who grew up there before me but she didn’t know too much about the house.
The house is actually quite a good size, it was almost dead square with four rooms off a central hallway [that ran the length of the house] plus one large bedroom in the roof. At a later unknown date a flat roof kitchen extension and glass out house were built on the RHS of the house. There was a really nice big porch on the front which is missing in the pic. There were outbuildings [toilet and coal shed I guess] at the back and the really incredible thing is that there was also an apple orchard with about 30 apple trees and a few pear trees too. There were mushroom sheds at the entrance to the orchards too. Most folks on the main road had a gate in their back garden fence so they could go ‘scrumping’ lol. The large flat area on the lower part of the field was once a tennis court. There were 3 massive Sycamore trees planted in a row close together which were great for climbing. The Bungalow also had amazing gardens to the side (which extended all the way up to Lichfield Rd and also the same at the back. The gardens had flower beds and intricate pathways that in their day must have been incredible. When we got there in 1974 they were already very overgrown. We exposed most of the original gardens and my dad used to grow loads of vegetables. I loved growing up there, me and my brother used to play out in the orchard / field and down the quarry all the time. Such a shame the house was left to rot like that. Please feel free to ask me any questions. All the best, Ian.
My dad lived there after you ! Loved that house , grew up there . Do you know if it’s been demolished yet ?
Thanks ,
Rebecca
Hi Rebecca, lovely to see your comment. Yes it was a great place to grow up. It’s still there but really just a wreck now. I guess they’ll pull it down as they’ve quarried almost up to it. There’s quite a lot more that I wrote about the bungalow on BB too. ES the ‘field’ still accesssble when you lived there? Me and my brother used to live playing there and climbing those 3 big sycamore trees. We built a tree house in one of them but I fell to bits in a storm. Did you ever explore the lofts. We used to live going in there. When we moved in the place needed to be reserved for woodworm and the guy who did the treatment pulled quite s few relics out of the loft. Old toys etc. Did you go to Shire Oak school. What’s your last name? My brother is younger than me. Might know you?
Cheers, Ian.