Footherley is a small hamlet south of Shenstone, about 4 miles from Brownhills. Imagery from current Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 mapping.
One for the weekend I’ve been meaning to raise here for a while – there’s a historical mystery just down the road from here we’ve never properly explored, and I’d be interested to see what we can find out about it.
Marked on the 1:2,500 maps from the turn of the last century (in the instance shown, 1912) there is a building marked in Footherley, near Shenstone, as ‘Reading Room’.
On most large scale maps of the late Victorian and pre-WW1 period, a Reading Room – whatever that is – is marked in Footherley, near Shenstone. Click for a larger version.
Lazily, I’d always assumed the ‘reading room’ was a social club of some sort and later became Footherley Working Men’s Club, which still exists, but actually having studied the map, they’re in two different places.
This has really piqued my interest.
The reading Room is actually marked on the map as being attached, or adjacent to the barns at Home Farm, and not near the site of today’s Working Men’s Club at all.
In this National Library of Scotland Archive mapping from 1912, overlaid on Google Earth imagery, it’s evident the Reading Room was not where I though it was. Click for larger image.
I’d love to know what we can find out about this: Was it an early library? Gentleman’s club? Why in Footherley, and not the larger, nearby Shenstone? Is it related to the club, or are they different?
I’ve been idly wondering about this for years and I’d love to know what readers think – Please do comment here, grab me on social medial or mail me: BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com. Thanks.
The Reading Room was either this building, or a lost one attached to it. Imagery from Google Streetview.
Footherley Working Men’s Club is apparently still functional, but a little dilapidated and is a good way south of Home Farm. Imagery from Google Streetview.