Over the years, writing a great deal about Chasewater, I’ve become used to hearing the recounted mythology of the lake north of Brownhills. One legend says excess bombs were dropped there during the war, another that it was covered at night to prevent it guiding German bombers.
I’ve heard all the old chestnuts, but a personal favourite is the lake monster myth.
People say the reservoir had a huge fish, varying from a ‘monster pike’ to something more Loch Ness in ambitious scale. But like the wartime tall tales, I generally consider these things to be harmless and entertaining falsehoods.
I’ve never seen a monster sighting documented, until the great Peter ‘Pedro’ Cutler spotted this gem last week in the newspaper archive – from August 2nd, 1955’s edition of the Birmingham Gazette, a 3 foot long fish-behemoth that was 2ft6in around.
This is a great little local story – a monster mystery, fire service frogmen (frogman is a great term we don’t seem to use today), a man who is utterly convinced by what he’s seen and a slightly aloof reporter.
Please everyone, share your thoughts. Have you seen a monster in Chasewater? Did you know Mr. Brindley? What of the 1929 incident? So much here to chew over.
Thanks to Peter for yet another great spot. If you want to add something – please feel free. Comment here, have your 2p on social media or mail me: BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com. Tight lines!
From the Birmingham Gazette, 2nd August 1955.
ANOTHER MONSTER IN NORTON POOL
‘I saw 9ft. fish with armoured scales’
There is a monster at the bottom of Norton Pool, near Walsall. It is about 9ft long and 2ft. 6in. around its middle.
That is at least what NMr. Harry Brindles, from Rushall, says. He saw it lying near the bank basking in the sun in 3ft. of water, as he walked by.
It has been there for years fouling the lines of anglers from Walsall and Chasetown but they never managed to see it. All they saw was a broken line where there should have been a tasty bit of pike bait, two hooks and lead sinkers.
Thrives on hooks
If all that is told in the ‘locals’ around Norton Pool is true the monster thrives on fish-hooks.
Mr. Brindley who lives in Bickley Road, says it looks like a huge pike, greenish-grey in colour thickly armoured with scales.
Yesterday he said: ‘I h’I just gaped at it for a few minutes, then I must have moved, for it slid off into deeper water.d just gone for a stroll by the pool and was just standing looking out over the water – there’s about 200 acres of it – when I saw this great thing come gliding into the shallows.
‘The bank is pretty steep just there, and I was looking straight down on it. It seemed to be basking in the sunshine.
‘I just gaped at it for a few minutes, then I must have moved, for it slid off into deeper water.
‘It is said that the pool is more than 100ft. deep in places caused by mining subsidence, and I reckon it must live in one of those holes.’
May call in frogmen
Mr. Brindley is thinking of writing to the Birmingham Underwater Exploration Club, a group of civilian frogmen, in the hope that they will begin to hunt for the monster.
‘I’ve been combing through all kinds of books to try to find a fish like it, but I’ve not come across anything yet.’ Mr. Brindley continued. ‘And I refuse to believe it’s a pike.’
There was a ‘monster’ in Norton Pool in 1929, when local anglers spent weeks hunting it with special bait and extra strong line.
They landed it eventually – an outsize and unusually ferocious pike.
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dear old norton bog what stories have been told of your waters from highway men to modern day hoistorians pit shafts monsters bombs fairgrounds boats trains legeans and that very sombre one quoted in sombre tone AR IT CLAMES ONE EVERY YEAR it also has created happy mmemouries in our teen age years the sunday night strolll along the damn yes if only it ccould talk what memouries and stories it holds
I can remeber seeing a photo back in the 1960s of a pike which was caught in Chasewater and it was on a bike with the the angler possing with it, (no, the pike was not riding the bike it was very dead) if my memory serves me right it was in the local paper, and the angler was Gary Cope from Walsall Wood. as far as pike go it was a big un.
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As far fetched as it may seem there is a species of fish that matches the descriptions in this article perfectly. The Sturgeon is a large armored fish they have been known to reach 1000kg and 20ft in length they were common in his country up until the medieval era but are rarely seen today. A sturgeon is grey with a hint of green and very close to a pike in shape it’s an unlikely story but not impossible.
While on the subject of Chasewater myths the lake was bombed during WW2 although it was the Home guard with mortar bombs and not the Germans with aircraft. High explosives exploding in a lake look the same whoever is doing the detonating it’s an easy mistake to make
You would think that the Home Guard would stop ladies walking round the pool with babies in parks while they are bombing!
Should read “in prams”.
My dad lived on Norton East Road during the war, and he tells me they’d watch German bombers dropping excess in the pool because carrying the extra weight, they’d not make it home. They used to swim down and get the smaller incendiaries. He’s not in the habit of mistakes.
The idea of enemy bombers over enemy territory with excess bombs is bizarre. We were at war!
Cheers
Bob
There were many instances on both sides of not identifying, or overshooting, or otherwise missing the target. These were the excess, not that they were carrying extra bombs.
Cheers,
Graham
They dropped what they had, as soon as they were at the target. They made sure they dropped everything as they were on the limits of their capability in terms of distance. They were in enemy airspace. They didn’t bother hunting for lakes, they just dropped what they had as soon as possible.
If even a minor explosion had happened in Chasewater it’s so shallow it would have wiped out the earth dam
Cheers
Bob
Yeah, Dad, who was there, is a liar then. I’ll see what he says.
Oh dear Graham.
There’s a curious thing that happens to us all as we age. Our memories are not linear, and due to the way our brains work they fuse and link unconnected memories. Your Father isn’t a liar. It’s what he genuinely thinks he remembers.
After all, I may well be wrong.
But let’s consider it a bit. Read any history of the bombing raids on either side. Our flight technology was so stretched by payload and need for speed and range that bombing raids in the Midlands were severely risky to the Germans, as were ours into the Sudetenland. Those lads simply hadn’t the fuel to waste.
Nobody was going to come away from a target with undropped ordnance – that was dangerous, and a failure. They were over enemy territory being shot at – they weren’t going to bother about dropping bombs in a lake. They’d get rid and turn back asap. Just like our lads did.
Now, here’s the thing about Wartime Brownhills and the South Staffs Coalfield. The latter was of critical importance. Yet we were scarcely hit, really; as one elderly contributor to the blog who lived through the war said ‘…Up here, you hardly knew there was a war on.’ Hitting Chasewater should have been a minor but important job for the enemy. Edgbaston, a similar canal feeder was low throughout the war. Birmingham’s canals were reliant on water from here to get coal from around here to power stations at walsall and industry in the Black Country. Draining the reservoir would have crippled us, as would have breaching the canal. We were very lucky they failed to spot this sitting duck of a target.
Chasewater is a very shallow, dish-shaped pool with the water drain – the base of the dish – near the dam. Had a relatively small bomb gone off in there, the blast would have travelled sideways and it would have wiped out the earth dam. This would have flooded the Cranebrook Valley and done huge damage, as it did in 1799 when if failed after construction.
There is no doubt incendiaries were dropped locally. There is record of that, clear record. But there is none of bombs in Chasewater. I’ve been through newspapers, I’ve looked in the C&RT actives, all kinds of places. And the few I’ve met who talk about it all disagree on points of detail.
So, is your dad a liar? No. He believes this happened. For all I know he may be right. But if he is, it’s a very well covered up incident that left no scars or signs whatsoever.
I recommend you read this article about how easy it is to come to believe things differently from how they occurred.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24286258
I have false memories I believed for years. One good test is to ask your pals of the right age how many watched the moon landings at school. A sizeable number of people will tell you they did.
A check on the facts has a different sequence of events.
Are they lying? No, it’s what they think they remember. It’s how minds work. Memory is not verbatim, nor is it linear.
So, it’s just one big old curiosity.
The dropping excess bombs in x is a familiar line in local folklore across central and Southern England. I’ve seen it said of quarries, marshes, pools, estuaries and islands. It’s a curious one.
Best wishes
Bob
Posted out of line for readability:
In reply to:Yeah, Dad, who was there, is a liar then. I’ll see what he says.
Oh dear Graham.
There’s a curious thing that happens to us all as we age. Our memories are not linear, and due to the way our brains work they fuse and link unconnected memories. Your Father isn’t a liar. It’s what he genuinely thinks he remembers.
After all, I may well be wrong.
But let’s consider it a bit. Read any history of the bombing raids on either side. Our flight technology was so stretched by payload and need for speed and range that bombing raids in the Midlands were severely risky to the Germans, as were ours into the Sudetenland. Those lads simply hadn’t the fuel to waste.
Nobody was going to come away from a target with undropped ordnance – that was dangerous, and a failure. They were over enemy territory being shot at – they weren’t going to bother about dropping bombs in a lake. They’d get rid and turn back asap. Just like our lads did.
Now, here’s the thing about Wartime Brownhills and the South Staffs Coalfield. The latter was of critical importance. Yet we were scarcely hit, really; as one elderly contributor to the blog who lived through the war said ‘…Up here, you hardly knew there was a war on.’ Hitting Chasewater should have been a minor but important job for the enemy. Edgbaston, a similar canal feeder was low throughout the war. Birmingham’s canals were reliant on water from here to get coal from around here to power stations at walsall and industry in the Black Country. Draining the reservoir would have crippled us, as would have breaching the canal. We were very lucky they failed to spot this sitting duck of a target.
Chasewater is a very shallow, dish-shaped pool with the water drain – the base of the dish – near the dam. Had a relatively small bomb gone off in there, the blast would have travelled sideways and it would have wiped out the earth dam. This would have flooded the Cranebrook Valley and done huge damage, as it did in 1799 when if failed after construction.
There is no doubt incendiaries were dropped locally. There is record of that, clear record. But there is none of bombs in Chasewater. I’ve been through newspapers, I’ve looked in the C&RT actives, all kinds of places. And the few I’ve met who talk about it all disagree on points of detail.
So, is your dad a liar? No. He believes this happened. For all I know he may be right. But if he is, it’s a very well covered up incident that left no scars or signs whatsoever.
I recommend you read this article about how easy it is to come to believe things differently from how they occurred.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24286258
I have false memories I believed for years. One good test is to ask your pals of the right age how many watched the moon landings at school. A sizeable number of people will tell you they did.
A check on the facts has a different sequence of events.
Are they lying? No, it’s what they think they remember. It’s how minds work. Memory is not verbatim, nor is it linear.
So, it’s just one big old curiosity.
The dropping excess bombs in x is a familiar line in local folklore across central and Southern England. I’ve seen it said of quarries, marshes, pools, estuaries and islands. It’s a curious one.
Best wishes
Bob
It would be interesting to learn just what the local people did when an air raid warning sounded, and how many warnings were received during the period. Many would obviously be false. Birmingham had many false alarms, but you could not just wander about.
Several people have recounted bombs being dropped on Norton Bog, and that it was an important landmark used by the Germans. It has actually been stated in this Blog that someone counted the number of bombs that came from a single plane; that people gathered to watch the bombing of Coventry.
The raids on Birmingham continued for many hours, and if the planes circled to return home over Brownhills it seems a bit daft to go out and watch them.