Here’s a quick simple question for debate amongst the readership: Of late, the Young David Evans has given another talk to the children of Holy Trinity School in Clayhanger, about their local history.
In the course of this talk, David was asked a very interesting question by an enterprising and thoughtful young fellow, which is obvious, but I’d never considered before.
Where does the name The Spot come from?
Clayhanger Common – The Spot – as signs now proclaim it – is a beautifully landscaped open space now, but it was not always so. Image kindly shared by Steve Martin.
Most locals will know that The Spot is the name previously applied to that which these days is known as Clayhanger Common, stretching from Catshill Junction, to Clayhanger Bridge, back to the village itself, and over the course of the brook towards the Pier Street pedestrian Bridge.
Clayhanger tip was pretty grim. It was capped in the 80s with colliery spoil and landscaped into the common we know today. It was a huge operation that took over 6 years to complete. Image from ‘Memories of Brownhills Part’ by Clarice Mayo and Geof Harrington.
Up until the Late 1970s, most of it was a festering rubbish tip that was a blight on the area, but before that, an area of sunken farmland, rendered useless by flooding and mining subsidence. Attempts were made to relieve the flooding with a pumping station, which was built in a tiny hamlet at the end of Spot Lane, a track that went from Bridge Street, across the fields.
The Spot pumping station: Note the caption. From the mapping, it was about central to today’s Clayhanger Common. Image from ‘Memories of Brownhills Part’ by Clarice Mayo and Geof Harrington.
Several people (and the respected historians in the caption above) have told me that the name The Spot only properly applies to the pumping station and the buildings around it. It can be seen on the 1938 map below:
Clayhanger Common on 1938 1:2,500 mapping from the National Library of Scotland Archive. The pumping station and ‘Spot’ are circled. Spot Lane is highlighted orange. Click for a larger version.
But the modern signs, applying the name to the whole heathland, say ‘Clayhanger Common The Spot’. I am unaware of the term Clayhanger Common being used before the tip was reclaimed.
So where did the name The Spot come from, and how do you, or your elders, apply it?
It’s such a simple question that I can’t believe we haven’t asked it before. But it seems we have not.
If you have a view, please share it – either comment here, mail me on BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com or hit me up on social media. I’d be fascinated to hear what you have to say on the matter.
Thanks to David and the young historian for posing such a great question!