Life in the northern wastes of Walsall
Following his donation of the picture of his uncle Frank training for a trotting race last week, friend of the blog Andy Dennis has been thinking more about his uncle, who lived in Brownhills for most of his life – it seems Frank was a very skilled man.
Over the last few weeks, a newspaper clipping found in the Walsall Observer archive by [Howmuch?] has caused a whole heap of interest, reporting the laying of a foundation stone for the ‘new schools at Watling Street’, readers have debated where it might actually relate to.
I’ve had a lovely email from Tony Turner. Tony, you’ll remember, was born in a cottage at what was known as The Fort in Newtown, Brownhills. Recent historical debates here have focussed on where The Fort was, and whether it’s a conflation with a street known as The Fault, which later became Castle Street. Tony…
Here’s one for the Knaves Castle/The Fault/The Fort inquisitors out there. It’s been a while since I raided the mapping archives, so I thought I’d go rooting through the cartographic record, and see if I could find ‘The Fort’. Sadly, no luck, but the maps are interesting anyway. First up, here’s how the area looks…
Brownhills West has always been a small, self-contained community. I don’t feature it much here on the Brownhills Blog, which is a shame. Reflecting on that fact, for this pictures from the past feature, I thought we’d take a trip up the Wilkin… as ever, I salute the authors of the books concerned. If you…