Tag Archives: Drain

I walk the line

This Sunday morning (15th June 2014 at 11:00am), there’s going to be a rather excellent event put on by Lichfield Discovered, a side project of Kate Cardigan from the wonderful Lichfield Lore – a walk along the line of the great, legendary and hotly debated Hanch Tunnel.

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Posted in Environment, Events, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Just plain daft, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Social Media, Spotted whilst browsing the web | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Anyone for tennis?

Further to the great material sent in by Marion Jones, relating to the lost pumping station on The Spot at Clayhanger, she also sent me some interesting photos of the gardens of the Jones House in Clayhanger in the 1920s.60437345 Continue reading

Posted in Brownhills stuff, Clayhanger stuff, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, News, Panoramio photo discussions, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Walsall Council, Walsall Wood stuff, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Challenging landscapes

Today, I’ve mostly been trawling the paper mapping record for Clayhanger, in order to throw a little more light on the issues it faced in the post war years – debate about subsidence and flooding and the subsequent land restoration that occurred has been ongoing, and this is a really interesting bit of local history for me.

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Posted in Brownhills stuff, Clayhanger stuff, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Local History, Local media, News, Shared media, Shared memories, Walsall Council, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Fighting a losing battle

Every now and then, something comes through whilst compiling the blog that stuns me, and pulls me up short. It’s happened twice recently – firstly with Chris Pattison’s wonderful 1952 Walsall Observer article on Clayhanger’s flooding problem, and secondly with this rare and beautiful gem from reader Marion Jones.
Wheale - Samuel Clayhanger pump 1923 (1)

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Posted in Bad Science, Brownhills stuff, Clayhanger stuff, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local History, Local media, News, planning, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Walsall Wood stuff, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Ghosts on tape

Old mucker [Howmuch?], fresh from a morning rootling around the Chasewater Transport Show on Sunday, was inspired to go trawling for interesting Chasewater related historical footage on the internet when he got home.
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Posted in Bad Science, Brownhills stuff, Chasewater, Environment, Events, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Just plain daft, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Social Media, Spotted whilst browsing the web | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Levelling out

Those who follow my 365daysofbiking journal will be aware that I’ve been a little bit obsessed with the rising water level at Chasewater over the summer and winter months. Since the lake was drained to enable improvement works to improve the dam and overflow resilience, it was considered that, unless we experienced very wet weather, the lake would take a good couple of years to refill.
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Posted in Bad Science, Brownhills stuff, Chasewater, cycling, Environment, Events, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, It makes me mad!, Just plain daft, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, Local politics, News, Shared media, Social Media, Spotted whilst browsing the web, Walsall community, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

I think the engine’s flooded, mate!

Following David Dalley’s kind tipoff, as soon as I could, I cycled over to Anglesey Basin to check out what was happing in person. It’s not often I get chance to do the roving reporter thing, and this looked interesting. … Continue reading

Posted in Bad Science, Brownhills stuff, Chasewater, cycling, Environment, Events, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Just plain daft, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Social Media, Walsall community, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The great Brownhills shipping disaster of 2012

Had some interesting pictures mailed to me yesterday by reader and friend of The Brownhills Blog David Dalley. They’re taken on the canal, near Chasewater at Anglesey Basin, where it seems British Waterways are experiencing a bit of an ‘Oh … Continue reading

Posted in Bad Science, Brownhills stuff, Chasewater, Environment, Events, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Just plain daft, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Social Media, Walsall community, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Downstream

I noticed today in the Stonnall History Group on Facebook that the inimitable Julian Ward-Davies, author of ’The Lost Lake of Stonnall’ and other great research pieces was musing on the history of the Pen Brook, a small stream that appears … Continue reading

Posted in cycling, Environment, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local Blogs, Local History, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Social Media, Spotted whilst browsing the web, Walsall Wood stuff | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Circling the drain

I’ve long held an interest in why Clayhanger village stopped flooding. This may seem like an odd preoccupation, but please bear with me. For decades the small, low lying settlement west of Brownhills was regularly left awash to some depth … Continue reading

Posted in Brownhills stuff, Clayhanger stuff, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local History, Shared media | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments