Tag Archives: Ordnance Survey

The Metz office?

An intriguing enquiry reaches me from local historian and blog dynamo the young David Evans, who’s after a rather specific bit of history relating to a lost courtyard of dwellings in Brownhills High Street Called ‘The Metz’.


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Posted in Bad Science, Brownhills stuff, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, It makes me mad!, Just plain daft, Local History, Local media, Local politics, News, planning, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

If the cap fits…

On Sunday I rode up Coppice Lane in Brownhills for the first time in a few weeks, and noticed that contractors for The Coal Authority – the body charged with monitoring and remediating historic mineworkings – had been hard at work capping the two shafts left over from the West Coppice Colliery, near the old level Crossing. 

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Lose yourself in the mapping

If you’re engaged in the local online community, you’ll have no doubt caught up with this already, but for those who haven’t, there’s a new historical mapping resource available online right now, free of charge, and it’s really rather special.Untitled 7 Continue reading

Posted in Bad Science, Brownhills stuff, Clayhanger stuff, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Walsall Wood stuff | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Following the map – those abbreviations in full

One of the good things about Christmas is having time to catch up with the posts I’ve been meaning to compile for ages – this one is a specific one that’s been needed since I started the blog really, and is a key to very large scale maps I use here on the blog.
Lichfield 1966
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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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A little to the east

Following on from the post ‘Old ground’, reader Mike Armstrong asked for more of the Lichfield and Whittington area – so here you go.

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Posted in Brownhills stuff, Cannock Chase, Chasewater, Clayhanger stuff, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Walsall Wood stuff | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Old Ground

Here’s some mapping I’ve been meaning to run since reader Peter mentioned it in the comments to the post ‘Keep out of Cotterill’s road’ on Friday last – I may have posted similar before, but if I have, I can’t find a copy.
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An unearned income

It is with great pleasure that I can now continue the story of the slum clearance of Ogley Square in 1935, thanks to the efforts of an anonymous reader and top friend of the blog Richard Burnell.

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Supporting services

It’s been a while since I did a mapping post here on the blog, and yesterday, whilst visiting the open day at Christchurch, in Leomonsley, I saw a huge copy of the 1884 OS map of Lichfield that inspired me. If you ever get chance to see it, do so. A beautiful, A0-size hand-tinted copy, clearly for ecclesiastical use. A thing of rare and immense beauty.
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Seeing the Wood for the trees

Continuing the paper maps, here’s an 1884 12,500 scale Ordnance Survey map of southern Walsall Wood.
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Posted in Brownhills stuff, Churches, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Walsall community, Walsall Wood stuff | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Gorgeous curves

Here’s a bit of a request stop. A few weeks ago there was a very positive response to my digitally contouring of an Ordnance Survey map in the analysis of the Watford Gap area near Sutton Coldfield.

I have a bit of clever software that can do this, and access to the mapping data to use as a canvas.
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Squared

Just a quicky. Here’s an 1883 Ordnance Survey map of the northern half of Brownhills. I dug it out particularly for the lady – Vicki Brosch – who recently asked where Ogley Square was. It can be seen approximately a third of the way across the map from the right, just up from the bottom.

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After the gold rush

I thought that today, I’d dig some interesting mapping out of the archive. In the light of Gerald Reece’s talk on Brownhills and it’s colliery history, I thought this 1884 1:2,500 scale plan of Wyrley Common was due an outing. It shows – in some clarity – the extent of mining in the Engine Lane area at the height of the Victorian period.
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Grange rover

Further to the discussion about The Grange in Leighswood, Aldridge, in the wee small hours I had a play with overlaying the relevant maps on Google Earth imagery to find out exactly where the property stood. I overlaid the 1961 … Continue reading

Posted in Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Social Media, Spotted whilst browsing the web, Walsall community, Walsall Wood stuff | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Home on The Grange

Thanks to reader contributions, we’ve found the Grange in Aldridge – it was, until relatively recently, in Leighswood, as described by commentors to my original post. Hat tip too, to David Evans, who mailed me with a map which jogged my memory.
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Wood work

This is a post for top reader, contributor and friend of the blog David Evans. A couple of days ago, he emailed me asking if I had any old maps covering the general Walsall Wood area. Well, it took me … Continue reading

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One for the map addicts

Here’s a wonderful thing found by top metal detectorist, history wonk and producer of stunning Kite Ariel Photography, Barry Carpenter. Barry has pointed out a fantastic new resource for old mapping available online. At the moment, it serves mostly maps … Continue reading

Posted in Brownhills stuff, Cannock Chase, Clayhanger stuff, Environment, Fun stuff to see and do, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Social Media, Spotted whilst browsing the web, Walsall community, Walsall Wood stuff | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Stretching things a bit…

Long-time reader reader and friend of the blog Bev Lloyd pointed out via Facebook that she liked the topographic thing I occasionally do with maps, where I pull them into 3D representations of the contours they cover. I do this … Continue reading

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The Drifters

Right, I thought, let’s do it. Following the recent attention to the Anglesey Wharf and coal screening conveyor, I considered that it must be possible to find the Anglesey Basin drift shaft within the mapping record. Someone will have plotted … Continue reading

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On the conveyor?

I picked up a really good map recently. It’s a 1:2,500 plot of eastern Chasewater, the Anglesey Basin and Wharf, and the area of south Chasetown and The Triangle. It’s from 1962, and has a tad more information on it … Continue reading

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Aldridge north west, 1884 and 1914

Following on from the 1884 Brownhills South and Walsall Wood map and others posted recently, I’ve dived into the digital archive after a request by reader Mike Hawes and pulled out the 1:2,500 scale gems from 1884 and 1914. They show … Continue reading

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A cartographic history

In my recent post ‘Other people’s maps’, I featured an excerpt from a secondhand 1951 issue 1:25,000 scale map I’d acquired from a map dealer. The map  – with Brownhills at its heart – carried some rather unusual hand written … Continue reading

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Other people’s maps

I’ve had a find I’m rather excited about, and I think I’m going to need reader help here. Over the weekend, I acquired a couple of maps from a dealer who puts to one side anything he knows I might … Continue reading

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

The second coming

After the last post in which I made available the 1969 Ordnance Survey first series SK00 map of Brownhills, I can now present the map that replaced it. The first edition of the second edition (confused? You should be…) was … Continue reading

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The last of a generation

As promised last weekend, thanks to the diligence of reader and co-conspirator [Howmuch?], I can now make available full scans of the 1969 issue Ordnance Survey sheet SK00, covering Brownhills and north Aldridge. This is a 1:25,000 map, based largely … Continue reading

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Time passages

Now, here’s a thing. This is a teaser – I’ve got more maps. I have managed to get hold of Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 sheets covering Brownhills, just seven years apart in issue date, but there’s light years between them in … Continue reading

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

Hunt the toll…

Reader and prolific comment monger David Evans recently commented about toll gates marked on old mapping, so I thought I’d go back as far as I could and see what I could find. There are a good few marked on … Continue reading

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Mine, all mine…

Continuing the trawling of material relating to mining on Brownhills Common and the origins of Engine Lane, I happened upon a collection of survey plans in the excellent book ‘Coal Mining in Walsall Wood, Brownhills and Aldridge’ by Brian Rollins … Continue reading

Posted in Brownhills stuff, Chasewater, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Social Media, Spotted whilst browsing the web, Walsall community | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 23 Comments

A hole in the history

If ever anything were to prove the importance of a detailed mapping record, than my post of Wednesday last, ‘Common ground’ does just that. Whilst dredging the available mapping for the area beforehand, the 1938 draftings were unavailable in the … Continue reading

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Back to the future…

While we’re in a 1980’s mood, this week I noticed that a remarkable project from the period had been rescued from potential oblivion and saved for the nation. Way back in 1986, when I was generally being a teenage geek … Continue reading

Posted in Brownhills stuff, Clayhanger stuff, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local History, Local media, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Social Media, Spotted whilst browsing the web, Walsall community, Walsall Council, Walsall Wood stuff | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Wolverhampton and surrounds, 1920 – for @StuDavis

  Twitter user and all-round top bloke Stu Davis asked me on twatter this morning if I could sort a map of Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire like my previously posted Brownhills and surrounds map. Plenty of stuff of interest here, … Continue reading

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Brownhills and surrounds, in 1920

I thought I’d post a treat for the mapping geeks amongst us (me included) with this 1920 New Popular Edition segment. This is the cartography – all hand drafted – that gave birth to our excellent ‘Landranger’ series. One to … Continue reading

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Maps and legends

I have today gained access to some great digital mapping – some of the best and most beautiful hand drafted cartography ever created. The below examples of early Ordnance Survey popular sheets have been professionally reproduced in digital form, and … Continue reading

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Treasured Maps

Since I seem to be having a tad of a catch-up today, I thought I’d share some interesting bits I’d noticed from the old maps I shared with readers last week. In idle moments I’ve been perusing them quite closely, … Continue reading

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A la carte

Maps provide a strong, almost incontestable record of the physical history of a place. They show us what came, what went, what was gained, and what was lost. Here in Britain, we have one of the best provisioners of cartography … Continue reading

Posted in Brownhills stuff, Chasewater, Churches, Clayhanger stuff, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Local History, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Walsall Wood stuff | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Map heaven!

This weekend, I’ve received some great old maps from a map dealer I’ve discovered online. I haven’t got time to do the full thing here yet, but I thought I’d preview an excerpt here from a 1951 1:25000 scale map … Continue reading

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Mapping the past – now for something completely different.

I’ve been fiddling for some time now with digital maps. I’ve always loved their paper forebears; a map is a promise, a portent of future exploration, a pointer to places and journeys yet to be experienced. When I open a … Continue reading

Posted in Brownhills stuff, Chasewater, Clayhanger stuff, cycling, Environment, Fun stuff to see and do, Local History, Local media, Shared media, Walsall Wood stuff | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 23 Comments