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Tag Archives: pit
Living next door to the Grove – what do you know?
Last year I featured a very popular set of images from a place I genuinely didn’t realise still existed: The Grove Colliery, the remnants of which – the house and offices situated just off Lime Lane, between Pelsall, Brownhills, Norton and Great Wyrley – were documented by old pal of the blog Simon Swain and drone wizard Steve Martin also captured the site from the air.
Posted in Brownhills stuff, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local History, Local media, News, Shared media, Shared memories, Spotted whilst browsing the web
Tagged archive, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Canal, Canal and River Trust, Cannock Extension Canal, colliery, Derelict, Disaster, Events, freight, Grove, Grove Colliery, House, images, Lichfield, local blogs, Local History, mining, New Photos, Norton, photos, pit, pits, Redevelopment, Si Swain, Simon, Staffordshire, Things to do, tramway, viaduct, Wyrley common
1 Comment
The Grove Colliery – remembering a lost pit
Last year I featured a very popular set of images from a place I genuinely didn’t realise still existed: The Grove Colliery, the remnants of which – the house and offices situated just off Lime Lane, between Pelsall, Brownhills, Norton and Great Wyrley – were documented by old pal off the blog Simon Swain and posted here as a gallery I include below.
Posted in Brownhills stuff, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local History, Local media, News, Shared media, Shared memories, Spotted whilst browsing the web
Tagged archive, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Canal, Canal and River Trust, Cannock Extension Canal, colliery, Derelict, Disaster, Events, freight, Grove, Grove Colliery, House, images, Lichfield, local blogs, Local History, mining, New Photos, Norton, photos, pit, pits, Redevelopment, Si Swain, Simon, Staffordshire, Things to do, tramway, viaduct, Wyrley common
16 Comments
All that remains of the last one standing
Following my feature yesterday on perhaps the last passenger train to ever traverse the line from Aldridge to the Conduit Colliery in Norton Canes, Simon Swain has sent me a great gallery of images of the Grove Colliery site as it is today.
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Posted in Brownhills stuff, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local History, Local media, News, Shared media, Shared memories, Spotted whilst browsing the web
Tagged archive, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Canal, Canal and River Trust, Cannock Extension Canal, colliery, Derelict, Disaster, Events, freight, Grove, Grove Colliery, House, images, Lichfield, local blogs, Local History, mining, New Photos, Norton, photos, pit, pits, Redevelopment, Si Swain, Simon, Staffordshire, Things to do, tramway, viaduct, Wyrley common
25 Comments
More Monkey business
A couple of weeks ago I posted an enquiry by reader Margaret King about the location of a pub her Dad remembered from when he was evacuated to Brownhills as a small boy: he remembered the pub as ‘The Monkey Puzzle’, which had me somewhat perplexed.
Posted in Brownhills stuff, Environment, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Social Media, Walsall Wood stuff
Tagged 10th March, 1940s, 2015, British Railways Board, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Corner, Evacuee, Lichfield, Local History, monkey puzzle, pit, Pubs, Redevelopment, Shire Oak, Staffordshire, Things to do, Walsall Wood, Wheatsheaf, Wilkin
12 Comments
I’m after all the tanners!
The Mavis Woodhouse material featured here of late is a local history gift that just keeps giving, and yesterday, I had a fascinating email very kindly sent to me by Ann Grinstead, the lady who edited the initial copy of Mavis’s family history, subsequently later edited for the blog by the young David Evans.
Posted in Brownhills stuff, Environment, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories
Tagged 2015, Anglesey Basin, Ann Grinstead, Barbara Cassidy, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Bucket, Chasewater, coal, Cox, David Evans, Foxes Row, history, Howdles Lane, JB, Lichfield, Local History, Mavis Woodhouse, memories, mining, New Photos, Newtown, Norton Pool, pit, Staffordshire, Things to do, Watling Street, Wide
3 Comments
A huge black cauldron
Mavis Woodhouse really started something when she kindly donated her family history material to the blog – the Foxes Row article was very popular, the Victor Haines material had us all head scratching, and the film of Newtown that was so newly relevant has had a huge number of views.
Posted in Brownhills stuff, Environment, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories
Tagged 2015, Anglesey Basin, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Bucket, Chasewater, coal, Cox, David Evans, Foxes Row, history, Howdles Lane, JB, Lichfield, Local History, Mavis Woodhouse, memories, mining, New Photos, Newtown, Norton Pool, pit, Staffordshire, Things to do, Watling Street, Wide
5 Comments
The scars were always black
The generosity of Mavis Woodhouse in allowing David Evans, myself and you readers to share her privately produced family history book is really proving to be a rich source of discussion, debate and new local history tangents – the Foxes Row article was very popular, the Victor Haines material had us all head scratching, and the film of Newtown that was so newly relevant has had a huge number of views.
Posted in Brownhills stuff, Environment, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories
Tagged 2015, Anglesey Basin, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Bucket, Chasewater, coal, Cox, David Evans, Foxes Row, history, Howdles Lane, JB, Lichfield, Local History, Mavis Woodhouse, memories, mining, New Photos, Newtown, Norton Pool, pit, Staffordshire, Things to do, Watling Street, Wide
20 Comments
Stacked
A few weeks ago, I shared here a mining plan of how workings in the Robbins coal seam under Walsall Wood, Clayhanger and Brownhills affected the railway line above it, showing the coal mine excavations in great detail under the village.
Posted in Brownhills stuff, Cannock Chase, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, News, Shared media, Shared memories, Spotted whilst browsing the web, Walsall community
Tagged Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Canal, colliery, Coppice Road, Document, Draft, history, Local History, London North Western Railway, mining, Old maps, pit, plan, progress, Railway, Robins, Seam, six foot, Staffordshire, Walsall Wood, workings
5 Comments
Quality is important – What lies beneath once more
Hi folks – it’s not often I do this here on the blog, but I feel that quality is important, particularly in the recording of historically important documents I present, and an article I wasn’t happy with at all was published here a few weeks ago with a very heavy heart.
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Posted in Brownhills stuff, Cannock Chase, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, News, Shared media, Shared memories, Spotted whilst browsing the web, Walsall community
Tagged Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Canal, colliery, Coppice Road, Document, Draft, history, Local History, London North Western Railway, mining, Old maps, pit, plan, progress, Railway, Robins, Seam, Staffordshire, Walsall Wood, workings
10 Comments
What lies beneath
Way back at the beginning of August, I shared a partial scan of a document I’d acquired – a mining plan of how workings in the Robbins coal seam under Walsall Wood, Clayhanger and Brownhills affected the railway line above.
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Posted in Brownhills stuff, Cannock Chase, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, News, Shared media, Shared memories, Spotted whilst browsing the web, Walsall community
Tagged Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Canal, colliery, Coppice Road, Document, Draft, history, Local History, London North Western Railway, mining, Old maps, pit, plan, progress, Railway, Robins, Seam, Staffordshire, Walsall Wood, workings
12 Comments
Now the water has drained away
Following my post recently concerning some great maps sent to me by Bruce Littley, reader, friend of the blog and top local allotment whiz Steve Hames has been in touch with some great images of the path of the former Cannock Extension Canal which was pictured in the Aerofilms image in the post.
Posted in Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories
Tagged Alotment, Bruce Littley, Burntwood, Canal, Canes, Cannock Extension Canal, Case Terrace, Chasewater, colliery, Conduit, Local History, map, movement, Norton, Old maps, pit, plan, Railway, Redevelopment, spoil, Staffordshire, Steve Hames, Things to do
4 Comments
What’s the plan?
This is an interesting one I’ve had cooking for a while – reader Bruce Littley has kindly sent me these scans of maps that he’s come across, and he’d like to know more about them – or at least the annotations sketched thereupon.
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Posted in Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories
Tagged 1919, 1938, ammuniton, Bruce Littley, Burntwood, Canal, Canes, Case Terrace, Chasewater, colliery, Conduit, Local History, map, movement, Norton, Old maps, pit, plan, Railway, Redevelopment, scrapslag heap, spoil, Staffordshire, Things to do
7 Comments
Seam stress
Now, since it’s been a few days of catching up with little bits and pieces, here’s something massive for readers to get their teeth into – this is a historical artefact which I’ve been lucky enough to find, and I’m very excited about it.
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Posted in Brownhills stuff, Cannock Chase, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, News, Shared media, Shared memories, Spotted whilst browsing the web, Walsall community
Tagged Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Canal, colliery, Coppice Road, Document, Draft, history, Local History, London North Western Railway, mining, Old maps, pit, plan, progress, Railway, Robins, Seam, Staffordshire, Walsall Wood, workings
14 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.
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 Clayhanger, Clayhanger Common, Culverts, Derelict, Drain, Drainage, flooding, Ford Brook, Local History, Marsh, New Photos, Ordnance Survey, pit, Pump, pump house, Railway, Shire Oak, spoil, Spot Lane, Staffordshire, stormwater, Subsidence, The Spot, The Spot pumping station, Walsall Wood Colliery
6 Comments
A conduit for change
A quick but interesting one – I’ve just dredged the above map out of my stash – this one has a gruesome correction tear, but it shows Norton pretty much as it would have been when the journalist writing for The Graphic visited in 1886.
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Posted in Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories
Tagged 1884, Canal, Canes, Chasewater, colliery, Conduit, Local History, map, Norton, Old maps, pit, Redevelopment, Staffordshire, Things to do
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My Fair Lady
This is a wonderful article from local history rapscallion Peter ‘Pedro’ Cutler which I think readers will really, really enjoy. Peter has developed a reputation hereabouts for being something of the iconoclast; formerly he has not pulled punches in his … Continue reading
Posted in Cannock Chase, Chasewater, Churches, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, It makes me mad!, Just plain daft, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Social Media, Walsall community, Walsall Wood stuff
Tagged Brownhills local history, Chasewater, coal, Coppice, Hanbury, Heath Hayes, Hussey, local blogs, Local History, mining, Panoramio, pit, Politics, Staffordshire, Things to do
41 Comments
Never trust the ground beneath your feet
Over the last week, an incident of major proportions has occurred in the UK, at Hatfield, near Doncaster. It has gone largely under reported in the media, which is a scandal. This is a significant and worrying event, and is of interest to anyone interested in mining, industrial waste, spoil heaps, physical geography and geology.
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Posted in Bad Science, Environment, Events, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, It makes me mad!, Local History, News, Shared media, Social Media, Spotted whilst browsing the web
Tagged Aberfan, Accident, Blog, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, colliery, Dave Petley, Doncaster, Events, Geology, Geophysics, Hatfield, health and safety, Landslide, Landslip, Local History, mine, mining, mining inspectorate, New Photos, physical geography, pit, Railway, slag heap, Spoil heap, Stainforth, Things to do, Walsall Wood
2 Comments
Walsall Wood 1911, before and beyond
This article is the fourth – and final (at least until the 1921 census comes out…) part of blog reader, commentator and top contributor David Evans’ ongoing project to chart the growth of Walsall Wood just over a century ago. The first, second, and third instalments in the series have been published in the last two months, and generated quite a bit of debate and interest.
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Posted in Brownhills stuff, cycling, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, Local music, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Social Media, Walsall community, Walsall Wood stuff
Tagged 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911, Batkins, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Census, colliery, David Evans, Grocer, growth, Headleys, health, history, Local History, pit, population, Pubs, Shire Oak, Staffordshire, store, teacher, Walsall Wood
21 Comments
The western front
Some weeks ago now, I featured a British Railways Board plan I’d purchased from a map dealer, which showed the coal workings in the Yard Seam below Brownhills Common. At the same time, I bought the one featured here, too. … Continue reading
Posted in Brownhills stuff, Environment, Features, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local History, Shared media, Shared memories
Tagged British Railways Board, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Chasewater, colliery, Derelict, Farm, Hednesford Road, Highfield, Local History, M Fletcher, Mining Plan, Old maps, pit, Redevelopment, Reservoir, Shaft, Staffordshire, Things to do, Walsall Wood Extension, Watling Street, Wilkin, Yard Seam
9 Comments
Walsall Wood, 1901: Into a new century
This article is the third part of blog reader, commentator and top contributor David Evans’ ongoing project to chart the growth of Walsall Wood just over a century ago. The first and second pieces in the series have been published in the last month, and generated quite a bit of debate and interest.
Posted in Brownhills stuff, Churches, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Social Media, Walsall community, Walsall Wood stuff
Tagged 1881, 1891, 1901, Batkins, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Census, colliery, David Evans, Grocer, growth, Headleys, health, history, Local History, pit, population, Pubs, Shire Oak, Staffordshire, store, teacher, Walsall Wood
26 Comments
Walsall Wood, 1891. Fit to burst…
This article is part of an effort by top reader, commentator and contributor David Evans to chart the growth of Walsall Wood, towards the turn of the last century. The first article in this series was published a couple of … Continue reading
Posted in Brownhills stuff, Churches, Environment, Followups, Interesting photos, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Walsall community, Walsall Wood stuff
Tagged 1881, 1926, Aerofilms, Batkins, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Census, colliery, David Evans, Growcer, growth, health, history, Local History, Nootmaker, pit, population, Pubs, Shire Oak, Staffordshire, store, teacher, Walsall Wood
18 Comments
Walsall Wood, 1881. A melting pot…
This is an effort to chart the growth of Walsall Wood, towards the turn of the last century. At this time, the village was growing; the expansion (I hesitate to use the word ‘wealth’) that this created shaped the community … Continue reading
Posted in Brownhills stuff, Churches, Environment, Followups, Interesting photos, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Walsall community, Walsall Wood stuff
Tagged 1881, Batkins, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Census, colliery, David Evans, Growcer, growth, health, history, Local History, Nootmaker, pit, population, Pubs, Shire Oak, Staffordshire, store, teacher, Walsall Wood
29 Comments
Made from girders
The long pondered question of subsidence in the Bullings Heath area, and the age of the black Cock bridge became a little clearer last week. Top reader and local history ferret [Howmuch?] found this wonderful snippet in the archives of the … Continue reading
Posted in Brownhills stuff, Environment, Features, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local History, Local media, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Walsall community, Walsall Wood stuff
Tagged 1905, Black Cock, Black Cock Bridge, Brick Arch, Bridge replacement, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Bullings Heath, Camden Street, Canal, Girder bridge, Hall Lane, Local History, mine damage, Mining Subsidence, Old maps, pit, reporter, Silly, Staffordshire, Subsidence, Walsall Wood, Walsall Wood Colliery, Walsall Wood Pit, Wyrley and Essington
6 Comments
The rise and fall
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve compiled two posts that questioned the oft-repeated local legend that the cottages by the Black Cock Bridge in Hall Lane, Walsall Wood, were originally built at the level of the canal and sank … Continue reading
Posted in Brownhills stuff, cycling, Environment, Features, 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, Walsall Wood stuff
Tagged Black Cock, Black Cock Bridge, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Bullings Heath, Camden Street, Canal, coal mine, Hall Lane, Local History, mine damage, Mining Subsidence, New Photos, Old maps, pit, Silly, Staffordshire, Subsidence, Walsall Wood, Walsall Wood Colliery, Walsall Wood Pit, Wyrley and Essington
19 Comments
Taking up the slack
Last March I posted an article featuring an image of the demonstration event for the ill-fated Merrie England project which reader Steve Hames had scanned from the book ‘Images of England – Cannock Chase’ by Sherry Belcher and Mary Mills. … Continue reading
Posted in Cannock Chase, Environment, Features, Followups, Interesting photos, It makes me mad!, Just plain daft, Local History, Local media, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Social Media, Walsall community
Tagged 1981, annock Wood Pit, Cannock, Cannock Wood Colliery, Cannock Wood Pit, coal mine, coal sorting by hand., colliery, Coppice Coliier, Derelict, Hednesford, Last pit pony, Littleton colliery, Local History, Mine train, miners, mines, pit, pitmen, West cannock No. 5 pit, West Cannock world record, wimblebury, WImblebury Colliery
5 Comments
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