#365daysofbiking JournalRecent tracks
Disconnect the Cables
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The Sleepy Strange
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Cape of Diamonds
Fionn Regan
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Lalita
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Where Things Leave Off
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I Only Said
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Lazy Projector
Andrew Bird
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The Waiting
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Vocode-Inn
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Double Jointed
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HAROLD Blackham on Pelsall Hall Colliery disaster… Jenny Ball on The Staffordshire Hilton: Ther… Adrian keen on Ravens Court to be demolished… Steve on A responsible job for responsi… Beginnings – J… on A Fold on the map
Tag Archives: UDC
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’.
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 1883, 1:2500, bad housing, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Brownhills Urban District Council, clearance, David Evans, Dr. Bradford, George Bradford, Hill sisters, Lichfield Mercury, Local History, Metz, Norman Waine, Ogley Hay, Ogley Square, Old maps, Ordnance Survey, Peter Cutler, Richard Burnell, Slum clearance, snaitationG, Staffordshire, Things to do, UDC, Urban District Council
4 Comments
And whose army?
Oh boy, is this a cracker – this wonderful enquiry came in yesterday from Derek Broadhurst, who’s found a very curious postcard which may shed light on the derivation of the name ‘Barracks Lane’, which is the road that funs from the A461 Lichfield Road at Sandhills, right over to the A5 Watling Street, east of Newtown.
Posted in Brownhills stuff, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories
Tagged Army, barracks, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Crestacre, factory, Farm, Horse, Huts, Ice Cream, Isolation Hospital, Lane, Lichfield, Liz Wellington, local blogs, Local History, Maddever, Nursery, Old maps, Pelari, Redevelopment, Selwyn Smith, Shire Oak, Springhills, Staffordshire, Stonnall, Things to do, UDC
13 Comments
The Lectric Men
Old friend of the blog Reg ‘Aer Reg’ Fullelove has been at it again – and this time, he’s written a fabulous piece on his early working days as an electricity supply engineer for the Chasetown Electricity Board, in the very earliest days of domestic supply.
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Posted in Brownhills stuff, Cannock Chase, Chasewater, Churches, Environment, Events, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, News, Shared media, Shared memories, Social Media, Spotted whilst browsing the web, Walsall community
Tagged Aer Reg, Brownhills, Brownhills a walk into history, Brownhills local history, Canal, Cannock Chase Colliery Company, charity, Chase Terrace, Chasetown, Chasewater, Clayhanger, Electricity, Events, history, Local History, mining, No 5 pit, planning, Reg Fullelove, St. Anne's, Staffordshire, Things to do, UDC
8 Comments
Gathering moss
The Clayhanger subsidence and pumping station thread seems to have provoked much interest in the past week – there has been a great deal of reader comment, and I have further bits to add to the story in coming days.
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Posted in Brownhills stuff, Clayhanger stuff, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Spotted whilst browsing the web, Walsall community
Tagged Brian Stringer, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Brownhills Urban District Council, Clayhanger, Derelict, Drains, flooding, Ford Brook Road, High Heath, Laurence Thacker, lawley Close, Local History, Mill Road, Moss Pits, Pelsall, pumping station, Replacement, School Farm, sewage, Sewer, Shelfield, Staffordshire, Steam pump, Subsidence, UDC, Walsall Observer, Walsall Wood, Williams
5 Comments
I don’t like that beer
The Ogley Square slum was indeed cleared – and as can be seen today – the area of Catshill and Ogley Hay around it became the site of huge social housing development – however, the site of the Square itself became the location of a new pub..
Posted in Brownhills stuff, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, Local politics, News, planning, Shared media, Shared memories, Social Media, Spotted whilst browsing the web
Tagged bad housing, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Brownhills Urban District Council, Chasewaterstuff, clearance, David Hodgkingson, Licensing, Lichfield Mercury, Local History, Lost pubs, Ogley Hay, Ogley Square, Peter Cutler, pub, Railway Tavern, Richard Burnell, sanitation, Slum clearance, Staffordshire, Temperance, Things to do, UDC, Urban District Council, Wheatsheaf, Woodman
10 Comments
Space, air and light
This week, we’ve got the follow up article regarding Ogley Square from the Lichfield Mercury of Friday, 8th February 1935 – this is a great summation of what’s happened, and also points out that Brownhills was one of the first towns to act on slum clearance legislation.
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Posted in Brownhills stuff, Environment, Followups, Interesting photos, Local History, Local media, Local politics, News, planning, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Spotted whilst browsing the web, Walsall community
Tagged bad housing, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Brownhills Urban District Council, clearance, Dr. Bradford, George Bradford, Hill sisters, Lichfield Mercury, Local History, Norman Waine, Ogley Hay, Ogley Square, Peter Cutler, Richard Burnell, sanitation, Slum clearance, Staffordshire, Things to do, UDC, Urban District Council
10 Comments
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.
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 1883, 1:2500, bad housing, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Brownhills Urban District Council, clearance, Dr. Bradford, George Bradford, Hill sisters, Lichfield Mercury, Local History, Norman Waine, Ogley Hay, Ogley Square, Old maps, Ordnance Survey, Peter Cutler, Richard Burnell, Slum clearance, snaitationG, Staffordshire, Things to do, UDC, Urban District Council
6 Comments
Ain’t nobody here but us chickens
A great spot here yesterday from top Walsall Wood Mon, history wonk and local author Clive Roberts, who’s been as intrigued over the years as I have by the history of Crestacre, the former ‘lost’ isolation hospital in Barracks Lane, Brownhills.
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Posted in Brownhills stuff, Environment, Followups, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Spotted whilst browsing the web, Walsall Wood stuff
Tagged 1935, Army, barracks, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Crestacre, factory, Farm, Horse, Huts, Ice Cream, Isolation Hospital, Lane, Lichfield, Liz Wellington, local blogs, Local History, Maddever, Mercury, Nursery, Old maps, Pelari, Poultry, Redevelopment, sale, Selwyn Smith, Shire Oak, Springhills, Staffordshire, Stonnall, Things to do, UDC, Waine
5 Comments
On the Crestacre
Readers will no doubt recall that one of my earliest obsessions on the blog four years ago was the ‘lost’ isolation hospital, owned by Brownhills Urban District Council, and marked on early maps in Barracks Lane, just atop Springhill, on the Brownhills/Ogley Hay border.
Posted in Brownhills stuff, Environment, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, News, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories
Tagged Army, barracks, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Crestacre, factory, Farm, Horse, Huts, Ice Cream, Isolation Hospital, Lane, Lichfield, Liz Wellington, local blogs, Local History, Maddever, Nursery, Old maps, Pelari, Redevelopment, Selwyn Smith, Shire Oak, Springhills, Staffordshire, Stonnall, Things to do, UDC
5 Comments
Curious electric
It’s a curious fact of local history that little St. Anne’s Church, in Church Street, Chasetown, was the first church in Britain lit by electric light. The history of this installation, and of electricity coming to Chasewtown and Brownhills is inextricably tied up with the history of mining in the area.
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Posted in Brownhills stuff, Cannock Chase, Chasewater, Churches, Environment, Events, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local Blogs, Local History, Local media, News, Shared media, Shared memories, Social Media, Spotted whilst browsing the web, Walsall community
Tagged Brownhills, Brownhills a walk into history, Brownhills local history, Canal, Cannock Chase Colliery Company, charity, Chase Terrace, Chasetown, Chasewater, Clayhanger, Electricity, Events, Gerald Reece, historian, history, History Talk, Local History, Macmillan Cancer Support, mining, No 5 pit, planning, St. Anne's, Staffordshire, Things to do, UDC
19 Comments
Downstream
Thanks to reader David Oakley and the ever-diligent [Howmuch?], I’ve since found out that my speculation that Moss Pits was the location of Clayhanger Pumping Station to be utter twaddle. I’d heard the name before, yet couldn’t locate it. Since … Continue reading
Posted in Brownhills stuff, Clayhanger stuff, Environment, Features, Followups, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local History, Local media, Local politics, Shared media, Shared memories, Spotted whilst browsing the web, Walsall community, Walsall Wood stuff
Tagged Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Brownhills Urban District Council, Clayhanger, Derelict, Drains, Ford Brook Road, High Heath, lawley Close, Local History, Mill Road, Moss Pits, Pelsall, pumping station, Replacement, School Farm, sewage, Sewer, Shelfield, Staffordshire, Steam pump, UDC, Walsall Observer, Walsall Wood
3 Comments
A Filthy business
Paul Ford, researcher at Walsall Local History Centre and top blog contributor has once again excelled himself and ferreted out a top piece of local history from Walsall’s extensive archives. Paul has kindly offered to make this a reasonably frequent … Continue reading
Posted in Bad Science, Brownhills stuff, Clayhanger stuff, Environment, Features, Followups, Local History, Local media, Reader enquiries, Shared media, Shared memories, Social Media, Walsall community, Walsall Council
Tagged Albert Henry Snape, Albert Paley, Arthur John Snape, Brownhills, Brownhills local history, Brownhills UDC, Brownhills Urban District Council, Bullings Heath, Clayhanger sewage works, effluent, Emma Snape, Grange Farm, Local History, Paul Ford, pollution, Public analysts laboratory, Samuel Brawn, sewage, Staffordshire, UDC, Walsall, Walsall Council, Walsall Local History Centre, Walsall Wood, Walsall Wood Sewage Works, William Thomas Edwards
4 Comments
