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Dead ground?
I've had an interesting enquiry from Laura Watkins, about the cemetery in Barnetts Lane, Brownhills, and it's a little unusual in nature. Continue reading →
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When the dam burst
Chasewater has been, as any long-term reader here knows, a continual and recurring obsession of mine - I love the place; I grew up with it, visiting regularly I came to love its air of faded,...
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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...
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What was lost, now restored
I am indebted to a Burnell yet again, as top chap and fellow cyclist Richard contacts me and points out something he noticed that I didn't - Bullings Heath Grove is now a real place, with street signs...
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West of here – welcome to WyrleyBlog
Local historian, researcher and author Clive Roberts has been in touch to alert me of a new blog on the scene - I'd spotted it a few times in my site stats, but not had chance to check it out. It's...
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Truncated
I'm going to share here an absolutely astounding image donated by Brownhills Local History researcher in exile Gerald Reece, which is sure to create some debate - I'm going to be brief, as I feel it's...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Hunting Lodge
It's often the case when compiling the blog that unconnected threads spring at tangents from original articles - and so it was last week when I featured Ruth Penrhyn-Lowe's excellent scanned postcards...
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Building your new transport network… in 1974
I'm hoping some of the bus and rail enthusiasts can help with this one - a few weeks ago I picked up a 40 year old bus route map for Walsall, Aldridge Lichfield, Brownhills and Cannock, and it's an...
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A son of The Wood
I've finally bought my own copy of Clive Roberts' book ' Snippets of History In and around Walsall Wood' which I review here today - I must say the 79 page £8 book is a cracker - and it's available...
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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...
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A lesson in local history
A couple of weeks ago, I featured here scans of a local history book I'd unexpectedly found in a bookshop - it was a real cracker, and at the same time, a valuable and overlooked bit of Brownhills...
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The lost Howdles Lane dam
In a remarkable instance of coincidence, last Friday, reader and top local history ferret Andy Dennis sent me an astounding piece on a lost reservoir near Howdles Lane, in north Brownhills, between...
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Action stations
Thanks to Twitter cycling whizz and all round top guy @WolvesOnWheels who tipped me off last week, there's a Facebook group that's been featuring a lot of Brownhills, Walsall Wood and Pelsall railway...
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Your guide to Walsall – 125 years ago
Here's one I've been meaning to do for ages, but the sheer labour of it has been off-putting; but now I have access to a professional scanner, it's a lot easier to scan publications like W Henry...
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Doctor Fell
This is just a quick one, as I thought we needed to get at least a little bit of history in at long last - and this one has piqued my curiosity, as my antenna always twitch when I hear subsidence...
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