Mining RSS feed for the Mining tag
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The Mushroom 28 Feb 11
The more you look at the proposed, but secret, deal to start open cast mining on the old IMI site in Darlaston, the more you get to thinking that whoever thought it up but must be on something that, if not illegal, should be.
Not content with the problems of mining what has been described as one of the most polluted sites in Europe…
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BrownhillsBob 27 Feb 11
When we discussed a couple of missing pubs in the area, The Coach & Horses and Royal Oak, an interesting observation was made by reader Caz.
I’ve been talking to a man today who’s lived near the Blackcock all his life and he said that the Royal Oak pub was across the road from the Blackcock pub in Green Lane, Walsall Wood. There was also a mortuary there and a row of houses. Hope this jogs someones memory.
I’ve heard the mortuary thing before, and disregarded it. Talking about the map I featured in the last post about Walsall Wood Colliery, the sharp-eyed top local history buff [Howmuch?] pointed out that the morgue in question was marked at the edge of that extract. In disbelief, I checked, and he’s quite right, there’s a small building marked ‘mort’, just the other side of the canal. I decided to pull up some old maps, that better show the area, formerly known as Bullings Heath…
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BrownhillsBob 26 Feb 11
Since covering the anniversary of The Grove Pit Disaster – the worst such event in our area’s mining history – I’ve only peripherally touched on the subject of the local mines. After some prompting by readers, I’ve decided this week to feature the Walsall Wood Colliery in the ‘Pictures from the Past’ feature.
I’m very wary of glamorising or sanitising the history of mining; I’m aware that it’s a sensitive issue locally, and I have nothing but respect for those hard, proud people that worked in such a harsh, deadly industry for very poor pay.
Those who would regard this industry with misty eyes behind rose-tinted spectacles outrage me. The history of mine worker pay and conditions doesn’t shadow that of the general British workforce; their occupation remained regularly deadly long after others were made safe. Former miners continue to this day to fall due to respiratory diseases caused by the atrocious conditions they endured to fuel our industrial boom…
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BrownhillsBob 15 Jan 11
At the risk of irritating the anglers again, it seems like Bob, the copper carp dangling from the Walsall Wood angler’s pole has gone missing again.
I’m pretty sure the fish was there earlier in the week – I’ve been expecting it to be poached ever since it was re-hooked, so always make a note when passing. On Friday, the Express & Star reported the on the latest incident of piscean pilfering…
Feature
Godfrey Hucker Oakparkrunner 16 Dec 10
I was born on April 10th 1941, at 55 Coppice Side Brownhills, which is a road off the Pelsall road, by the site of the Jolly Collier Public House, since demolished for development by T&S Stores.
The house was coal board owned, of the two up, two down design, with electricity just for downstairs lighting, and no power sockets. With only a cold water supply all hot water had to be boiled on the cast iron black leaded grate, using a kettle. All food had to be cooked in the side oven, or on the hob…
News
BBC News 14 Oct 10
The last of the 33 miners trapped deep underground in northern Chile for more than two months has been rescued.
Luis Urzua, the shift supervisor who was credited with helping the men survive the first 17 days before rescue teams made contact, was greeted by his family and President Sebastian Pinera.
The six rescuers sent down to assist the miners must now be winched up…
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BrownhillsBob 1 Oct 10
Remembering the Grove Colliery Disaster of 1930
Eighty years ago today, on the 1st October, 1930, fourteen men died underground, as a result of a gas explosion at the Grove, or Brownhills Colliery. It is thought that the men perished when a naked light was struck in the shaft.
I have featured this incident as a recurring theme over the past few weeks, and much has been written by others about the dreadful events of that autumn dawn, pictured in newsreel footage posted on this blog previously…
Features
BrownhillsBob 24 Sep 10
I had a lovely email from Janet Whittaker, who regular readers will remember asked last week about the grave of her grandfather, John Bernard Whittaker.
John died in the Grove Pit Disaster in 1930, and Janet, her family having moved away from the area, enquired as to the whereabouts of his grave. On Sunday, I posted photos of the grave, and details of how to find it.
It was a real pleasure to help here. This is the kind of thing I love doing – direct engagement with the history of our area, and even though the subject matter is tragic, there is a kind of completion that this story has encompassed that brings a certain satisfaction. In a way, the circle is unbroken…
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BrownhillsBob 17 Jan 10
Walsall Wood mining sculpture
My views on this hideous waste of regeneration funding haven’t changed in the slightest since I wrote about it back in May 2009. For a sum of cash that could have been used for something constructive – £45,000 I believe – we’ll get a new climbing frame for the yoots and a target for tatters in the High Street…