There used to be a little campsite by the Boat Inn in the early 80's that we stayed on many times - owned by the council to bring people and schools to the region think it closed in by 86 - it was a great idea
This has just taken me back to my child hood, we used to always play at "The Black Rocks" as we called them, never knew the term slagheap and the meaning behind it. Always thought there was something special and mysterious about the black rocks. I tried to take my teenage daughter over there last year to show her, but it was so overgrown and couldn't even access it, i was very disappointed. Very well made video, and has put a smile on my face.
When I was a kid living at the top of Station Road, we used to swim in the cut between the railway bridge and the tunnel entrance, Had to keep a lookout for the tug and its train of tube boats. That was in the late 40's and fifties. I left the area for good in 59 and hardly ever went back. I keep promising myself that one day I would go back just to see the changes - but I never get round to it.
“Before the excavation was back-filled to preserve the archaeology a virtual photographic walk-through was created which can be viewed here” The link has been removed, do you know why?
I've been here today and recorded a video while there. Most of that video focused on Madeley Community Orchard which is adjacent to St Michael's Church 😀
I just now mentioned this church in a comment on one of Ben Maton’s videos (The Salisbury Organist) in the hope that he will travel to see the Claverly Church, its’ stained glass windows, and its’ marble effigies. He has many videos of him playing the organ in historic churches in England!!!!!!
I lived there in 1962/63 when my dad, who worked for the Admiralty as a civil service clerk, was posted to the RNAD (Royal Naval Armaments Depot) in Ditton Priors, a great sprawling establishment used for storage and distribution of ammunition for the Royal Navy's ships. The location (and others up and down the country, all now defunct) was chosen due to its isolation for safety reasons. Now an industrial estate of sorts, all the old Victorian red brick storage buildings are still there, separated by embankments to contain any explosion to a single area. We lived in nearby 'Admiralty Quarters' under a mile away; a collection of breeze block and creosoted wood slatted single-storey buildings. The last time these were used was to temporarily house US GIs in the late 60s, following their ejection from France by De Gaulle. Only their concrete bases now remain.
THE Greatest... - and I'm a Liverpool supporter. What records he would have achieved...and with two of the other Babes who died being England internationals, you can see why England might have lived up to the belief they would win the World Cup in Sweden in 1958. He would have certainly captained England in 1966. Buried with his younger sister Carole Anne who died in 1947 aged 14 weeks...RIP
I saw it in 1996. It was at Night, all i saw was 3 Lights in a Triangle with a flashing smaller Red Light at the rear. Comparing the distance between the lights to say a Helicopter, it would have made a lot of noise. Comparison to a Passenger Jet if i assumed it to be the same size, it would have made a bit of a sound. But this was SILENT and if it was the size of a Passenger Plane... the area of the Sky it moved over and period of time it took, would be 10-12X faster than a Plane
If it was named after the smog and dust of the furnaces then your mistaken. There was just as much smog in Cheshire where the furnaces used to heat the water to be pumped into the ground to mine the salt and Manchester area Wigan was just as bad. It was called the black country because of the 30ft seam of coal.
I lived in Ditton Priors in 1961-1963 as my Dad worked at the RNAD. It was an idyllic rural landscape for us youngsters to enjoy. I remember playing in a small clapboard hut on the surface, next to this ROC post, so it predates 1965. It had a small platform outside, so in effect a surface observation station. It had two or three bunks inside, I recall. It looks like it succumbed over the decades to the ravages of Nature and disappared. I assume that was a post built in the 1930s/40s and the underground facility replaced it in the 50s? I vaguely remember playing in there. One time, someone responsible for the underground bunker came along and opened it up, and we looked down the ladder - I can't recall if he invited us down or not, but it looked a bit foreboding to us 14 year olds! So it was operational when I lived in the area, and perhaps he was an appointed local 'caretaker' who was charged with checking it now and then. Thanks for the video!
Absolutely heartbreaking this pub meant so much too me so many child hood memories my children loved this pub showing them the marble that rolled up the shelf against gravity all the laughing from the locals when they saw there face my wife was a fussy eater but she loved the steak n kidney pie n chips she got diagnosed with breast cancer last year n even though going through chemo all she wanted was steak n kidney pie from the crooked house she lost her battle in December thank god she not ere today too see the heartless distrution Totally a inside job really hope they will be held accountable and made to rebuild the crooked house
It’s sad to say it’s gone in a fire a week ago. such a loss of a great old historic pub . I hope they throw the book at the people who destroyed it . Part of the history wiped out.🇬🇧
Just sold , change of use wanted ( prime residential building land ?). Petition for keeping it as a pub gathering momentum then a devastating fire. How unfortunate is that ?
There's a tendancy to go walking in Helmeth Woods, CS even Earl's Hill if in Pontesbury, but I must investigate Pole's Coppice further - Thanks for posting all your lovely photography.
Whilst I agree that swimming is a great sport and environmentally kind, the damage that the swimmers are doing by parking their cars on the grass verge on lodge farm hill is damaging the verge. Mores to the point a family tried to cross behind these illegally parked vehicles and it was dangerous. There’s a car park behind the club. They need to use it. A local petition to Dudley council is being created for banning parking on the verge and pavement.
