Thank you for watching and commenting. It is greatly appreciated. I watched and very much enjoyed your video on Charter Hall. Unfortunately there were many accidents and deaths at HG and on the training flights away from the airfield, even after changing to Avro Ansons. There was also a civilian worker killed when he walked into a running propeller during the war.
As you’re moving further afield, perhaps you could look at Gatacre Hall? I lived there, in a barn conversion, for 10 years - 1997\2007. (The first barn to be sold by the developer, who I believe bought the 100 acre site from the Gatacre family in the 1980’s) Apparently there’s a story behind the hall being abandoned late 30’s with the family moving to Canada, never to return. The saying was that every house in Claverley had a “repurposed” piece of furniture from the hall.
Hi Flynn, Thank you for watching and commenting. Not that many views on this one, although I do like it myself! SVR is an interesting idea, although I prefer narrow gauge myself. Keep your eyes on the channel, maybe I’ll take you up on your suggestion. Cheers mate.
Cheers mate. This is the 4th Drakelow one now. I do have a few more bits and pieces in my archive, but wonder if it’s getting a bit repetitive now. Thanks for watching and commenting. It is much appreciated.
Another interesting video, I was up kinver edge recently and ended up being an impromptu tour guide for a family from finland, I did mention drakelow to them aswell, I definatly channelled my inner Wheezy Wanderer that day. Keep up the interesting videos, I always enjoy learning more about this special part of the world
Thank you for watching and commenting. The national trust are looking for a guide for the rock houses, maybe you have found your true vocation! Best wishes.
I’ve watched all your videos and enjoyed them all. I think a sad inditement that we feel the need to throw a veil of secrecy around locations of such interesting natural or man made features. It defeats the object to a certain extent. Don’t get me wrong, I support your strategy, but can’t help feeling it devalues what you’re aiming to do, which I assume is showcase natural history? I’ve taken my granddaughter to a few of the sites you’ve featured and shared your knowledge, obviously I can’t in this case. Keep doing what you do, but less of the secret squirrel stuff for me. 🤷♂️
Thanks for watching and commenting Michael. I wasn’t sure whether to actually post this one. It would be such a shame if this became full of rubbish and graffiti. In this day and age it’s hard to know what to do for the best. Some local people will know this location. More to come soon. Cheers.
I love these stories and seeing these locations, it's like I'm there with you walking along and the area so beautiful, thank you so much very enjoyable watching. 😃
Hi, Christina, thank you for watching and commenting. The latest belief is that it is indeed the bridge that used to cross the canal by the Stewpony. It was moved sometime between 1930 and 1953 to replace an old wooden bridge that gave access to Stag Meadow. Not seen any hard evidence, but apparently there are a few people who have claim this to be the case. It certainly does look very much like the bridge over the canal in some old photos.
Hi. I'm a member of the Drakelow museum staff, and we are trying to get our hands on some of the equipment that was removed when it was closed down. If you still have or know of anyone with some of these items, would you be willing to help return them?
Hi, We always struggled to find anything to be honest. We left a 1950’s Home Office Emergency Manual Switch. I.e. an old manual telephone switchboard. It actually came from the basement of an exchange in Nottingham called Archer. It was part of the govt Emergency communications network and would have been connected to Drakelow and other gov’t establishments. We also left a County Message Switch. A more modern computerised version. This came from the bunker below County Hall in Shrewsbury. Shropshire county council would have been under control of Drakelow should there have been a war or civil emergency and this gear would have had a direct line to Drakelow’s MSX. The Air-soft people thought it would be fun to smash the special keyboard and although they said they would fix it they never did. This was left outside the BBC studio and was in working order. We also left a load of equipment in the BBC studio which although not original and probably not the same equipment that was originally there. I don’t know the location of any other items. But I’ll keep a look out in case anything crops up.
The bridge looks wide enough to be a double track railway bridge. So I think it was obtained from a railway somewhere. Being so close to the KLR route it is a good theory it came from there, But there were so many mineral railways in the Black Country that my guess is that Marsh aquired it from one of those mineral railways that closed down when the pit was no longer viable. Just looks too wide to be a KLR single track bridge - hence my argument it came from elsewhere.
Hi, thanks for watching and commenting. Yes it could have come from anywhere else really. It does bear a striking resemblance to the one in my thumbnail pic that I also show in the video. That was the one crossing the canal at The Stewpony. I am hoping that someone out there knows the answer.
@@thewheezywanderer6995 Yes - it could be the one from the Stewponey that was moved. That was later replaced by a very different bridge to carry the KLR - a wooden one if I recall correctly.
On the Stewponey bridge there appears to be a white logo on the side. Is there any evidence of that on the bridge at the meadows (even a faint indentation under the paintwork could prove your theory)
@@GarrattFamily I think it may have been the other way around Tony. I ‘think’ the wooden bridge with open sides was replaced with the iron/steel one, but could be wrong!
Thanks for watching and commenting Mike. Glad you enjoyed it. Have you seen the second Million video too? The Million Part 2 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HPBY7fVnFo4.html
Hi Mike, thanks for watching and commenting. Glad you enjoyed it. Have you seen the second Million video too? The Million Part 2 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HPBY7fVnFo4.html
Hi Paul, yes I did thanks, fascinating, you could well be correct re the Home Gard Aux units, as I side note as I kid i used to go round the Millon with metal detector Coleting spent amo , in hindsight probably not a wise thing to do !!
Hi Paul, Great footage thanks for sharing. I have been trying to get in touch with regards to the Drakelow Tunnels Museum. We are looking for some pictures of the bunker in the early 90s so we can put these on display for visitors. We have some great unseen archive material which I’m sure you would like to see also. Let me know if you are interested.
So in one comment the guys says 8 miles of tunnels but later says 3 miles ..my dad back in the 60s said there were 2 levels to the bunker but was later blocked off ..
Hi, thanks for watching and commenting. The ‘8 miles’ thing was puzzling back in the day, but it turned out that in an early interview with a journalist one of the PSA guys was asked about the total length of the tunnels. He guessed at 8 miles and it just ‘stuck’. We used the original WW2 drawings and some surveying equipment and it came to approx 3.5 miles. The ‘other levels’ has always been intriguing. But we had free rein to go wherever we wanted, we searched for clues and even drilled with a 3 foot long drill bit in a couple of suspicious areas, but could never find any evidence of other levels. I spoke with people who worked on the construction and people who worked there in WW2, no one had any knowledge of other levels. The water table is approx40 feet below floor level. Bear in mind you need a decent thickness of sandstone between levels for structural stability, that doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for another level. If there is it’s going to be very damp indeed. I don’t know for sure and like to keep an open mind, but I doubt very much that there is another level. I would love to be proved wrong though. Back when it was being built, they actually had too much space so didn’t complete several of the galleries or continue the main tunnels further east. Which is why Adit D is out on a dog leg. In the original plan it would have lined up with the ends of tunnels 1 to 4. So the factory as we know it is actually smaller than the original planned size. I would love it if there were more levels, in fact a medium told us there was another level below! But sadly I doubt that it exists. I hope some day I will be proved wrong!
Hi Paul, I have just enjoyed your Kinver videos as an ex resident. I now live in Derbyshire. I also discovered your Drakelow caves videos and realised it was you who gave a group of us a guided tour in the late 90's/early 00's. I assume you have seen the video of Mary Cartwright when she recalls her time working there. She mentions being a teacher after the War. For many years she worked at the Grange Secondary School in Stourbridge (now called Pedmore Technology College) . I believe she was there when my father-in- law was appointed Headteacher in the 1960's. I understand she is in her 90's now and still plays Bridge at Stourton Village Hall.
Hi Roy, thanks for watching and commenting. Yes we ran tours from around 1999 until 2009. I usually did the introduction and then the groups went round with either Ian, Roger, or me. I used to love doing it! I have seen the interview with Mary Cartwright. I don’t know why she didn’t come forward when I was researching and interviewing former employees in the 1990’s. Unless she used her maiden name at the time perhaps. I listed everyone I spoke to here: www.drakelow.org/pages/workers.html I think my research has been ‘nicked’ and posted elsewhere without permission or credit too. Glad you enjoyed the video, there are more to come.
Hi Paul. I remember the track over the River Stour at the Stewpony being removed about 20 years ago. The river authority would probably be able to give you a definitive date.
As a Wollaston youth in the early 1960's, I supped in most of the Kinver pubs. I had my "stag do" at The Plough and my wedding reception at the Stewpony. Also spent many nights at the Cider House, Quatt with a group of car mechanics from Stour Valley Motors, Stourbridge. 'Lived in Kinver for42 years but now live in Peak District so it's great to relive those days by seeing old haunts.
I'm pleased the story of the tunnels garnered a little more interest. I find it very interesting, so look forward to more on Drakelow and your other insights.
been looking for this for some time, maybe one day. did you know about the roman baths near the million? there is also samsons cave and a chaple near the hall. great video and information.
Hi Jim, thanks for watching and commenting. I have been to the ‘Roman’ baths, but others have already covered them on RU-vid. The same applies to Samson’s cave there are a few videos on that one. I am aware of Shenstone’s chapel and may do a video there one day, but that too has also been on RU-vid a few times. Your comments and suggestions are very welcome and much appreciated. (Have you seen my first video about The Million too?) cheers.
An amazing video, hocked on watching all your films now, thanks for sharing these great, local memories.... I live in Kingswinford and had no idea that laser quest was the old tram buildings....
Thank you for a lovely video. It’s been a particularly beautiful and long drawn out autumn with spectacular colour. Your camera seems to be picking that up well.
Fascinating, definitely would like know and see more. As a teenager back in the 1970’s we were intrigued by these tunnels. Indeed one of my friends got over/under the perimeter fence and was apprehended by security…..around 1975 I think.
Thanks for watching and commenting Michael. There is more info available here: Drakelow Unearthed The Secret History of an Underground Complex: www.amazon.co.uk/Drakelow-Unearthed-Revised-history-underground-ebook/dp/B0745GSTZW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=DRRBL5MCX8L2&keywords=Drakelow+unearthed&qid=1657727445&s=books&sprefix=drakelow+unearthed%2Cstripbooks%2C96&sr=1-1 More info at: www.drakelow.org
I found a small bronze statue of a stag man there a few years ago before the location became more popular, leads me to believe it’s used as a sacred pagan place worship, my old friend Andy Chance believed it was used as a highwayman’s hideout, most likely been used as different purposes over the years
Hi, Thanks for watching and commenting. I think some very strange things have probably gone on there over the years. We don’t even know how old this structure is.
Hi Michael, sorry for the delay in replying. No the pumping stations you listed are not part of this scheme. It is totally separate. The Elan scheme, thanks to the ingenuity of the Victorian engineers, doesn’t require pumps to move the water 73 miles from The Elan Valley all the way to the Frankley reservoir in Birmingham. The whole thing runs by gravity! Thank you very much for watching and commenting, it is much appreciated.
Hi, Thanks for watching. Gibbet wood is private as far as I know. But you can walk through along Gibbet Lane which is a right of way. That’s how I did it. Hope this helps.
You may or may not be interested, but my father was born in "the Blundies" in Enville (Blundies Lane, obviously) and the whole of this area was a playground for him as a child. He used to take me to one or two places around Enville and he always referred to "the Million", at least the stretch to the west of the Chester Road, as Enville Common, which is the name some people give to Highgate Common. The two were totally separate entities. I knew it as a small child before the trees were planted ( I was told by the Forrestry Commision, but who knows!) and I always remember and think about the singular oak trees dotted here and there that you can still see among the pines, although some, if not all, have died of being smothered, or of disease etc.....
Hi Roger, and thank you very much for watching and commenting. I was very interested to read your comment. I have come across instances of Enville Common and Highgate Common being confused. Although the name The Million is associated with the planting of the trees in the 1950’s there are suggestions that the name actually goes back much earlier.
@@thewheezywanderer6995 Thanks. Names like The Million always seem to reside at the edge of the mind, as though you’ve heard it but can’t quite put your finger on it.
Hi, thanks for watching and commenting. Could be, but the first one is right next to the entrance of a very short tunnel. The second one is part way along the longer tunnel so it’s possible, but again it’s not a very long or deep tunnel, open at both ends, so it’s unlikely to be necessary. I did wonder if the second one was just for light. The first one may also be the result of a collapse, who knows!
So many great pubs and clubs lost. On the plus side, our High Street Post Office closed, and one of the smaller chains bought it, kept the frontage absolutely intact, just renaming it 'The Old Post Office', inside is a traditional pub, with a great atmosphere, but no food! Which is a bonus, no smells or dirty plates, just good beer and great staff. Such a change from the Spoons model
Hi Neil. Thanks for watching and for the comment. An ex post office converted into a pub sounds like a great idea. Ours is now a private house. I spend a lot of time in Tywyn they built a brand new pub on the sea front where there hadn’t been a pub before. So rare these days when many are closing.
