August 17th – The architecture of Darlaston – as I mentioned a couple of posts ago – is surprising and beautiful. There are some really grand, ambitious, but dignified buildings in the centre of town, yet who outside of Darlaston knows? Have you ever seen such a lovely post office or cop shop? Welcome to the real Black Country. It has a habit of taking your breath away.
August 16th – About the only positive thing to come from the fire at the former Jabez Cliff factory in Walsall was that the traffic was static as I headed into Walsall at 8:00am next morning, due to the Ring Road west being shut on safety grounds. This pretty much gridlocked the traffic fright back to Rushall, which allowed me to skip past it all the way into Walsall. Having the ring road to myself for the first couple of legs was fun, too.
August 16th – Darlaston has some fantastic architecture. This industrial town between Wednesbury, Willenhall and Walsall was built in the heat of the industrial revolution on it’s drop forging and fastener trades. Both have now all but gone, with huge swathes of wasteland left behind, but hidden in nondescript rows of terraces and in quiet suburban streets are examples of buildings so wonderful they’d grace the likes of Cheltenham. This fine example is on the Walsall Road, just outside the town centre. I just love the circular tower and complex roofline. The ornamentation in the stonework is also gorgeous.
August 16th – When I made my predictions last month for the next historically significant Walsall building to die tragically in a fire, I forgot about the former Jabez Cliff works. A beautiful victorian building, left to decay with lax security. It had become a magnet for vagrants and junkies, so I guess it was only a matter of time. Yesterday, it was pretty much gutted in a very large fire, the extent of which was clear as I passed this morning. By my return this evening, the beautiful frontage had been demolished. Still, it’ll be much easier to build new stuff on the site now that the troublesome old pile is gone… and with it, yet more of our precious heritage.
Why does nobody in power at Walsall care enough to stop this happening?
August 15th – I passed the sad, rotting hulk of The Wheel In, on Lindon Road, Brownhills this evening. Closed for several years now, this formerly buzzing community local is now quietly rotting, prospective buyers no doubt put off by the rumour spread locally that the building is suffering severe structural problems. I’m not sure if it is or not, but the rumour spread remarkably quickly. Curious.
I doubt this house will ever reopen. A tradgedy.
August 15th – The digital traffic signs, recently installed on the edges of Walsall town centre have been controversial, costly, and rather pointless. Since installation, they’ve either been blank, or displaying such crucial messages as ‘Tiredness kills – Take a break’. Today, with a major fire in central Walsall, they got chance to display vital road closure information, which made no difference whatsoever to the traffic, which was gridlocked at rush hour. It doesn’t help that several of the message displays – like this one on the edge of The Butts – are situated at a point where it’s virtually impossible to take any preventative measures to avoid the problem. Design in action.
August 14th – This bizarrely happy-looking former church, at Bodymoor Heath, near Kingsbury has now been converted into a house. It has a very striking, slightly mad appearance. I must have passed this building more than forty times, but I’ve never noticed it’s unsettling, almost human expression before. Well weird, not sure I could live in a place that odd.
August 14th – If you’re the publisher of the Sutton Coldfield Observer, it looks like one of your delivery agents has been ripping you off. Several bundles of your paper – unopened, and fresh from the print works – have been dumped on a grass verge near the M6 Toll bridge at Camp Road, Canwell. They date from April, and one can only assume that the person who was paid to distribute them dumped them and pocketed the cash.
August 14th – This vineyard actually produces grapes for winemaking. They go to produce Buzzard Valley wines, which are sold from a shop and bistro nearby, the entire smallholding lies in a valley between Canwell and Drayton Bassett. The wine isn’t bad. Who’d have thought you’d see vineyards in Staffordshire?
August 13th – A spin round Chasewater and a particularly fine, uninterrupted blast on the traffic-free bike route between Chasewater Heaths Station and Pool Road, at the north end of the dam. This is just a fraction of the great, family-freindly cycling to be had at Chasewater. Ideal for the nervous or those just not fancying road cycling, there’s cycle hire available on the south shore. Just watch out for pedestrians, loose dogs and obstinate red deer.
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