July 23rd – A brief afternoon run out through Aldridge and Stonnall rewarded me with fine views from both Lazy Hill and Grove Hill. This view, from the former, is often neglected as it’s not easy to get a good aspect on. Looking northeast across Stonnall to Lichfield, it shows a summer well and truly on it’s throne.
July 22nd – How to get rid of a listed building. These masons are carefully removing examples of significant stonework from the Mellish Road Methodist Church, which was sadly damaged during the operation to fill limestone caverns under the Butts area of North Walsall 22 years ago. Never well built, it suffered from cheap, ambitious building techniques, common to many such churches. Having taken the substantial compensation, the original owners sold the church on to developers, whose attempts to do anything with the site were roundly rebuffed by he planning committees for 20 years. Finally, after vandalism, decay and a visit from the municipal arsonists, the church is being demolished, clearing the way for the owners to build whatever they want.
Oddly, Walsall Council paints this as some kind of triumph, when in reality it’s a sickening, depressing example of how commercial interests outflank attempts at development control. But it’s more than that – a decade ago, an application was made to turn the church into a community centre, which was declined, too. Had that been approved, these men wouldn’t be taking apart this sad, decaying building now.
July 22nd – Nipping into Wednesbury’s Decathlon sports superstore on my way home for a couple of bike bits, I was surprised by the quality and thought given to the bike rack. I don’t know anything about it, other than it appears to be French. It’s sensible, secure, and features a great way to park the bike without it toppling over. Big chunky cable anchors allow you to lock your steed in the manner of your choosing. I was so chuffed with it, I left my bike there while I popped in PC World. Decathlon haven’t got the best range of cycling bits, but in an emergency they’re fine, and with provision like that, I’ll certainly be returning. Nice one.
Lime house is built partly out of limestone slag and is quite unique. It’s death warrant was signed long ago, with the building on the new college. I don’t know yet, but I’d expect it to be car parking. That’s what is was slated for in the original plan.
A tragedy.
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July 21st – Walsall has plenty of abandoned buildings of historical interest. Sadly, our civic masters don’t have the best record of caring for them, and seem to have learned little about protecting heritage from developer’s aspirations over the years. The parish church, dramatically built atop a hill overlooking the town, has it’s aspect sullied by The Overstrand restaurant, built four decades ago, and is now similarly blighted by a hideous Asda shed carelessly permitted five years ago. We never learn.
A couple of weeks ago, town officials were having a ‘crisis meeting’ about the last remnants of the workhouse that stand unloved and derelict outside the new hospital. Once part of the old one, this dramatic building is empty and rotting. I can see why a crisis meeting might be be necessary, after all it’s a bugger when Victorian buildings unexpectedly materialise overnight.
Fear not though, as Walsall has it’s own way of dealing with it’s inconvenient past, often it gets burned to the ground. Trembling before the arsonist’s zippo are several inconveniently located old buildings including Lime House and the former Walkways community centre. The council is now applying to demolish Lime House, but overactive firebugs will probably beat the developer vandals to it.
Welcome to Walsall where our past makes fine fuel.
July 21st – Saint Andrew’s Methodist Church in Kings Hill, Darlaston is a sad sight. An interesting edifice, built out of very red, red brick, it seems derelict and abandoned. Let’s hope it doesn’t befall the same fate as the Mellish Road methodist church in Walsall, currently being demolished after a 20 year abandonment. I wonder who owns it and way may lie in store. I fear for old buildings in our area, we seem so negligent with our architectural heritage.
July 20th – Usually forgotten after it’s dramatic yellow flowering phase, the oilseed rape is nearing ripeness. People often think the scruffy, dead looking spiky plants are failed crops – but each of the fine pods contains numerous small black seeds that contain a rich, high-energy oil, useful for food and biofuel. The crop is harvested and flailed by combine harvester, the seeds taken away for pressing. A very modern crop.
July 20th – The rosebay willow herb – old man’s beard – has been coming out for a couple of weeks now. This tall, viciously purple plant occupies urban waste grounds, rural set-asides, hedgerows and lay-bys, and fruits to a hairy, airborne seed that we all know. This fine summer flower- often dismissed as a mere weed – is a veritable bee magnet and I counted at least seven species on this small clump near Ive House Farm in Lower Stonnall. As fine a summer feature as you’re likely to find.
July 19th – These two lady cyclists also bid me a pleasant greeting as they passed me whilst I was taking a photo of this handsome, ivy-draped cottage on the junction of Footherley Lane and Gravelly Lane, Lower Stonnall. I’ve always loved this house. I like the way it oversees the junction, and how beautiful it looks after dark, the light from it’s windows like a beacon on many a winters night. Quite what the cyclists thought I was up to, I have no idea.
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