Tag: Brownhills

April 4th – Today was not a photogenic day. My journey to the station at Telford – about three miles – was against the wind and in a steady rain, felt much how I imagine being shotblasted to feel. It was the kind of rain that made your forehead hurt.

At the other end of my commute, I chose my return station with care. I could have come from Walsall or Shenstone, but the latter offered the choice with the favourable wind. Positively blown home, there was nothing that inspired me to get the camera out until I tackled Shire Oak Hill at Sandhills. The weather had been dire, yet I was coasting up a really quite nasty hill without thinking. I reflected on the nature of this hill over history – this small group of old houses would have been the Sandhills of old, one being the Leopard pub – closed at the turn of the 1900’s, but with a two-century history. What would it have been like to climb this hill in say, 1850? 1800? 1750? 

An old route through an old hamlet. Never really noticed  before.

April 1st – The smallholding near the canal at Newtown, in Brownhills, seems to be thriving. The pigs look happy and in good condition, and seem to be increasing in number. As I passed, this cheeky fellow was proving the old adage that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. He’s obviously deft at this, and I collected the wool he’d snagged on the barbed wire to hang up for nesting birds at home.

April 1st – Didn’t get time to go far today. I did get to Chasewater during the dog-end of a gorgeous afternoon, however. There was a stiff breeze, but it was still relatively warm. I noticed along the canal that the hawthorn leaves were coming out, and the gradual greening of fields and woods has started in earnest. I noticed at Ogley Basin in Brownhills that the dredging equipment and silt screens from Anglesey basin were now finished with, and the stricken dredger was still in dry dock. Little dredging actually seems to have been done, so I’ve no idea what actually happened there. At Chasewater itself, access has now been opened up again to foot and bicycle traffic from the canal, and access now seems possible to the park once more. During an enjoyable hour talking to a very knowledgable old hand by the new nine-foot, I learned that the contractors will be offsite by next weekend. I also discovered that the marsh in the spillway isn’t the Sphagnum Lawn, but a different bit of preserved wetland from the old nine-foot. Whoops… must correct that on the main blog. 
The works are looking pretty decent, and all that’s left to do now is a little rain dance and hope the water level rises as quickly as possible. 

March 27th – Lane’s Farm at Sandhills is known by most folk in Brownhills. Actually an arrangement of several houses, Home Farm, Sandhills House and Lime Barn stand on the bend of an old private track that connects the Anchor Bridge and pub with the foot of Shire Oak Hill opposite the old Leopard pub. It’s very sad that this track is a private road, and indeed, no public rights of way that I’m aware of cross this land, an unusual thing. The track neatly skirts Shire Oak Hill, and the ability to traverse it would be a boon on the way home sometimes. From the Sandhills side, the track is a majestic avenue of mature trees, leading to a house with a Victorian, walled kitchen garden. There is a lot of history here.

March 25th – It must be spring, the swans are back. This young pair built a nest last year, but didn’t raise a brood. Common behaviour in young swans, they often ‘practice’ for a couple of years before raising young. Mrs. Swan was still building her huge nest in the reeds at the back of the houses on Sadler pad, near Catshill in Brownhills. Carfully pulling stalks and fronds of reed and placing them around her, her mate drifted idly on the water, one leg up on his wing, unpeturbed. Swans are remarkable birds.

March 24th – A terrible day. Best by setbacks, nothing went to plan. I was plotting a long ride into Leicestershire, but a bad stomach in the early hours put paid to that. Work troubles, technology let-downs and other frustrating issues meant I didn’t get out of the house until 5:30pm. With a distinctly ropey stomach, I didn’t feel like going far but needed peace. I headed up the canal, then rode down the old railway line trail to Ryders Mere and took a loop round Pelsall. Gold seemed to be the colour scheme of the day. It was a peaceful, gentle relief to be out and about on my own. Sadly, I didn’t see my old familiar, the dog fox. Perhaps he was scoring tea for the cubs… 

March 23rd – whilst pottering through Wednesfield on my way back from Telford, I noticed this pedestrian bridge near the centre of town. I think it’s a close relation to the one in Brownhills, erected a couple of years ago at the bottom of Pier Street. Although a different shape, and clearly adapted for specific circumstances, it’s clearly by the same designer with similar stylistic quirks. Wonder if there are any more of them? I like these bridges, although the inward-leaning rail is disconcerting, they have beautifully soft ramps for wheeled access, and look rather elegant.

March 21st – Brownhills churchyard cemeteries are a disgrace. The grounds maintenance here is, quite frankly, appalling, and something I’ve noted before. What annoys me most in that the memorial garden currently in use has ridiculous rules enforced strictly about what folk can leave on memorials, apparently to maintain the appearance of the churchyard – yet relatives, who’ve paid a considerable fee to have their loved ones interred here – have to suffer untidiness, uncut grass and mud. This is a scandal, pure and simple. This is where an awful lot of Brownhills folk are remembered – it it too hard to show them the respect in death they deserved in life?

March 21st – I hadn’t been up Brickiln Street in Brownhills for a while. I was quite surprised to see the old library is still standing – it’s been empty ever since its replacement in the Parkview Centre, Brownhills opened a few years ago. I’m sure I read a local councillor was campaigning to have it removed; certainly, the council have been trying to flog the land for a while. The building is boarded up, and the grounds locked.

It fills me with sadness, really, as I spent years here, as a kid. That small, dull building held everything I needed for a while – peace and quiet, headspace, and a world of possibility, learning and dreaming.

In there now is probably the ghost of an awkward young lad, chin propped on his hands, reading the local planning list, some map or the latest Bernard Ashley. That building – and what it held – had a huge influence on me. 

March 20th – More sunsets. Sorry, it’s just how it is right now. I tend to be out on my bike at sundown. The canal looked gorgeous and I loved the reflections. The rooftops, chimneys and TV aerials of Clifton Avenue, just off the Pelsall Rood looked good, too.

I guess the repetitive sunset thing will be solved come Sunday and the return of British Summer Time…