October 30th – If you’re planning to go for a walk or ride, and part of the route involves getting from the canal to Bentley Mill Way in Walsall, the access steps between the two off the aqueduct are now fenced off and inaccessible, as part of the major roadworks that have closed the road for 13 moths to come.
You can still get down to the road from the Darlaston side, but the route is not pleasant and I’m not sure how long it’ll be before that’s inaccessible too.
Take care folks.
October 29th – Just near the Post Office on Victoria Road, Darlaston, stands the War Memorial. Quite simply, it’s one of the best I have ever seen.
Contained in it’s own, peaceful gardens, it’s a sombre, quiet and lovely place with a wonderful sculpture. I often stop here and have five minutes rest and reflection.
I’ve seen a lot of such remembrance art before, a lot of it in much larger towns than Darlaston. I can honestly say none has matched this one. A beautiful, sombre thing indeed.
October 29th – On the edge of Darlaston’s industrial area between Bentley Bridge and the town centre, there sit this curious pair of cottages, on the corner of Gladstone Street and Station Street. Under the paint and facing, these are rather old, note the great chimney pots on the cream one.
I get the feeling there’s a story to these places. Wonder what it is?
October 28th – Coming into the town centre from the Green, I passed this old building in Church Street I’d not noticed before – shame it’s not in better condition. Does anyone know what its original function was? Tramway power houses normally say so. Perhaps it was a depot or workshop. Under the horrid primrose paint there’s some interestingly ornate brickwork there.
I was also intrigued by the corner townhouse adjacent ‘Favourite House’ – what a curious name.
October 28th – Autumn seems to be lasting forever this year. The wind was still punishing, but it was a lovely warm commute with sunny spells. I took to the canal to get get to Darlaston, and hopped off at Bentley Bridge. The canal looked lovely in the morning brightness, and Darlaston Green could have made a postcard.
I’m normally down in the dumps at this time of year when the clocks go back, but it hasn’t really seemed to trouble me this year – perhaps because the weather is so good.
October 27th – A quieter, and altogether more successful hunter was just up the waterway at Bentley Bridge. Initially quite well hidden in the reeds, I clearly put this young grey heron off his fishing stroke too.
I love herons – haven’t had one here for a bit. I still find it remarkable that I now see them in the most urban of areas. A real signifier of environmental improvement.
October 23 – A little further on up the canal, the vegetation is changing colour, but is still remarkably green. The canal here is peaceful, and a little urban oasis where herons fish and ducks potter in the rushes. The roving bridge here was to allow access to the Anson Branch – a lost, truncated waterway whose last job was mainly to supply water to Reedswood power station, itself long demolished.
The fate of the Anson Branch was sealed by the M6, which cut it short, but the bridge is still in use to access the road from the other side.
October 22nd – Spotted in Darlaston after a tipoff by [Howmuch?] – what I must presume to be a World War Two air raid shelter. Just opposite the police station on the edge of Victoria Park, by the Table Tennis Club hut (itself a remnant of life during wartime, perhaps) not really concealed at all, but easy to miss. Two blocked entrances hint at what lies beneath.
I find is surprising and unusual that such a public curiosity survives.
Do any of the Darlaston contingent who read this know more about it? Is there a shelter down there still, or has it been infilled? How big ws it? Was it public, or just for the boys in blue over the way?
A fascinating thing.
October 22nd – In the offices of Smarm, Smarm, Bignob and Braces, advertising agency for SSE Power:
‘Nigel, it’s a great advert for energy. But it’s lacking a certain gravitas. What it needs is a completely irrelevant, wistful, ennui-laden orang-utan, gazing meaningfully into the distance.’
‘I’ll get right onto it, Gideon’
As is the photoshopped buildings and van weren’t shitty enough. What would the librarian of the Unseen University make of it all?
‘Ook!’ probably.
Both spotted in Darlaston.
September 18th – From the Indian, back to the Indian summer. Darlaston, in and around Victoria Park. The leaves are turning and falling, and the park as clean and perfect as usual. Surrounded by beautiful houses, I will not cease banging on about this jewel of a place until everyone gets it.
I was intrigued by the scarlet berries on the holly-like evergreen; copious and beautiful, they seem to be holly, but the leaves don’t look much like holly leaves; more like a cross between laurel and holly. A curious thing.
Anyone know what it is?
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 