Tag: derelict

July 14th – A grey afternoon in Walsall. I realised at 1:30 that I had a package to collect from the central Post Office in Walsall. Taking a chance, I decided to make a dash for it. Grabbing the bike, I left at 1:35 (the office shuts at 2pm) – I was locking my bike up outside the sorting office a 1:50pm. That’s why I ride a bike.

Parcel collected, I decided to check out a new coffee shop I was hearing good things about – @coffeecomforts, in the old Tandy store underneath Tameway Tower on Bridge Street. Sadly, at 2:10pm on a Saturday, it was shut. So much for that, then…

I took mediocre tea in Costas, then explored the backstreets for a while, before heading through Caldmore, to pick up indian snacks for the week ahead at my favourite sweet centre, Harguns. On the way, I noted that the old Guildhall Mews, in Goodall Street, was quietly decaying. I remember when this was open as little shops, and you ould walk right in, around 1990. There was a CD audio specialist at the back called CDX. I don’t know how long it’s been shut, but the plant life is having a ball.

The BOAK building is still cowering, trying to look inconspicuous to the municipal arsonists, who recently torched another derelict building nearby. It’s a handsome place, and something really should be done with it. 

My eye was also caught by the White Hart, on Caldmore Green; one of the oldest buildings in Walsall I believe, and a shining example of what can be done to preserve heritage. Still can’t warm to the building though, knowing they found a petrified severed arm in the chimney. Ugh. It’s in Walsall Museum, and dubbed ‘The Hand of Glory’.

June 8th – The devastation of the Great British public house continues unabated. In recent weeks two pubs have been lost at Longdon, Staffordshire, the Railway at Pelsall has closed and Brownhills own Royal ‘Middle’ Oak is up for sale. The Hatherton Arms closed some weeks ago, and now stands as a forlorn gateway to Walsall. Once a lovely little community boozer, it is interesting architecturally, and had a George V memorial brick set into the lounge wall. Sadly, it doesn’t look like reopening anytime soon, and would tenure that it’s probably awaiting the ultimate death by fire that so many abandoned Walsall buildings seem to succumb to. 
A great tragedy. 

May 31st – My unexpected commuting grief did lead to an unexpected visit to the throbbing metropolis that is Walsall. It was quite fortuitous really; it meant the wind was at my back on the ride home, and also that I could check out the damage caused by yet another derelict building fire in the town the previous night.

The fire was in an abandoned, derelict former leather works smack bang in the middle of the Waterfront development area. Immediately adjacent to a new apartment block, the old factory has been derelict for a few years, and I guess this will lead to another hasty demolition and yet another rubberstamped planning application. I circled the former factory, and noticed something about this development area I’ve never noticed before – it’s very shabby, in reality. New blocks of housing, both new build and renovations, are punctuated by derelict, rotting hulks of workshops, dark and forbidding. The planning here has been lousy, and I wouldn’t fancy walking in this area at night. Who’d want to buy a new luxury apartment next to a derelict drugs den?

May 26th – A great ride today in blazing sunshine which I recorded in this post on my main blog. But while heading out, I noticed  that these old cottages in Footherley Lane, near Shenstone, had at last received some attention. All the surrounding scrub has been cut down. Hopefully, this is a precursor to someone actually turning them back into homes. Derelict for since I was a child, there’s no excuse for allowing good house to just crumble, unoccupied and unloved. The people who did so should hang their heads in shame.

May 18th – only just still standing, the fabric of the old St. John’s School in Walsall Wood High Street continues to gently decay. Soon, I think the roof will collapse, the clearly rotten timbers unable to support the tons of roofing tiles resting upon them. Permission has been granted for some years now for a development of flats here,meaning demolition of most of the old school and the old bungalow next to it, also empty now for several decades. Sadly, the downturn came, and the developers ran out of money.

A small, suburban, architectural tragedy.

April 16th – A late spin out after a tough dental appointment provided welcome solace. The wind was horrendous, to be honest, and the weather not really warm, but I had unfinished business at Chasewater, so I headed there. On the way back I returned via Pool Road and trundled past all that remains of Highfield House and farm; the house has gone, the bricks being slowly reclaimed and only a few outbuildings remain. It’ll be interesting to see what gets built and how quickly. This place deserves someone who cares for it and I wish the new owners well.

April 11th – This makes me angry. Very angry indeed. This small bungalow – the lodge to Owletts Hall Farm, in Lynn, on the road between Shenstone and Stonnall, is another long-empty property being left to collapse by its selfish owners. This wrecked, derelict house – like Keepers Cottage and the abandoned terraces in Footherley – could make someone a lovely little home. But for some reason, the owner would rather see the building carried to dust. I’ve known this building to be empty for over thirty years. There ought to be a law against this. 

April 7th – Since the day was grey and overcast, I went with the flow. The weather gradually cleared, and I explored the completed dam works at Chasewater. One of the greater sadnesses of the place is the tumbledown cottage at the north end of the dam. Slowly falling into itself, I have no idea who owns it, or how it came to be in this condition. It’s neighbour – a near identical home – is in beautiful condition and very much still inhabited and looked after. I know the cottages to have been built to serve the mine, but other than that, I’m aware of little of their history.

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 9th –  A day off, and an afternoon pottering around Lichfield. I only noticed this one in recent months, it must be normally quite well hidden. Cresting Pipe Hill, over the old crossroads, but not quite at the new island, stands an empty, decaying house. I don’t know who owns it, or why it stands empty, but there’s a notice up pointing out that it’s not for sale or rent. Which, like the houses in Footherley, near Shenstone, is pretty sad. Houses should resonate to the sounds of life – there is nothing sadder than an empty house, particularly in a time when homelessness has increased 14% in one year. The owner should be ashamed.