Tag: Foundry

#365daysofbiking – Interregnum

February 5th – In that odd, vague and lifeless interregnum between ‘rather ill’ and ‘quite a bit better’ I found myself bumbling around the canals of Brownhills on what was not an altogether bad day.

Here at Middleton Bridge – overlooking open farmland not a ringtoss from where the Staffordshire Hoard found a local metal detectorist – it’s hard not to look at this view and reflect.

On the left was a chemical works in the late Victorian period, that made tar and other such products; latterly an alloy smelter that seemed to process war scrap. Local kids were attracted to the yard full of warplane fuselages and engines for scrap, and for fun, but down in the valley, real metal riches lay just below the surface in a ploughed field.

This stretch of canal is still called ‘The Chemical’ by older locals.

It looks a damn site better now the scrapyard has gone, mind…

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May 4th – Now, here’s a thing. I’ve cycled past this remaining fragment of wall lots lately, mainly to go and see if the swans had had hatched their eggs yet. It stands at the canal side between Catshill Junction and Anchor Bridge, and I think it’s the last evidence of the Iron Foundry that was here at the turn of the century. The foundry didn’t exist in my lifetime – there were industrial units here in the old buildings. I think one may have been a  non-ferrous casting shop. There was also a plant hire company and an accident repairs firm. These were all razed in the 1990’s and Chandlers Keep built – a close of new build housing, named after one of the last businesses here, a boat company. Oddly, this 3 meter section of engineering brick wall, with ancient graffiti declaring approval for Aston Villa, remains.