Netherton and Quarry Bank

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Netherton and Quarry Bank

Postby Neville Bastable » Sat Jun 06, 2009 9:37 am

I suppose there are not a great number of beauty spots within the boundaries of the Black Country but we have one between Netherton and Quarry Bank. It is Saltwells Wood, site of saline springs that never however came to be a spa, although there were attempts to make it one I believe. It gave it’s name to a whole area, to many pits for miles around, a public house the Saltwells Inn and also to Saltwells House built by the Earl of Dudley for his wife who apparently never lived there.
It was one of our “outreach” adventure spots when I was young. We explored the route of the old Pensnett Mineral Railway Line up as far as Tipsyford Bridge, found the Black Brook and also at a later date the Doulton’s Clay Pit where that company extracted clay for the manufacture of drainage pipes and the like.
Saltwells Wood was designated a local nature reserve in the 1980’s I believe.
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Re: Netherton and Quarry Bank

Postby Neville Bastable » Sat Jun 06, 2009 3:36 pm

Apologies, it was the Earl of Dudley’s mother Saltwells House was built for not his wife and who apparently didn’t like it and never lived there.
Return visits to the Black Country from my present home were sometimes enhanced by a meal at the Saltwells Inn, which is a bit of the beaten track. It would be preceded by a walk through the woods. Unfortunately the present building is relatively modern not the original 18th/19th Century one which it replaced but is still pleasant enough. I haven’t been there for a while now and wonder whether it is still open, as so many public houses seem to be closing these days. Does any member know the answer to this?
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Re: Netherton and Quarry Bank

Postby peterd » Sun Jun 07, 2009 12:02 am

here a link to the saltwell inn

http://www.saltwellsinn.co.uk/

sorry to say saltwell house is in a sorry state 12 months ago any way

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/10029716
A person should have an opinion on everything, It becomes tact whether you reveal that opinion or not.

http://www.deneview.co.uk/
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Re: Netherton and Quarry Bank

Postby Neville Bastable » Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:07 am

Many thanks peterd.
Back to the Saltwells. The Tipsyford Brook merging with the Black Brook near the Saltwells Inn and running down to the Mousesweet Brook was dammed upstream of Cradley Forge to create the mill pond which was called Cradley New Pool I believe and which disappeared in the 19th Century when the dam broke with the resultant flooding downstream.
Although this area is now much built up the site of the Cradley New Pool I think is still intact and is a very pleasant spot or at least it was last time I was there which was about 15 years ago. As I recall you can park at Musham Green an interesting place in it’s own right and walk through to the Black Brook.
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Re: Netherton and Quarry Bank

Postby Neville Bastable » Wed Jun 17, 2009 7:35 pm

Upstream near the Black Brook was Doulton’s Clay Pit which I never saw working but I understand a steam engine driven endless rope system raised tubs of clay to the top where they were then manhandled to the Dudley Canal, the clay was offloaded for onward transmission to the works in Doulton Road, Springfield via Windmill End ( more of which later). Although the Doulton Works I believe survived until 1979 the claypit closed I think in the 1940’s and was overtaken by nature. Last time I was around there was perhaps 10 years ago but a visit is recommended as I understand Dudley Council has put in pathways etc to make things easier for nature lovers. Close by is of course Lodge Farm Reservoir, a canal feeder on which I remember many years ago watching water skiing. I wonder if that still takes place.
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Re: Netherton and Quarry Bank

Postby Neville Bastable » Fri Jun 19, 2009 2:34 pm

One of the more interesting canal complexes in the post industrial age, in my view is at Windmill End, Netherton called Bumble Hole. In simple terms the Dudley Canal approaches the junction from the Brierley Hill direction in the west then northwards up the Netherton Tunnel in the Tipton direction I suppose or heads off in a south easterly direction towards eventually Halesowen.
A railway line used to cross the site and I remember travelling on the “Dudley Dasher” as we called it, most times diesel but sometimes steam, from Old Hill to Dudley and also recall Windmill End railway station. I think that was one the cuts Mr Beeching made.
There are still beautiful canal bridges to be seen, also swans and of course Cobb’s Engine House now empty but where a steam engine pumped flood water from all the surrounding coal mines into the canal.
All well worth a visit I suggest. It’s free and as a bonus Warren’s Hall Park is next door. There is a visitor centre in the middle of the canal site in case in comes on to rain. No I don’t work for Dudley Council !
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Re: Netherton and Quarry Bank

Postby Neville Bastable » Sat Jun 20, 2009 11:11 am

My apologies to members not interested in the construction and industrial use of the canal system, but now move briefly from Bumble Hole to a few hundred anong the Dudley Canal to what was the Withymoor Goods Station, a vast complex where goods were transferred from canal to railway, adjacent to where the canal passed under the Halesowen Road, Netherton and opposite the giant Noah Hingley chain and anchor works.
I am told it is now a public amenity if someone could confirm that, but I remember a Summer evening I suppose about 40 years ago when a sort of open day for the public was being held and we were invited as I recall, to explore and inspect the defunct canal arms, cranes, railway lines etc after the massive covering shed had been taken down. Fascinating !
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Re: Netherton and Quarry Bank

Postby Silver surfer » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:17 pm

If you want to pay a visit to the Bumble Hole area there is a narrow boat festival every year around Sep/Oct time.
I was born a stone's throw away from the canal at the Stoney Lane bridge. What wonderful childhood memories of picnicing, blackberrying and paddling in the razza. Think it was spoilt when the yacht club took it over as the side near Highbridge Rd was much steeper and so unable just to sit there on a hot Summer's day cooling off.
Researching Foley, Burley, Dean, Danks, Smith, Pugh, Hughes, Shakespeare.
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Re: Netherton and Quarry Bank

Postby Neville Bastable » Fri Jun 26, 2009 3:01 pm

Stoney Lane, Silver Surfer site of one the many Saltwells Colliery pits and also of course the Saltwells Basin and wharf. Were there any remains of the basin left in your time ?
I have never been to one of the canal festivals which you mention. I should think the boats are interesting but I imagine the site gets a bit too crowded for the sort of exploring I like to do. Talking of Bumble Hole I am told that the name predates the Industrial Revolution although members are probably aware of various possible explanations people have given over the years. Likewise Withymoor is a much earlier name than Darby End and probably neighbouring Windmill End. The arrival of immigrant workers we are told , from Derbyshire giving the hamlet of Derby End (Hand) its name is of course well known.
There are of course many locations with the description “withy” attached of course. These, as members may know would be the spots where a type of willow tree grew which provided springy growth which would have been put to many uses by our forebears.
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Re: Netherton and Quarry Bank

Postby Silver surfer » Sun Jun 28, 2009 9:11 pm

The memory dims about the basin but I remember the area which is now the site of Saltwells estate being developed. Some of the houses in Copse Road where I moved to as a teenager have suffered from subsidence. Hardly surprising as it was all mined. When the old boat house was demolished it was a source of free bricks which went into building garden walls and path edgings for my future in laws who also lived on the estate, which along with The Priory was where many of the ex residents of Woodside/Holly Hall went to live after the slum clearance. It must have seemed liked heaven on earth to have an indoor toilet and bathroom as my husband and his brothers were bathed in a tin bath in the kitchen on cold days and in the yard in the summer months.
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Re: Netherton and Quarry Bank

Postby Neville Bastable » Mon Jun 29, 2009 8:43 pm

Many thanks for your reply Silver Surfer.
How about a few local characters from this neck of the woods. Firstly “Sammy Pigiron” actually Samuel Whitehouse, strongman from Darby End. The story goes that during the 1921 miners’ strike he carried a bar of pig iron weighing 112lb from Dudley to Halesowen over 4 miles, in 49 minutes.
Then there’s “Joesy the Jumper”, Joseph Darby from Windmill End whose exploits we are told were many including jumping over 6 chairs in one jump from a standing start or similarly jumping over a 5 feet high bar and so on.
Finally how about “Ma Pardoe” Doris Pardoe of the Old Swan public house, Halesowen Road, Netherton where they brewed their own beer. She’s been dead for about 25 years but the last time I heard, people still referred to it as Ma Pardoes. It is my regret that when I got round to visiting it she had already departed for that great public bar in the sky!
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Re: Netherton and Quarry Bank

Postby Neville Bastable » Tue Jul 07, 2009 8:28 pm

Returning to the long defunct Cradley New Pool created by damming the confluence of the Black Brook and Mousesweet Brook at the bottom of Quarry Bank I haven’t visited the spot for many years but I understand that a local Mousesweet Brook Nature Reserve is now in being and that the approach is from New Pool Road. Incidentally I misled members when I spoke in an earlier posting of the dam being breached when in actual fact draining of the Pool was in a controlled way, no longer being needed as steam power had superseded the wheel at Cradley Forge.
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Re: Netherton and Quarry Bank

Postby Neville Bastable » Wed Jul 08, 2009 10:24 am

Can we move to the now disappeared Netherton Hall. The last Sutton Baron of Dudley, Edward in the 17th Century had only one legitimate offspring Ferdinando ( from whom the present Earls descend ) but was the father of 11illegitimate children by Elizabeth Tomlinson a local girl. The most well known of these was of course Dud Dudley because of his pioneering work in the smelting of iron and also his part in the Civil War. It was however his oldest brother Robert Dudley who lived at Netherton Hall, a Sutton family owned Tudor brick built mansion, situated at the foot of Netherton Hill in the vicinity of the Halton Street of today, off Simms Lane. Occupied I believe in the early part of the 19th Century by the Foley family, nothing now remains, later in the Century coal mining subsidence having brought it’s downfall, so to speak. I don’t think there is a lot of recorded evidence in connection with the Hall and if any members do know more I would be very pleased to learn of it.
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