Pedrocut's photos

The original school was built in 1842, in Salop Street in Dudley, near St James Church and was designed by the architect, William Bourne of Dudley. It was built to accommodate 300 children, but probably never taught that many. It was moved to the Museum in 1991 using funds generously provided by the Charles Hayward Trust. Today you can see it as it would have been in 1912. Originally boys over 7 were taught in one part of the building and the girls and infants in the other. In 1868 the two halves were amalgamated to form a mixed school. The school building suffered from poor natural lighting and unsuitable heating and by 1904 conditions were so bad that it was recommended that the school be closed. Dudley Education Committee was reluctant to do this and in 1906 moved the mixed school to another school, while St James continued as an infants school only. Improvements were made in 1912 and it continued as a school right up to 1980.

“Sidebotham’s Trap Works, originally constructed in Wednesfield, near Wolverhampton in 1913, is a typical example of a small purpose built factory of the period. Wednesfield was a major centre for the manufacture and worldwide export of small animal traps. The stencils hanging from the Belfast Truss roof were used to label the packing cases with destinations of ports in Australia, Africa, South America and many other far-flung destinations. The stamping, pressing and punching machines are driven by lineshafting from a single cylinder gas engine of 1906, built by Tangye’s of Smethwick. The forge hearth was used to make the springs which operated the traps and parts were assembled on benches using the hand-operated fly presses, before being painted or ‘blacked’ in tanks by the canalside wall and packed for delivery.”

“The Dudley Canal’s original Act was passed in 1776, on the same day as that of the Stourbridge Canal, and it opened from the junction to Ox Leasowes in 1779. Back in 1775, Lord Dudley had started a cut from the Birmingham Canal at Tipton into his coal and limestone mines. An Act of 1785 allowed Dudley Canal to take this over and extend it through a tunnel 3,154 yards (2,882m) long to join its line, but it was not open until 1793.”

“The Inn originally stood on Brierley Hill Road, Brockmoor, backing onto the canal at the Stourbridge Flight of 16 locks. It was probably built shortly after the canal was cut. A map of 1822 shows the Bush public house but by the 1840s it was known as the Bottle and Glass. The pub was built with two large rooms fronting the street. The back room was a later addition and the join between the two phases of construction can clearly be seen. The front of the pub was altered in the 1870s, and the wooden seating and partitions date from these alterations.”

“These two cottages are replicas of a pair that still stand on Station Road, Oldhill, probably built in 1848, and are typical of workers' housing of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century in the Black Country. Originally, each house consisted of a single room and pantry downstairs with a single bedroom upstairs. This would have meant extreme overcrowding for large families. The left hand cottage was extended in the 1860s and the right hand cottage was extended at the turn of the nineteenth century to provide two bedrooms in each cottage. The cottages are displayed as they would have looked in 1910 when two branches of the Newton family occupied them. In the left hand cottage lived Edward Newton described as a ‘coal heaver’ with his wife and family. Edward’s brother, Thomas, a nail maker, occupied the right hand cottage. His wife ran a sweetshop from the front room, which now houses the Cobbler’s Shop.”

The rolling mill depicts “a typical Black Country hand rolling mill in which iron and later, steel bars were reduced in size or changed in section. The iron bars are heated up in the cast iron furnace and then passed through the mill stands several times to reduce the size of the section. It was installed at Birchley Rolling Mills, Oldbury in 1923 using second hand parts and has been reconstructed at the Museum as it would have appeared around 1900. When in operation the mill is now driven by a modern electrical motor.”

Nash’s ironmongery was established in 1860 in Oldbury supplying both domestic ironmongery and works trade. The shop has been recreated, as it would have been in the 1930s, within part of the Pipers Row premises. They sold every conceivable commodity needed by householders and businesses in the area from nails, nuts and bolts, roofing felt, chicken wire and chain to candles and paraffin. In the office at the back they cut keys and mended locks. Nash’s watchword was ‘customer service’ and they would stay open until 9pm at night if there were still customers to be served.

This bridge was one of the first structures to be rebuilt on the site. It was originally sited over the Birmingham canal on Broad Street, Wolverhampton, 1879 and was dismantled in 1976. The photographs below show when the bridge was located in Wolverhampton c.1950 just at the moment a Wolverhampton Corporation trolley bus crossed over and also how the bridge arrived at BCLM in 1976. The bridge was relocated onto BCLM's Canal Street in 1978 and restored from vandalism and it's gas lights were repaired. The bridge now prominently sits as the main route and feature for our canalside village.

“The 3'6” gauge tramway runs from the depot outside the Entrance Building to the School by the Museum village. The tram fleet comprises 3 vehicles, 2 single-deck trams of c1920 and a 1909 double-deck open-topper from Wolverhampton.” For Black Country Museum Trams see here... www.bclm.co.uk/collections/tram-collection/30.htm

Black Country Museum Boat collection... www.bclm.co.uk/locations/the-boat-dock--boat-collection/46.htm#.XmzGQy-ny-p

Churchtown. It is actually part of Mainstone and the parish church there is St. John the Baptist. It was restored in 1887 but retains some older features, notably the Elizabethan oak roof.

Churchtown. It is actually part of Mainstone and the parish church there is St. John the Baptist. It was restored in 1887 but retains some older features, notably the Elizabethan oak roof.