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Black Country Museum

Workshop at the Black Country Museum 1992...

Further info from Black Country Living Museum site...
“ 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.”

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Astoness said:
love the place...i live there... visiting as many times as i can during the year..and of course they are soon to be starting bringing in more old buildings...wonderful tribute to the history of the black country...just a shame birmingham didnt have the same vision nearly 50 years ago...too late now

lyn
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If I lived closer I reckon I would be there often.
Birmingham was pre-occupied with slum clearance, building roads, all those years ago, now it is offices and trams. Heritage is not a high priority it seems.
 
i agree alan but no doubt that the black country were also starting to demolish their old houses as well and it was then (42 years ago) that they started saving some of them and started building the black country museum...42 years ago there were still plenty of old brummie buildings that could have been saved...no excuse as far as i am concerned..just a lack of vision

lyn
 
Radiorails said:
That is how I remember the wharf area at the BCM when I visited it in March, 1993. I believe I still have the souvenir pen I purchased there. One regret was the trolley buses were not operational on the day I visited, but that old boneshaker tram was.
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The old boneshaker tram in 1992...

Black Country Museum Tram collection, see here...

Tram Collection - Black Country Living Museum

Black Country Living Museum is an award winning open air living museum that tells the story of the world's first industrial landscape with buildings, vehicles, objects and costumed characters for you to interact with and explore.
www.bclm.co.uk www.bclm.co.uk

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(1992) 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.”

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St James School, Black Country Museum

“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.”

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Astoness said:
love the place...i live there... visiting as many times as i can during the year..and of course they are soon to be starting bringing in more old buildings...wonderful tribute to the history of the black country...just a shame birmingham didnt have the same vision nearly 50 years ago...too late now

lyn
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i thought you lived on the forum lyn:grinning:
 
Open All Hours, Nash’s ironmongery, Black Country Museum.

“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.”


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Pedrocut said:
I have had a comment concerning this picture which may be of interest to narrow boat enthusiasts...
“Pale blue narrow boat in the background belongs to a friend of mine ...
It is actually an ice-breaking tug which means she is not the easiest boat to drive.”
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From the Black Country Museum info...

“North Star’ is a derelict wooden horse-drawn icebreaker built in 1868 and was used to clear a way through the ice when the canals were frozen. The other icebreaker ‘Ross’ is privately owned.”
 
Wearing my health and safety officers hat in pic #181 there's definitely a trip hazard problem on the factory floor which needs to be addressed :):) seriously though how lucky are we to have this magnificent place on our door step, congratulations to the person who had the vision to see this and develop it. I totally agree with Lyn here though, Birmingham could have done something like this year's ago before they decided new is best, and got that excited tore everything down and chucked it in the bin. When it's gone it's gone forever, and there's not much left now.
 
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“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.”
 
Pedrocut said:
Black Country Museum 1992, what type of bridge?

View attachment 143046
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This is The Lifting Bridge.

It was built between the Ironworks and the Boatdock was built across the railway transhipment basin at Lloyds Proving House near Factory Junction in Tipton. Huge weights near hanging on chains over the four pulleys balance the weight of the roadway, and the deck can be raised and lowered by operating a small hand-winch,

The Lifting Bridge guards the entrance to the museum arm and prevents boats being removed. The flat deck of the bridge makes it easier for vehicles to cross the canal than if a fixed humpback bridge was used.
 
A better description of the lift bridge would be Factory railway interchange basin, which was built for the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway and became GWR and then BR before closure. The bridge provided access to the central island between the two basins.
 
hi folks for those of you who hold the yearly passes and dont already know the museum has said that passes will be back dated from the day that the museum had to close so that is nice to know...looking forward to visiting again :)

lyn
 
so pleased the museum is open again but just a shame i cant get there even though i hold a yearly pass...i would think that most people who are visiting at the min are using cars

lyn
 
It looks like you have to ring to check if the number of allowed people has not been exceeded, and to give roughly the time you will arrive.
 
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