Nikolaus Pevsner wrote and published a 46 volume series of books on the buildings of England. The last volume to be published (1974) covered Staffordshire and included buildings in Brierley Hill, Quarry Bank, Brockmoor and Pensnett. It also included some odd comments about Brierley Hill flats and the Black Country.
Terry Church’s new book recalls over 100 clubs now lost to the area, including many in Brierley Hill. Stuart Crystal, Brierley Hill Alliance, Round Oak, Richard Thomas and Baldwin’s, and Marsh and Baxter. Those last three sports ground belonged to massive industries which at one time employed over five thousand people. The book reminds us that the collapse of industry locally had implications reaching beyond the work place and into the social fabric of our community.
Brierley Hill’s UDC Book of Remembrance contains the names, addresses, ranks and date of death of those who lived within the borough’s boundaries and lost their lives in service during World War Two.
Reading the addresses of the fallen is very moving, and brought home to me the emotional impact of the loss. These people could have been neighbours of mine.
The Brierley Hill book of remembrance records the names of those who fell during the second world war and who lived the former Brierley Hill Urban District Council area. I found leafing through the pages and recognising the places where people lived extremely moving.
Mapping the numbers of deaths against dates produces a graph which reminded me of a seismograph: highlighting some of the most awful days and an awful awful war. Two days in particular stand out – 21st March 1918, the start of the Spring Offensive and 13th October 1915. Both of these battles took a terrible toll of life. There is also a tale of a Brierley Hill hero.
An analysis of the 134 individuals identified on the war memorial illustrates the army’s policy of recruiting into locally based regiments. Almost three quarters of these casualties belonged to the South Staffordshire Regiment (41%) and the Worcestershire Regiment (31%).
Unlocking the secrets of Brierley Hill war memorial – a search for the names on Brierley Hill war memorial has revealed the identities of 134 of the 205 names on the monument, including their birth places, date of death, regiment and battalion, and the theatre of war they died in. The post has a downloadable Excel worksheet to help with your own researches.
This is a lovely poem dreaming of how local places got their names which is quoted in ‘The Folklore of the Black Country’ by Roy Palmer.
The first ever Christmas Tree festival is taking part in Brierley Hill from Saturday 7th – Sunday 15th December 2013. St Michael’s Church is asking individuals and organisations to loan them a Christmas tree (2’-6’) decorated to reflect their activity.
At last things seem to be moving… Funding has been achieved from Community First and Brierley Hill traders…£5,000 in total. Growing has started at part of Stourbridge College/Birmingham Met’s foundation horticultural course. Council has given us a bit of a run around in finding out who to talk to re the correct planters to buy • Read More »