James Brindley's Balls Hill

8.6 Canal Hunter reaches James Brindley's first objective, the coal mines of Balls Hall in West Bromwich.
This episode links Ridgacre with the canals terminus flying over the final two miles of canal bed lost in the 1950's and 1960's. All this interspersed with archive photos of how it used to look and a light historical commentary.
#narrowboats #canals #birmingham #history

[colinness]

Superb, Andy. Thank you. Your blending of walking and narrative, drone footage, historic photographs and historic maps is terrific.

[michaelpriest]

As ever beautifully resesrched & executed.
You finished in Tunnel Road, Hill Top. When I was a kid my Grandmother was a Pawnbroker & her shop was in nearby Harvilles Hawthorne. Her local "opposition" Pawnbroker had a shop near the end of Tunnel Rd. His name was John Johnson Shaw, but he had another interest, in the late 19th & early 20th century he virtually invented the science of Seismology in in his greenhouse & shed in the back garden. He logged, using his own equipment earthquakes & volcanic eruptions worldwide. A nearby street is named after him.

[jvb]

Good to see the red line on the drone photos - very useful !

[iantaf]

Andy, a massive thank you for the work on this one, a canal branch I did not know existed. It was interesting to see its proximity to the GWR Great Bridge to Swan Village - a railway line little recorded in railway history itself ad obliterated by the Spine Road. The drone makes a superb tool in uncovering to route. Your comment "faint fingerprint" is highly apt. Best wishes as always.

[Jezza]

Another great episode Andy, thanks, I used to play around here as a kid and can remember basin 307? which was the interchange basin (part of which remains today) then there was Tew and Rhoden's scrap yard very near to the end of that, also many memories of what it all looked like before the spine road cut off what is left of the Ridgeacre branch.

[dennyporter]

Interesting once again Andy!.. I love how you bring all your drone and walking paths together along with archive photos to tell the past history! Cheers from Missouri USA!

[regcook]

Brilliant videos Andy very informative I love looking at the locations as they were back then, my Great Grandfather was a coal wharf labourer back in the 1850s in Aston Birmingham, wharf street to be precise, you’re not going there anytime soon are ya. 😉😂👍

[TheLegalHerbsMan]

Again. Amazing work. Love these videos and the old photos you manage to uncover. Keep up the GREAT work !!!!

[garyhinson]

loving this, thanks for taking the time for making these videos, the 17 minutes of this one must have taken me 45 minutes to watch, stopping the film every minute or so to trawl through the old maps

[neilrose]

Thanks Andy never heard of this branch very informative keep up your exellent work, looking forward to the next instalment, Neil

[malcolmone]

great series, i look at old A to Z s, to look where these canals where

[AndrewCrews-zzuc]

My Grandparents used to live by Swan Village gasworks back in the 1950's. I can still vividly remember the very pungent odour!

[nigelperry]

Thanks Andy, didn’t know about any of that.

[mikehaldane]

I'm enjoying series 8 and I have finally caught up with you. I have very recently purchased the BCN - A History and it looks, from the small part I have read, to be very good.

In order to, hopefully, add to your vlogs (I may be the 94 person, Private Eye in-joke, to make this comment) I have the opencanalmap app and it usefully has the hidden sections of the original Brindley canal, although as you pointed out in an earlier vlog the naming can sometimes get confusing as what you call the Ball's Hill section is annotated as the BCN Wednesbury Old Canal in the app. Hopefully others may find this of use.

[phatx]

Where abouts in Oldbury are you gonna be? Might try find an excuse to come and say hello...

[davidjones]

Another bostin episode. Im old enough to remember the days and places before they built that Black Country route.

[jvb]

You say 1973 Black Country Route cut through the Ridgeacre Branch but I think that should be 1993 and Black Country New Road.