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

[@mikehaldane4061]

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.

[@colinness375]

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

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

Glad you enjoyed it Colin

[@1961Jezza]

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.

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

Glad it brings back some memories

[@regcook4087]

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. 😉😂👍

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

Not in the near future Reg. Too many canals and too little time!

[@01jvb]

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

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

I thought they really helped this time.

[@TheLegalHerbsMan]

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

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

I really enjoy the process involved in making them

[@michaelpriest4549]

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.

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

I love this sort of detail. Thanks

[@AndrewCrews-zz5uc]

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

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

I bet it was a smelly place!

[@iantaf5559]

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.

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

Glad you enjoyed this one Ian - I was looking forward to the drone dimension.

[@neilrose8618]

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

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

It is obscure! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@dennyporter2447]

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!

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

Alway good to share a bit of the Black Country Dennis.

[@phatx2]

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

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

I am not sure yet. I would like to go next week but its all a bit dependent on the weather.

[@garyhinson3876]

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

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

You are not the first to point out how long it takes to watch when looking at the old maps at the same time.

[@01jvb]

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

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

Sometimes what is in my head changes by the time it comes out of my mouth!

[@petersimpson633]

Beat me to it!

[@davidjones8680]

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

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

I hope I did the area justice.

[@davidjones8680]

@@lifeat2.3milesanhour57 Yes, you always do the subject justice Andy, and I always seem to learn new things when I watch and listen to your episodes. I always find the drone footage really interesting too, you get to see the lye of the land in a whole new prospective. Keep up the good work.

[@nigelperry8246]

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

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

Glad you found it interesting Nigel

[@danb2450]

Thank you for doing these Mr Tidy 🚤

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

They are a pleasure to make Dan

[@malcolmone1]

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

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

Glad you are enjoying them Malcolm - I hope to make the next few over the Christmas period - weather willing.!

[@getubelogin]

Thanks Andy.

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

You are welcome Geoff.

[@longie751]

Brilliant as always 💯

[@lifeat2.3milesanhour57]

Thanks David

[@longie751]

@@lifeat2.3milesanhour57 I think our past should help us make a better future, only if we'd learn from it, too much is thrown away or destroyed in the terms of progress, look what transport networks we would still have had.