On passing the infamous turquoise (and heavily rusted) gates to the hazardous waste lagoon in June, I had noticed that the site ID board information was missing.

An inquiry to The Environment Agency stated that they had not given permission for it to be removed and that “Rhodia”  were in the process of replacing it allegedly because it was in poor condition.  🙄

“Following your email and concerns, our officers have conducted an immediate site inspection on 25 June 2021.  The Environment Agency has not given permission to remove the sign.  A site inspection report has been issued to the permit holders containing any a permit breach for the removal of the sign, this includes an action to replace the sign.  We have spoken with the operator a temporary replacement is to be installed, while a permanent sign is made.  It has been indicated by the permit holder that the sign was removed due to it being in poor state of repair. ” 

So this is what then appeared, but not on the gate itself, almost as if they didn’t really want it to be noticed.

The Environmental permit number EPR/JB3909LT hides the site licensing history of the site.

The EA also stated

“There has been a company name change from Rhodia to Solvay Solutions Uk Ltd.  We have received and granted a permit transfer to this new company in March 2021 under permit reference EPR/JB3909LT.  For your information we have provided you a copy of this recent transfer, see attached.  This includes a full status log of the permit through the years.  The permit holder has not requested the site to be surrendered.   

The site has a closure plan which was issued in October 2013, this sets out the sites aftercare, monitoring and maintenance.  The operator does carry out regular water, gas and ground water monitoring, which they are required to submit to us.  The data and results are checked for anomalies or elevated levels of certain chemicals or determinants, in order to monitor and prevent any pollution risk. ”    

In response to this I would state that it has taken “Solvay Solutions UK Limited” 10 years to transfer this site to their own brand, but that the public face of this still presents the site as being owned by the entity “Rhodia Limited”.

The new permit for the site can be read below.

Permit transfer[563]

As for the regular gas, water sampling etc, the EA do not verify anything themselves on the ground and so how they can detect “anomalies” on the basis of this is of course an operator marking their own work. None of this data is put in the public domain by the company themselves. 

Albright and Wilson-Rhodia- Solvay Solutions- all the same old same old for the same hazardous waste site and operating from the Watford address.

But “Solvay Solutions limited” however have not appeared prominently on the new yellow notice board- perhaps a very apt colour on account of the “yellow phosphorus” buried under the water and geotextile membrane.

Why the small print?

The new warning sign, (condition 31) reflects the new permit number , but gone is the link to the original site licence (SL31) which of course contains the only detail worth knowing about what chemicals had gone in there from 1978. Of course what went before that was a bloody free for all.

Perhaps Solvay Solutions UK Limited are aware that the only thing as toxic as Rattlechain Lagoon is the company association with Rhodia- which of course they were heavily fined for due to an uncontrolled release of phosphine gas.  

I must have been up and down The Birchills Locks at Walsall a thousand times over the years, but recently I noticed something of great significance for the first time on the pound near to the new housing conversion from the former old mill near to Wolverhampton Street.

An otherwise unremarkable old bridge built from the famous Staffordshire blue bricks, which probably served as a basin entrance to a former works site had a coping stone brick which caught my eye, and I do not know how I could possibly have missed it for all of these years!

This is the first brick I have ever seen produced by Samuel Barnett (and his sons). Obviously I have gone into great detail about the man /the myth and his dealings, and of course the rattlechain brickworks marl pit becoming what is now rattlechain lagoon. The infamous canal breach of 1899 is another story.

I put in the public domain a little lost gem of a piece concerning the blue brick enterprise which dates from 1911, when his sons were now on board and listed as a business. This article spoke of a production rate of  40,000 bricks per day at Rattlechain and at Stour Valley 70,000, which he also ran and lost an arm at in his formative years . I always wondered if they had been used locally in the canals around Tipton, but have never saw any hard evidence such as this.

This blue brick appears to be in remarkably good condition for its age, which must predate The Second World War. I wondered at first if  it had been restored, or was  a recreated forgery, but perhaps these items were made to endure the test of time? Obviously, from research, this must have come from either Rattlechain or The Stour Valley brickworks, but it is only identified as “Dudley Port Staffs”, so we do not know if this is a Rattlechain brick for sure.

There are three stamps upon it, and none visible on any of the others in the bridge structure, so perhaps this was a form of advertisement/crowning glory signature from those who were tasked with laying them?

There are the tell tale signs of rope marks on the top bricks, where horses would have pulled heavy loads by barge up and down the flight. The life for these animals must have been horrific, and there are certainly stories of them falling in and drowning after being unable to be pulled out.

The Barnett family relatives expanded into Walsall, and after this find I had a look at some other bridges along The Wyrley and Essington to find this at Brownhills Catshill Junction.

J. Beddow and the Barnfield Blue Brick and Tile works

Another Barnett collaborated with Beddow at The Atlas brickworks in the same area.

I have now become a bit obsessed with locating other former brickworks stones in an Indiana Jones type of way.  😛 Not for “fortune and grory” but just for the fun of it.

It has to be said that I can remember seeing many of these type of coping stones around the canal network being deliberately removed by chisel wielding thieves, and a cursory glance at ebay reveals a rather suspicious volume of “reclaimed Victorian blue bricks” for sale.  😥

Here are a few more stamped bricks I noticed on my travels around the Birmingham Canal Navigations, (BCN), and round about, and it seems that The Barnett’s had a great deal of local competition based in the Oldbury/Tipton/West Bromwich triangle in particular. The Wood family  had many brickworks over generations and in other partnerships, including the nearby Pumphouse brickworks on what is now Sheepwash Nature Reserve.

Other variations of the same name indicate different owners or companies which operated at the same works over time- particularly with The Brades brickworks, which was immediately adjacent to the Gower brickworks, and what became Albright and Wilson’s Gower Tip in the left over clay pit.

T. Walton brickworks, Dudley Port

F.W Barrows, Great Bridge, Tipton

G.Wood and sons, Brades Oldbury

Wood, without the sons

S. Johnson, Brades Oldbury

Brades Blue bricks Ltd Oldbury, Birmingham.

Sadler Brothers, Oldbury

B.W Blades, Tipton

J. Whitehouse Bloomfield (Tipton)

Jennings and Chavasse Rowley Regis

H. Doulton Rowley Regis

Cakemore brickworks and collieries Rowley Regis, South Staffordshire. (made in 1882 I believe from research)!

J. Bayley

Gilbert

S.H Holloway

And this one was my favourite, where I took a bit of sandpaper to it to reveal the place. My contribution to archaeology right there…. 😆

Farley, but where?

Farley, Newbury Lane, Oldbury again

There must be hundreds of  thousands of bricks that over time have found their way into the canals themselves , disappearing out of sight under the cover of silt. These are survivors of another age, and there is an argument that they deserve to be preserved. Unfortunately this also got me thinking as to how many marl pits had been dug to create these, and how over the last 120+ years most have now been infilled with the most disgusting types of man made chemical waste, like at Rattlechain and The Gower Tips, and human rotting landfill laziness.  Then even more perversely,  some consider them to be suitable places to lay more bricks for new homes on top of that. I think perhaps the marl which made these bricks would have been better left in the ground after all.

Bricks ready for distribution by canal barge at Barnett’s Rattlechain brickworks.

The world is now mapped out in small squares thanks to this app called What3words.

As it states “We divided the world into 3 metre squares and gave each square a unique combination of three words. It’s the easiest way to find and share
exact locations. “

I decided to have a play and see what words described a rather notorious hazardous waste lagoon, and I was certainly bemused by some of the squares.

I must have covered every square metre of that site, invited on by the site owners to use a boat, and as a trespasser.  😛

It would have been good to have had this back in the day when reporting the many white phosphorus poisoned birds found dead or dying on here, but never mind.

I could easily imagine this app being used by those absolutely insane British military types during World War 2, maybe “Rattle chain lagoon” was code for something to do with dumping dirty bombs in water with a link between them?

Fast forward to today, and there are some  beauties within the Rhodia owned site.

near “the beach” area

Well it is, and the way is bared

There certainly were ducks and drama, and even a “motel” , as I mused before.  😆

But perhaps my favourite 3by3 is an area near to the beach area, possibly the same square as where the explosion of AW bombs was taken in this picture. 

There certainly are other issues awaiting when burying white phosphorus in a hazardous waste area next to houses.

Not the sharpest tool for sure.

I have looked previously about how several white phosphorus experiments went wrong within the classroom setting, principally because of how dangerous and unpredictable this chemical is in even “experienced” hands.

This is another story of such an occurrence which occurred at an interesting time in history, when it had been largely banned in the match trade , and very near to the First World War where it would be used in a warfare theatre setting for the first time. The principal subject of the youth concerned, Cyril Shepherd, would have much growing up to do very quickly, and it is highly likely that he would have been called to serve in the years that followed.

The London Daily News of 20/2/1913 tells how this classroom experimenter had been burnt after putting a piece of phosphorus in his pocket. This is perhaps a very early example of an accident claims issue hitting the courts, in this case against Essex County Council and the teacher Frank Lynch when the youth and his father were alleging negligence 🙄 .

The sixteen year old Shepherd along with other classmates had collected pieces of phosphorus in demonstrating its exposure to oxygen. Shepherd for some reason put a piece of it in his trouser pocket, and needed skin grafts due to the severe burns inflicted when his trousers, (and maybe his parts) caught fire.  😆

His solicitor claimed that the teacher had shown negligence in not telling the youths about the dangerous nature of the chemical, as well as afterwards instructing that oil be rubbed into the burnt wound! The chemical of course is attracted to such material and would have made the situation much worse.

The dubious story unravels with Shepherd apparently knowing that phosphorus matches could catch fire, yet not sticks of the stuff itself.

The teacher denied negligence stating that he had warned the boys in the class of the dangers of P4 prior to the incident.

The following day after adjournment, the same paper reported that common sense had prevailed when the jury rejected the plaintiffs claim. The judge dealt with the matter in a light hearted way, asking them if they would like to take a piece of phosphorus away with them in their pockets?

The youth knew he had done wrong, and that it was his own fault, and not that of his teacher.

If this incident had occurred today  it would almost certainly have appeared on social media almost instantly with protests outside the school gates and petitions for the suspension of the teacher , with some harridan parent looking for compo.  It’s probably too great a risk now to allow such experiments with this chemical, yet that doesn’t stop certain companies of course dealing with its misadventure to this very day.

This white phosphorus misadventure takes us to 19th Century France as reported by the 27th February 1875 Illustrated Police News.

Though difficult to read the text, I have managed to decipher that a Mademoiselle by the name of Brigetté Burckel had been found guilty of poisoning using our favourite element 15. She had already married twice, with these husbands suspiciously meeting an early death. With a third lined up, it appears that the lucky man already had a wife. No problem however for Brigetté, who got to work. 

The adulterer planned to kill her nemesis with poison, and although being turned down by a chemist for arsenic, was recommended phosphorus based rat poison.

It appears that she had gained acquaintance with her love rival, and had baked cakes with her, whilst slipping in some of her p4 cake mix. This was consumed, with obvious results of illness. The poisoner then struck again putting a further poison into her medicine and finished her off.

A post mortem revealed poisoning and she confessed to the crime. Like other infamous female poisoners in Britain like Louisa Merryfield and Mary Wilson, she was sentenced to death. Madame La Guillotine would teach her a lesson , but her baking days were surely numbered.

Off with her head!!!!

Where has the “HAZARDOUS WASTE” sign gone? The waste that is hazardous is still there!

I recently did a double take when passing the infamous turquoise gates to find a couple of familiar landmarks conspicuous by their absence. Here below is the spot the difference picture.

And on closer inspection……

These signs on the only entrance to the site, (except the gaps in the steel bars)  😆 have been there for years, but recently of course they were featured in an ENDS report National article, which to remind you can be read HERE.

Not for the first time with the owners of this site, I smell a rather big rat, and nor do I believe in coincidences either. First of all there is a brief history lesson required here, without making it too nerdy.

The history of the hazardous waste licence at this site, to date at least when I last enquired in 2014 was as follows.

The site is now classed by the Environment Agency, regulators of the site as a “closed landfill”, in that it cannot accept any more waste. This was confirmed, in this FOI request along with other matters of a technical nature.

The permit (SL31 as was, mentioned on the orange site ID board) was  varied to reflect this and a copy of the notice of variation  as well as the original permit and modifications were supplied by the agency in the request. 

They stated

“The permit was  transferred to “Rhodia Limited” on the 24th January 2014  – copy attached.”

This meant that the new permit had the catchy title EPR/BB3205TF. Yes, SL31 was much easier to remember, so why attempt to bury the historic licence, and the hazardous wastes dumped there  by a new form? 

Condition 31 was the orange hazardous waste sign, the permit has not been withdrawn, and nor have the conditions, even if some of them are no longer relevant to the waste disposal process, though the waste contained in there certainly is!

Who are “Rhodia Limited” ?

This joke phoenix company was set up to manage the process of mothballed ex Albright and Wilson hell holes, like rattlechain, and the Gower Tip. When Solvay took over from the French Rhodia company in 2011, they must have been horrified at what poison chalices had been acquired in the UK, but there again, maybe not when the same staff were in charge on the ground.  🙄

Originally this non- entity divorced from the Solvay brand consisted of just two directors, namely Mr John “quicksilver” Moorhouse “site redevelopment manager”, (and frontman for the 2013 cover up works), and Mr “small amounts” Tom Dutton, health Safety and environment manager. They had over 50 years with Albright and Wilson between them, and that needs to be made clear! 

On recent examination it appears that Mr Moorhouse has finally stepped down as a director at the end of 2020- Well, I suppose he was just marginally younger than when the first load of white phosphorus went into the lagoon.  😛

This now leaves Mr Dutton and Alison Murphy as secretary, with both operating prominent roles in the Solvay company also.

The resignations correspond to the Rhodia company that were there before, it is confusing.

The most recent company report confirms the resignation of Moorhouse.

It also confirms their status as a company, but more interestingly that some remediation works were due to take place in 2020 on some of their closed sites, but were delayed due to “the pandemic”, to this year.

The principal activity of this company is to hide Solvay’s association with the damaged Albright and Wilson and Rhodia toxic shit holes. 

But was Rattlechain due to be one of these sites?

I queried with the EA, amongst other things, what had happened to the site ID board, and if they had given permission for messrs Dutton and Murphy to remove the board from the gates. Of course the last time that the site ID board went missing was when Barratt Homes were defrauding people next to this still active waste lagoon by telling them “it was the place where the speedboats were kept”.  It took some time for it to reappear, as the EA inspection records and breaches of the licence show. 

The EA stated the following.

“I can confirm that we have contacted the company about the identification sign and they have stated that the sign was removed as it was in a state of decay and that they have ordered a permanent replacement sign. In the meantime we have asked the company to arrange for a temporary sign displaying the relevant information to be installed as a matter of urgency.”

In other words, “they day av permission.” to breach the licence, now as then.

What has appeared well disguised I would state, is the following behind the gates and metal railings themselves.

This non- prominent sign appears to be a leaf out of the Government pandemic con book with branding it as amber, and look and blink at you will miss it small print, which actually reads as an advertisement for Solvay. The “trade” of Rhodia Limited is non existent, but it acts as a device for letting Solvay off the hook, or should that be the chain  🙂

The Gower Tip also appears to have had an upgraded sign on the canal façade.

They “accept no responsibility…”

We shall see what develops here…..

Some wastes cannot be so easily erased!

If you read accounts of “local history” of this company in the 1980’s and early 90’s you would think that Albright and Wilson the company had won the Second World War single handed. Accounts of their Home Guard, the production of the useless AW bombs and how the works was organised , I have taken apart using factual evidence of these rose tinted views.

Much of this was public relations garbage from a dying firm, still trying to be relevant, who “made chemicals for industry” but did little to ingratiate themselves to the local populace that they gassed.

Strangely, works manager liars like Peter Bloore were not so keen to give this info to consultancies like Cremer and Warner, who in 1990 undertook a deeply flawed assessment of the rattlechain lagoon site on behalf of the Black Country Development Corporation. NOT A SINGLE MENTION OF ALBRIGHT AND WILON’S WAR RECORD AND WHAT IT PRODUCED AS A MILITARY SUPPLIER WAS MENTIONED IN THIS REPORT, OR THE WASTES THAT IT GENERATED AS AN MINISTRY OF SUPPLY (MOS) FACTORY. 

Yet when the French Rhodia brand took over at Trinity Street, they did not want to talk about the war record of A&W it seems either.

The story below from the very early days of the war is one that you will not find in any local history books, and one which does not appear in the company history of 1951 either, where most of the recycled garbage appearing in the 80’s/90’s was lifted. Perhaps they wanted to airbrush it out of history, or strike it from the record books if you will excuse the pun. I am quite surprised that it was even published at this time and not censored, in case copy cat attacks occurred, or any Nazi spies were emboldened to do similar.

The London Daily News of 21st October 1939 reported that James Pinel, a munitions worker at the newly created factory had been charged with effectively trying to sabotage apparatus by inserting match heads into the process. The motive does not appear to have been that of a Nazi, or even IRA sympathiser, (but who can tell), but one of attempting to ingratiate himself to works management by “finding” the sabotage and reporting it. A Munchausen’s by proxy type of affair you may say?

The Evening Dispatch of a day earlier gives much more detail of the case involving the 26 year old from Langley. Though it is not explicitly stated here, the “highly inflammable material” was almost certainly white phosphorus, and the plant which made the UK’s only production of the chemical.

Match heads had been placed in the hoppers, which started fires, and more were placed which did not catch fire.

After reading this, and the apparent confession, it appears that Pinel was a very silly man child indeed. A 14 year sentence was on the cards for this type of offence, as he awaited trial.

The 5th December 1939 Evening Dispatch reports on the outcome in that the former seaman had been found guilty and received a three year sentence.

During the trial it appeared that Pinel had a streak for arson, as fires had also occurred on a ship he was on in 1933. It is stated that the budding Guy Fawkes was “worried” about being called up for military service, and that he was not “a normal” man.

WARTIME CONTEXT

The winds of War in 1939 increased demand for phosphorus. The National Archives at Kew offer some insights into the Oldbury factory activities in the early days.

The production of phosphorus munitions during World War One was a major task of the company. A 1922 agreement between the war office and Albright and Wilson dated 28/11/1922, which was still in force throughout the period of the Second World War provided inter alia that

“(a)The company will execute all orders placed by the Admiralty, War Office, and Air Ministry for:-

(i)Supply of  phosphorus

(ii)smoke charging of projectiles, bombs, grenades or other phosphorus containers for warlike purposes.” AVIA 22/2938 MINUTE SHEET NO1

This agreement also gave AW preferential rights to undertake any work for this type of activity so long as the company could provide the capacity and undertake the work punctually.

The following National Archives document confirms the situation in September 1939, when Pinel was at work with the outbreak of war. It confirms that Albright and Wilson were already supplying The French War department with phosphorus, that they were the sole producers in the UK, and that at this time stocks were considerably lower than required for a range of tasks.

©Copyright The National Archives, reproduced by permission to

http://whatliesbeneathrattlechainlagoon.org.uk/

If Pinel’s activities had succeeded albeit with unintended consequences,  there could have been a very serious blow to the production of phosphorus in the country. German bombs never found the subsequently renamed MOS factory.

This is another post about the “non-bino” wino from Lower City Road- Mr Sydney Sheldon- the man whose dubious brickworks enterprise following on from the Barnett family ruined the area around Rattlechain with the sell off of large parcels of land for housing. I have also heard that there was a stables in the vicinity that was used for grooming, and giving free rides, and not just of an equestrian variety by a certain tenant of his.  😕 Blind eye I wonder?

I have already looked at how this convicted criminal and conman would allow

Flytipping – especially of chemical waste  to flourish around his “business” and he also took matters into his own hands regards criminal damage. 

But before all this I have found another article where this “builder”- (WTF of?) ended up in court. The Rugeley Times of 3rd June 1950 explains how Sydney was also a rogue landlord.

I do not know how this man made his money initially, or how he acquired the brickworks at Rattlechain from The Barnett family demise, but he appears to have had fingers in the pie in multiple land ownerships across the area, including obviously, these houses in the Walsall area. I just love the phrase “alleged to be a builder himself” used in the article. It should be said that he was also an alleged brickworks manager at this same time. 🙄

Sheldon had failed to appear when summoned to carry out simple repairs that he should have been capable of completing himself. His “shameful neglect” of the houses was further compounded by his arrogance of refusing to accept letters to his home address in Lower City Road- pompously called “Chelmarsh”.

This appears to set fourth a pattern of thinking himself to be above the law.

Four Faults. LOL

With his brickworks fraud gaining momentum through the planning application to dig a further hole- into which would be dumped uncontrolled illicit waste, he obviously also found the time to buy land in The Smethwick area, as this post from The Birmingham Daily Post of 1st August 1968 attests.

He is now self titling as “Warley builder and estate developer”, and appears to have objected to a compulsory purchase order on land in Mallin Street. If you read this it once again seems to be a cost undercut that the man is proposing.

I did endeavour to see if the crooked house still existed in Lower City Road, but alas, it appears that Chelmarsh was either demolished, renamed or renumbered. Perhaps it was rebuilt by a

Conman, scumbag, wrong un, but always a crook from the local vicinity. 

The Rattlechain brickworks c1950, and by now the associated former clay pit was being filled with the toxic waste of Albright and Wilson

There is a some detailed information publicly available concerning The Rattlechain Brickworks in the Samuel Barnett era- principally in connection with the 1899 canal breach and subsequent blame game as to how it had happened.

I put forward another lost gem in the form of this post concerning the state of play with the Barnett family in 1911 and also the connected Stour Valley brickworks further down the canal.

After the death of the main protagonist, it is clear that his sons took over the business, perhaps under the guidance of the consigliere Frank Dawes. There are some fading lights which guide how the business was operating towards the 1930’s and towards the Second World War.

A worker had a serious accident in 1927, and had won compensation from the firm three years later.

The estate of the man in question appears to have been put up for sale around 1933 with several advertisements concerning the considerable property he held, though I am not sure why his heirs would have been selling it all off. Perhaps there were serious failures at the brickworks at this time in the depression era, and the Barnett’s needed some loot pretty fast. The 25th May 1933 Dudley Chronicle shows several house lots for sale by auction, including  The Orchards in Dudley Road.

I’m staggered at the amount of property that this private landlord had amassed.

Even the family heirlooms appear to be on offer. Is nothing sacred! I would have loved to have got my hands on one of his piano fortes.  😆

Whatever happened from all this, the brickworks appear to have struggled on. From records from 1938, it is possible to see that it was an industrial smoke nuisance on the radar of the local board of health in Rowley Regis, (as well as the Brades works), in a report- what a great legacy the Barnett family gave to the area, where of course when councillors, they could have written off such complaints.

What is not clear to me however as yet is how the Barnett family ceased connection with Rattlechain, and the conman Sydney Sheldon acquired the plant and more importantly, the surrounding land, which he had absolutely no intention of using for brickmaking.

This post looks at available news sources that I have found before, with new material concerning the advertised sale of the works at different times, and what was being sold in addition to the brick manufacture apparatus. It is clear that this estate was considerable.

The first apparent end of the Barnett era appears to have occurred at the eve of WW2 , and adverts appeared in The Birmingham Daily Post around 1939 such as the one below from 13th May.

This concerned the sale of “a modern and up to date plant” for the production of 7 million bricks per annum. This figure compares with the 40,000 per day cited in the 1911 article concerning the works. It is claimed that there is an “inexhaustible mine of Staffordshire clay” within the 61.5 acres of land. Interestingly, the name of Dawes appears in the solicitors dealing with the matter, with the auction taking place at The Grand Hotel in Birmingham on 15th June 1939. One can only speculate as to why if it was “inexhaustible”, that the Barnett family were apparently letting it go after so long. Were they in debt, or no longer interested in the trade?

A further BDP post of 17th June, confirms that the freehold of the land had been purchased at this auction for £14,000, but not who to.

Subsequent to this , another Daily Post article of 18th October 1940 mentions that a private company had been registered as “Barnett’s brickworks” , with the head office being at Rattlechain. 

I do not know who exactly was in control of the works at this time, but a subsequent planning record statement suggests that  by 1948 the brickworks were struggling.               This should however be taken with a large pinch of salt given that it is the conman Sheldon making the claim. It is also stated that work on the new pit started in 1946, (this would become much later the contentious “Duport’s Tip”, and it is likely that far less bricks were made from this marl after this time.

The area of Barnett’s brickworks comprising around 62 acres, as matching the sale description is shown in this post war interim development order.

The picture of the works below was taken in 1948 as part of the Conurbation book.

Rattlechain brickworks Crown Copyright 1948

More importantly, the brickworks and surrounding lands were up for sale once again in this year as revealed in the 10th April 1948 Birmingham Daily Gazette.

The area here is massive at 45,100 acres, and included other factory areas, as well as the three Rose lane cottages, which were occupied on a lease basis.

An overhead picture of Rose Lane and the brickworks from around this period shows the extent of what was being sold, and complements the description in the auction. An overhead shot from the same year also shows the extent of the mainly agricultural land, with Rattlechain brickworks marked at 4.

Panoramic view from 1950 showing Rose Lane marked in red. To the left The Rattlechain brickworks and Rattlechain lagoon, the Tividale sewage works, and bottom left, The Vono Lagoon.

Detailed information is given about the state of the works, and an inventory, which now produced an alleged 100,000 bricks per week. The claim that 7 million bricks per year could be produced is again made.

It is not apparent as to whether this auction sold off every lot, particularly the brickworks themselves. Sydney Sheldon’s involvement with the works appears to start before the Second World War, yet by 1950 he is listed as “managing director” with the application to extend the works in his signature. The description given here however is much different to the flannel being spouted in this auction, and one has to wonder what con artistry was beginning to emerge here.

“These brickworks are old and in very poor position. Before the war he had 40 to 50 people working for him, in 1949 he had only about 15, and his works were working at only about 25% capacity.”

Furthermore  “According to the valuation returns he produced 3.5 million bricks in 1948 and the average selling price was £8 per 1000 bricks.”

I have outlined what happened next in the Sheldon Empire HERE, and the loss of the once agricultural land around Rose Lane HERE,  and it is clear that brickmaking was never really the intention of this man, and “building” bricks it seems would encompass the tipping of building rubble and God knows what else across the whole site.

By 1973, the reckless fly tippers of Duport Properties Limited would register freehold interest in the brickworks and 2.5 acres on the south side of the works. The fate of this site had been sealed. 

Hazardous waste and dodgy old marl holes filled with liquid toxicants go hand in hand with this polluted town. Rattlechain lagoon however is not the only hazardous waste liquid dumping site , though there are no similarities between the former lagoon in Shidas Lane/Rounds Green Road  in terms of the chemicals deposited in there.

The site itself started as they all appear to as a marl hole for brickwork manufacture. At this point it formed a centre point between three roads, Rounds Green Road, Portway Road, and Taylors Lane, (later renamed Shidas Lane ), and the Portway arm of The Birmingham Canal. Two brickworks appear on the 1904 map, Portway Brickworks and Little Fields brickworks.

By 1916 , the site is shown as “old clay pit” though the brickworks at Portway are also still marked.

Accles and Pollock began the manufacture of steel tubes in the town in 1901, merging with Oldbury Tube Works Company, Merimans Limited, and The Oldbury Steel Conduits Ltd  nine years later.  The company later became part of the Tube Investments Limited group (TI).

A & P made tubes for bicycles, ships, aircraft and scientific instruments like syringes amongst other similar items.

In 1932, a company called Metal Sections Limited was taken over by TI and transferred to A&P occupying The Paddock works which were located adjacent to this clearly waterfilled old marl hole. They would later move out of the works to set up a stand alone company.

The pictures below date from 1934 , and show the situation as it then stood, thus confirming that at this time though shown as an “old marl hole” on maps, it was really a substantial pool, though I doubt contained “water” that anyone would want to drink.

Rounds Green Road at top of picture in bowlike bend

Paddock Works on the top left of lagoon

The 1938 map shows the Paddock works for the first time, along with the now renamed Shidas Lane.

Only in 1958 is the site shown as “pond” on the ordnance survey map.

Overlay of 1904 map over current bing maps location.

I spy an old marlhole filled with acid waste

As a wartime manufacturer, making gun barrels amongst other things, like Albright and Wilson, they had strong political links in the town which made them part of the business mafia that controlled it. W.W Hackett in particular was a titular figure in this company of tubular bell ends and in local politics.

To illustrate my point, this sycophantic arse licking piece from 21st May 1949 Birmingham Daily Gazette was written on his retirement from the bench, of which company he had Ken Wilson from A&W.

They forgot to state ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTER!

The types of chemicals, particularly acids that were being handled and disposed of by Accles and Pollock before waste management licensing and at The Paddock works were highly dangerous. The article below from 18th October 1957 Birmingham Daily Post shows how a worker at the site was poisoned by tricloroethylene vapour and the company found to be “negligent” 

In this case, this chemical widely used as an anaesthetic was being used as a metal degreaser. Though Thomas Bell was awarded damages for his injuries, this company hired people in the medical profession if you can even call it that, to attempt to deny that he had suffered a coronary thrombosis. 

It should be noted that this chemical is also a human carcinogen and occupational exposure is associated with a range of other human conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. Clearly, its effects in groundwater are also very dangerous , as would be allowing it to be discharged into the sewer network. Oh wait…..  😮

Particular concern has been shown in the US regards this chemical from industrial sources entering drinking water and poisoning people.

Of course, it was by 1977 that we get the first hint of “protection” of the environment for this dangerous chemical being used amongst others at The Paddock Works site, and an overview for how long this industrial polluter had been using the old marl hole for its foul purposes of waste disposal. This meeting of the West Midlands County Council waste disposal and licensing committee of December 22nd 1977   is known in infamy for how many dodgy licences for dodgy firms were being discussed in a single session. Included at this meeting as “contentious” licences were The Mitco Lagoon as well as Albright and Wilson’s Gower Tip, and our own Rattlechain lagoon. This was another of the contentious licences on the agenda- truly incredible how these vile shitholes all appeared in conjunction on the same radar all at once, though blind it seems to the eyes of the pillocks at the meeting.

The information gleaned for Accles and Pollocks use of the site should be taken as accurate and more authoritative than anything that can be found today. We learn that

• Accles and Pollock were discharging a “variety of waste acids” at a rate of 10,000 gallons per hour to the lagoon.
• Of this 4,000 gallons per hour were extracted and “treated” prior to discharge to sewer! The other 6,000 gallons “soaked away” and was “suspected” of soaking away into nearby mine workings!
• The licence appeared to be wanting to start a “phased withdrawal” from this operation.
• The condition 6 wanted a 3 year time limit on this.

This information is absolutely shocking in how little regard this dangerous waste was accepted to be escaping without proper scrutiny. Even more shocking is that the licence was subsequently granted to carry on regardless, despite the “contentious” aspects considered.  This is just another example of the bloody imbecile Ken Harvey waste disposal officer at the time and his legacy of shame and incompetence. the next item on the agenda that day was…. SL31 Rattlechain Lagoon.  😕

I put in a Freedom of Information Request to The Environment Agency to see if they held this historic waste management licence, SL137  as well as any other relevant modifications passed after this.

The EA responded with some useful information.

A map of the historic landfill site numbered EAHLD23686 can be found HERE. 

Note the Sandwell council refuse tip at Shidas Lane across the road which was also an infilled brickworks marl hole.  The map of the licenced site, also confirms the area shown in the historic maps and photos above in this post.

As can be seen by the licence SL137, this is another typical example of how vague Harvey’s wording was and how anything could go. It is difficult to see how this man was anything more than a waste disposal industry bought bunged shill. That is the only conclusion that any reasonable person could come to when studying how much escaped scrutiny during this disastrous period of waste dumping in the West Midlands County and his departments systemic failures to “control” pollution. 

I have set out the main points of the licence and how it was altered by subsequent modifications in the PDF below with relevant links to that within.

Shidas Lane lagoon waste management licence and modifications

one thing of concern is that the original licence condition 6 gave a three year time limit to 1981 of discharge, yet the subsequent modification gave a mealy-mouthed bypass for this without specific time limit! Of particular note however are the chemicals and their quantities being discharged into the lagoon which warrant further scrutiny and need to be highlighted clearly! John Haigh would have had a field day here down the Paddock!

Hydrochloric acid

Sulphuric acid

Nitric acid

Hydrofluoric acid

Chromic acid

As well as providing the licence, the EA also provided a data sheet on information they held, which states that the site had been being used for this purpose by Accles and Pollock since 1925. Thus it appears that the apparent “water” in this lagoon was nothing more than an acid bath. 

Thus we see here that they had been unregulated for 50+ years, discharging dangerous and carcinogenic wastes into drinking water and beyond without scrutiny.  Were the local health board aware of this, or was it the fact that those like the weasel Wilson family of the company controlling this aspect of civic life not that interested if it blotted their fellow industrialist and councillor mates economic interests?

More recent documents dating from the 1980’s are supplied in the form of the trade effluent discharge consent permitted by the equally disgusting environmental polluter Severn Trent Water.

THIS ALLOWED 900 CUBIC METERS TO SEWER PER DAY AT A RATE OF 11 LITRES PER SECOND. 

Limits were placed on heavy metals within this mix, as well as PH between 6-12. I would argue that these were all set too high. The PH of 12 is especially a  very strong alkaline.

By the 1990’s the site works had now become known as TI Apollo– and later “Apollo Sports”  this referring to a brand of sporting items manufacture such as javelins.

A very detailed “working plan” of how this works operated and its interface with discharge to the lagoon, can be read HERE.  

This all smacks of carefully worded theory, but as I have seen with Albright and Wilson, was the practice really as clockwork as they would like to suggest?

It appears that by now, Severn Trent had reconsidered their inappropriate limits, but I’d still argue they were too high- particularly on Chromium.

Accles and Pollock would morph into the Apollo Sports brand , and I am sure that javelin throwers and golfers would have had no idea of what crap was being dumped in order to facilitate their elite sports projectiles and clubs, but I really wonder anyhow if any of them would have even cared?  😥

As a footnote to this , and a theme that you will find regularly if you are a reader of this blog, we see a tiny number of individuals who pollute rewarded, and the victims of industrial pollution left to rot.

12th June 1989 Sandwell Evening Mail and all the shit that they didn’t want they puttered down the sewers! 

The ponse in uniform in this picture was well known for digging up land himself to be infilled with mountains of waste. Lieutenant indeed for an aristocracy that buys up land in splendour for agriculture and spits out titbit crumbs of contamination for the rest of us to live amongst.

So it appears then that a very few individuals who practiced elite sports for the wealthy- particularly golf, warranted the pollution of Oldbury. There are those who claim that Oldbury is famous for “making things”. I would state that in this endeavour, through industrial processes, it is the people of Oldbury who were well and truly “shafted” as a consequence by the likes of Accles and Pollocks and the Apollo offshoot.  The polluter never paid to clean up the massive bogey they left behind, and it would not be long before A&P went tits up into the rough as a company and left behind their problem toxic waste lagoon.