This is a story I stumbled upon by chance, as many of them tend to be, or I tend to believe “guided” to find.
It concerns the area beyond what would have been the former Rattlechain Brickworks or Stour Valley marl hole pits as they were managed by Samuel Barnett and his sons. Note the many “old coal shafts” located in the area in this timely 1904 map overlay map of where they were.
I have written and researched much on this man, a schemer and pompous local councillor with his fingers in the pie and tale romancer that had no interest in the safety of anyone in his employment or the wider area- it seems as though this is something that continued with anyone connected to this land that once belonged to him.
Men died as a result of working for him.
Another had seriously broken his leg leaving him unable to work.
The land he owned however was a dangerous open playground for local children, as a case in 1914 proved with the death of a six year old girl that never came home. The somewhat tardy report below from the Belfast Telegraph of 28th July 1914 outlines the demise of young Lily Hampton that it turns out had happened earlier.
There are some errors I believe in this copy, and I believe the street in which she lived is Cleton Street and not “Clayton Street” as no such place exists unless it was levelled after the wars. Perhaps the black country vernacular threw them off? This would put the “field” as most likely adjacent to the Stour Valley brickworks and the Groveland colliery seen on the map above in the left hand side, and also marked below. I would be willing to wager that the coal shaft marked here marks the spot on what is now the Autobase site, and before that the rear of London Steel works. Cleton Street is not far from here.
A wider map however, and see Cleton Street marked in yellow with the arrow shows just how vast this area was , open with danger, and yet inviting to children as adventure playgrounds.
1904 map. I believe all the shafts marked were on Barnett owned land
Poor Lily fell hundreds of feet to her death straight down an open shaft, and into water reported to be sixty yards deep. She would have had no chance. I also think the article means dogs and not “drugs”.
It is interesting to note that this site had been left vacant without being used for over 3-4 decades, and at this time both sites for brickmaking were in full swing for the Barnett family.
The Northern Irish report was a little late after the events however, as another article I have found from closer to home, from 21st July 1914 Birmingham Mail reported that the girls body had been recovered a short time later.
These two men deserve recognition for their efforts, and it is telling that the arsehole councillor probably stayed very silent on this matter surrounding the death. I think the claim that she had no injuries on the body to be frankly ridiculous. A fall of this height would have given anyone catastrophic internal injuries, even if landing in open water.
The comment readers letter piece below from “only human” a day later is stark and could have almost been written by a time traveller given its prophetic forward looking opinion of such sites. It’s no good asking “the coal board” for accurate records, because this organisation is shite and will fleece you of money for dodgy inaccurate information as has been demonstrated locally before with their garbage records.
Perhaps somewhere about, the ghost of a young girl trying to get home haunts the footsteps of the industrialists that caused her death. Maybe it startled the horse that bolted and threw Barnett to his death just a few years later. Karma has a very interesting way of working, but his death was no loss at all to Tipton or Tividale.