The area once comprising the Rattlechain brickworks area appears to reveal a hive of industrial activity, though little trace remains of the actual works themselves. Brickmaking may have ended with a whimper in the 1960’s though the canal basin which used to serve the site is more overgrown with trees now, though I suspect the pollution below this is filled with many old bricks that were thrown in when the works themselves were demolished.
Stopboard grooves can be seen on the entrance to what remains of the basin. I have seen historic pictures of the site held by South Staffordshire council which reveals a fairly sizeable v shaped basin was still there in 1964.
a stopboard groove
It must have taken some considerable skill to enter the basin with such a tight turn. This picture from 1948 just shows the bridge entry point below to the right.
Unfortunately many of the rounded blue bricks that capped the bridge have been stolen, a problem across the area. Though British Waterways used to replace them, it seems that much of the will has gone now.
Land where once was water
Around the brickworks area and within rattlechain lagoon itself there is a multitude of pottery and bottles, much of it buried below the surface of the North embankment, hence why bottle digging was a popular activity here.
But there is no record of any bottle factory in the area shown by the historic maps which can account for such a hefty haul.
“I’m a little teapot short and stout”
A bottle unearthed on the north embankment during the 2013 works
The bottle below was unearthed by Heyrman De Roeck contractors digging on the North West embankment. I do not know the origin or contents of what it may have contained, but the name “Gibsons” is written in the marbley glass.
Poison?
If anyone can elaborate on this firm or what this may have contained please drop us a line. What it may have been doing in the Rattlechain site is another matter entirely.
Also unearthed in 2013 was an old Albright and Wilson sign denying responsibility for any injury.
We now have a similar situation with “Rhodia UK Limited”. I wonder whether this sign will be buried and one day unearthed by the next users of the site?
