{"id":285,"date":"2013-02-27T20:50:45","date_gmt":"2013-02-27T20:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whatliesbeneathrattlechainlagoon.org.uk\/?page_id=285"},"modified":"2017-12-19T19:04:24","modified_gmt":"2017-12-19T19:04:24","slug":"trinity-street-canal-links","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/whatliesbeneathrattlechainlagoon.org.uk\/?page_id=285","title":{"rendered":"AW’s Trinity Street canal links"},"content":{"rendered":"

CANAL LINKS- FROM USE TO DERELICTION<\/b><\/p>\n

The Birmingham canal navigations, BCN with its Old and New mainlines of the Birmingham canal form direct links between Trinity Street and Rattlechain.\u00a0 The link to the canal network and railway was obviously a major part to the continuing commercial success of the company for delivery of raw materials, export of goods and disposal of waste, which had been used by the company since at least 1857 according to Albright and Wilson\u2019s own archives.<\/p>\n

Using\u00a0the book “100 years of phosphorus making”\u00a0, Threlfall\u2019s primary source account of white phosphorus production during the war period, of particular note is the statement:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cA large quantity of white phosphorus was stored in arms of the canal, and a fall in the water level occasionally produced a glow which could be seen from the highway. An old dump of phosphorus mud on the bottom side was excavated for some new buildings, the spoil being removed to the works tip. This dried out during the day and sometimes caught fire about midnight.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

It continues, \u201cApart from outbreaks on the tip, the chief risks of fire were from calcium phosphide left in daylight on the side of the canal, and from the coal storage dumps.\u201d <\/b><\/p>\n

It is unclear how \u201clarge\u201d the white phosphorus quantity referred to in the canal was or how it was \u201cstored\u201d. It is unclear where \u201cthe works tip\u201d referred to was located at the Langley plant , or indeed what other chemical industrial rubbish left over from \u201c100 years of phosphorus making\u201d in Oldbury that it contained. If this tip site was fully filled, then how did they remediate it, if at all?<\/p>\n

We also get in the official account of the company history written in 1951<\/strong><\/p>\n

“The works canal was less kind to fish, indeed samples of sludge taken from the bottom of it at any time up to the last few years were strongly phosphorescent, if not ready to ignite spontaneously.”<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The private canal arms referred to by Threlfall in his book were known as The Houghton arm, or \u201cchemical arm\u201d<\/a> which was a shared entrance with fellow chemical manufacturers Chance and Hunt, later to be I.C.I which once had two parallel arms,\u00a0 and the Jim Crow arm<\/a> which both ran into Albright and Wilson works.<\/p>\n

It has become clear through this investigation that the use of these canal arms and Rattlechain itself are inextricably linked- linked that is by quite appalling pollution.<\/b> Both were regularly dredged by Canal boat contractors Alfred Matty and Sons Limited, with certain wastes being taken directly to Rattlechain\u00a0lagoon and others to their Gower Tip, located on the Old mainline canal.<\/p>\n

A decline in industrial use of the canal system led to over 60 miles of the original network being filled in.\u00a0\u00a0 Both of these arms appear to have met this fate though it can be seen that this process was not particularly professionally carried out- more an exercise in burying toxic wastes.<\/p>\n

\"scan0003\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The County series map from 1947 shows the extent of the arms as they stood in Threlfall\u2019s description, running right into the bowels of the Albright and Wilson phosphorus works.<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CANAL LINKS- FROM USE TO DERELICTION The Birmingham canal navigations, BCN with its Old and New mainlines of the Birmingham canal form direct links between Trinity Street and Rattlechain.\u00a0 The link to the canal network and railway was obviously a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":45,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"onecolumn-page.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatliesbeneathrattlechainlagoon.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/285"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatliesbeneathrattlechainlagoon.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatliesbeneathrattlechainlagoon.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatliesbeneathrattlechainlagoon.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatliesbeneathrattlechainlagoon.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=285"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/whatliesbeneathrattlechainlagoon.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9120,"href":"https:\/\/whatliesbeneathrattlechainlagoon.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/285\/revisions\/9120"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatliesbeneathrattlechainlagoon.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/45"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatliesbeneathrattlechainlagoon.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}