![\"scan0022\"](\"http:\/\/whatliesbeneathrattlechainlagoon.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/scan0022.jpg\" "\\"scan0022\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe area once comprising the Rattlechain brickworks <\/a>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.<\/p>\n \u00a0Stopboard 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.<\/p>\n a stopboard groove<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0It must have taken some considerable skill to enter the basin with such a tight\u00a0turn. This picture <\/a>from 1948 just shows the bridge entry point below to the right.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Land where once was water<\/p><\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “I’m a little teapot short and stout”<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n A bottle unearthed on the north embankment during the 2013 works<\/p><\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Poison?<\/p><\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n Also unearthed in 2013 was an old Albright and Wilson sign denying responsibility for any injury.<\/p>\n 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?<\/p>\n 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 … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"