Walsall Wood Coal Seams

Walsall Wood Coal Seams

Daw End Canal

October 2014

I keep an eye on a number of local historical sites, one of which is Brownhills Bob Brownhills Blog which is linked to the Aldridge Historical Society's Facebook page.

A recent post included a map of one of the Walsall Wood Colliery's coal seams (there were more than one) which was overlaid on a Google Earth image. The thing which caught my eye was the Daw End canal which cuts through the image just south of Catshill Junction.

I have often travelled along this stretch of canal and noted the extreme depth of water, a situation attributed to mining subsidence. This image reveals the exact extent of the mine workings on one level and was produced on a six foot long sheet of velum for the benefit of the railway engineers.

The mine was closed in 1961 and was never mechanised, with the abandoned shafts filled with industrial waste in the 1960's and 70's.

A word of caution as you try to orientate the above image:  North is to the right with the Angelsey Arm exiting at the extreme bottom right of the image.