Cradley Heath and Cradley

[Northern Lass]

Thanks Neville...that is fine keep em coming

Over to you and Linell
excellent read all this so helpful to give us an idea of the area thank you.

[linell]

Hi all, gosh you have been busy while I was away, need to catch up with all your posts. On route to our holiday location we stopped at Halesowen for a couple of hours. I wanted to visit the Churchyard where my Grandparents are buried but it was really muddy, so I had to settle for peering over the Church Wall. I am convinced people have been buried on top of old graves, when you look at the registers and see how many people have been buried at Halesowen over the years, where are they all? A Cradley Heath Undertaker told me that this has happened at St Lukes, no one knows just who is buried there! Will catch up on your Old Hill and Graingers Lane posts, ASAP. Trouble with going away is it takes ages to catch up on everything when you return. Best Wishes from Linell.

[linell]

This is a list of Members, Ministers, Trustee's and Leaders from Graingers Lane Methodist Chapel.

Mary Maria Tibbetts born about 1785
Thomas Tromans circa 1800
George Burford
John Ride
John Petty
Richard Dukes all early 1800's
John Chatwin
John Price
Joseph Edmonds all about 1850
William Griffin
Robert Whitley
Josiah Weston again approx 1850's
George Head
Samuel Woodhouse late 1800's
William Wright
John Heath
W. Jones Davies again late 1800's
Enoch Shepherd
Ebenezer R. Tripp
William Forth
Richard Clarke again late 1800's
Ewen Harper Architect
Dan Gill these two are later
Joseph Pearce
John Watts these two were listed as 1908 and 1912,
Henry Hackett
Edward Woodhouse
John Dudley
Frederick Jeffs
James Horton
William H Hackett all born late 1800's I would think?
Joseph Poole
William Head
Harry Fletcher they were active in the 1920's
Noah Perks
Mrs Matilda Billingham earlier I would think
George Yardley
John H Raycord again in Office in the 1920's
Plus a lot of Woodhouses.

Here is a list of the membership Roll 1827
Edward Whiston
Benjamin Weaver
S Stringer (one of mine)
L Mason
Mary Attwood
Esther Billingham
Ann Turner
Phoebe Billingham
Daniel Wright
Mary Stringer (one of mine)
Elizabeth Tibbetts
Mary Billingham
William Tibbetts
Elizabeth Tibbetts
Frances Smith
S Tibbetts
J Billingham
J Tibbetts
B Smith
J Burley
E Burley
Thos Tibbetts
Mary Price
Ann Billingham
Ben Thompson
J Smith
S Thompson
A Gill
H Gill
J Parkes
J Tibbetts
A Billingham
A Parkes
Joseph Tibbetts

[Sharon]

re Chainmaker's Arms NL...
not much I'm afraid......the concensus of the mature generation seems to be that this pub was just down from the baptist church, but those I asked couldnt remember Rose as innkeepers, but named others. They decided that your family "couldnt have kept it long"!
Apparently it was known as "Tuckers".......amazing how many pubs are known by other titles..the Five Ways inn will be forever "Charlie Wright's", the Prince of Wales in Wrights Lane, Old Hill is "The banjo" The New Inns in Graingers Lane was "Llewellyns" This could be a whole new thread!......
The new Inns is sadly due for demolition. Dad tells me that the front door was never used there, as the wind blew the sawdust into the ale, so the entrance closed forever, and customers entered through the side door!

[Northern Lass]

Thanks Sharon for that info ....no I don't think they did have it long

[Neville Bastable]

Sharon, Just a few more. The Heath Tavern in Cradley Heath High Street was “The Boster”, the Swan in Providence Street was “Jasper's” and the Old Cross Guns was of course “Joe Mallen's”.
I am old enough to remember being served by Joe Mallen. He was a leading light in the Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club and also helped to organize the Cradley Heath Carnivals which were before my time. Incidentally there were also carnivals in Cradley, proceeds to the hospitals. My father Joe Bastable was one of the organizers of those together with Les Southall and Billy Jones from Lyde Green.
Neville

[Neville Bastable]

I have now had the opportunity to look up my notes on that great Cradley Heath character Joe Mallen who took over the management of the Cross Guns public house in Cradley Road on the 11th July 1921 and remained there until November 1950. He was a breeder of Staffordshire Bull Terrier dogs and like most publicans at that time I understand also had a full time job, in his case as a chainmaker at William Griffin & Sons in Cradley Heath until he retired in March 1960. Joe made history when his famous Gentleman Jim became the first dog to become Straffordshire Bull Terrier Supreme Champion at Crufts in 1939, the breed having apparently not been officially recognised by the Kennel Club until 1935. I know Joe's granddaughter and he and his wife Lil moved out to Kinver, near Stourbridge where he took up keeping pigs. He died there in 1970, aged eighty.
I hope members found this of interest.
Neville Bastable

[Northern Lass]

Thanks for all of this marvellous history Neville you and Linell certainly know the area
and it is brill the way we get a flavour of it all!

Now I met someone at the archives and this gentleman is going to show me around
Old hill and Cradley Heath soon and he links to our Connections tree too!
So I will explore all the places that my family came from

[Sharon]

I understand Joe Mallen was a larger than life character who seemed to be involved in all sorts of aspects of Cradley heath life. Dad was frightened of dogs as a child and when grandad told Joe, he organised a dog for dad. Dad went on to have dogs in his life, and made sure that as a child I did too.

[Neville Bastable]

Lovely to hear that Sharon.
Because of Joe Mallen the Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club were able to use the Old Cross Guns public house in Cradley Heath for their meetings. He was the founder of the Club together with Joe Dunn another local breeder. Other names I have who were involved are Fred Silvers whose dog was named Queenie, Jack Shaw who owned Jim the Dandy, Harry Pegg with Fearless Joe and Jack Birch whose dog was I believe the prize winning Vindictive Monty.
In the 18th Century or perhaps earlier the forerunners were of course created by crossing bull dogs with terriers for fighting purposes, but in later years the breed was developed particularly I believe in the Black Country for show purposes and also as a pet. Although occasional organised dog fights although illegal do persist I understand even up the the present. The show dog has to have a certified pedigree and to conform to certain standards and of course be I suppose docile having had the viciousness bred out of him, although I believe a lot of it is down to the training it receives. Although never an owner I have always had been interested in the “Staffie” as he is often called and have never yet come across a fierce one although I'm sure they exist so my advice is don't approach one unless you are sure.
Neville Bastable

[Neville Bastable]

Sharon I'm sure that there were characters some of which we have heard, in every Black Country town but most of the ones I knew were in the Cradley Heath area. Ones like Norman Plant who went to keep the Old Cross Guns after Joe Mallen left. He had a wet fish shop on the High Street and also raced whippets, a popular sport in the town when I was young. One of my grandfather's cousins Charlie Homer had a butcher's shop and as a child I used to watch the cattle being unloaded from a big van before being herded up the side of the shop to be slaughtered round the back. I think that they must have sensed their fate as they were always reluctant to leave the vehicle as I recall. Charlie's brother Arthur who everybody called Artie also had butcher's shop on the High Street. Their sister Ruth was married to Wesley Birch of Birch's cake and bread shop. A relative by marriage Tom Palmer had a cook shop and restaurant on the Five Ways. I remember he used to carve pieces of pork from the animal in the window of his premises, all in a great container of gravy. Harry Johnson self acclaimed I think champion ox roaster was yet another character and I could go on but I won't as I don't want to risk boring readers with my reminiscences.
Neville

[Silver surfer]

Do you mean the cafe in Grainger's Lane Neville ? We used to go in for a snack after shopping with mum. We couldn't afford a pork sarnie and had to settle for a round of bread dipped in the gravy.

[mallosa]

There's no fear of boring me with your reminiscences, Neville - in fact.........I WANT MORE

[Northern Lass]

You carry on Neville great stuff and thanks

[Neville Bastable]

Hello Silver Surfer, Yes you've got it, just off Five Ways in Graingers lane, about eight pence I think for a large pork sandwich and a couple of pence for bread dipped in gravy with crackling added. You must have visited the old market, the big market that is (there were two market halls). People came from miles around to shop at Cradley Heath market, which was a big building behind the High Street shops approached down Beggars' Row. This had been I was told, a row of about a dozen very old dwellings off the High Street which had been demolished to make way for Mr Adams, the market managers house and also space for selling outside of large items like carpets, lino etc which I recall. I remember Roy Adams taking over from his father. Of the market stalls the one I remember most I suppose was Mr Ross selling material for making dresses, curtains and the like probably beacause my mother helped him out occasionally when he was very busy or was shorthanded. Another big stall was Bonser's crockery and glassware.
This market was demolished in the 1960's I think together with the adjacent shops for redevelopment. A new market was included but in my view a pale shadow of the original which had been built in the 1920's. Prior to that the market stalls had been strung out along the High Sreet, open until late on a Saturday night with the oil lamps spluttering my mother told me.
Neville