Subject: Re: Sandwell Coal Bunker


Laurence, there is no problem with the posting of the letter to
Canals and
Rivers to the Canalscape Website.

There are other issues, which deserve airing not just in the
Midlands. I
suppose it is outside the area of Canal scape, but I have also took an
interest in the future of the Calder & Hebble warehouses at Wakefield
and
the sad loss of the heritage warehouses at Howley Quay near
Warringtom.

Best regards

Ray

Letter pertains:-


FAO

Chris Cattrall, Editor Canals & Rivers

I read with interest Stanley Hollands piece on the proceedings
regarding the Sandwell coal bunker beside the BCN Old Main Line at
Smethwick. The inclusion of the Malcolm Braine photograph was
particularly instructive as it showed the screen house as well as the
bunkers.

A lot has been said about the preservation of the bunkers, but being
constructed in 1930's concrete exposed to the rigors of nature for
nearly seventy years the deterioration is plain to see. Short of an
extensive motorway style make over at great cost it is unlikely that
the structure could regain the appearance when constructed (1937-38).
If this had been achieved then only part of the wharf would have been
restored as the adjacent screen house had long been demolished. Gone
too was the coal handling plant at Sandwell Park Colliery, which
handled the coal from Jubilee Colliery dividing the coal for despatch
by road, rail and canal.
All these features date from the same period when the Warwickshire
Coal Company took over the coal getting operation from the Sandwell
Park Colliery Company.

Ten years ago in 1996, the Community Lifeline Steering Group (
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council) looked at the many heritage
features contained within the Borough of Sandwell. The coal bunkers
were highlighted as at risk then but an examination considered them
too far decayed for economic repair.

Archeoligists have now descended on the coal bunker site to pour over
the remains. It will be interesting to see what they report on and if
they make their findings generally available. Previous archeological
studies have made similar promises only in true political fashion to
renege on them. What has happened to the report on Granville Street
Wharf, when Doulton's former premises were swept away. What has
happened also to the report made when the former Shipton's Warehouses
on Albion Wharf, in Wolverhampton, was demolished to make way for the
mediocre housing development that now stands in its place. More
worrying is the concern that no study has been made at Fazeley during
recent clear out of the buildings at the junction with the Coventry
Canal.

One can only hope that the report on the Bunkers at Smethwick reaches
a wider audience than the above mentioned have done.

Best Regards

Ray Shill
Waterways and Industrial Historian