February 2016's Monday Mission is the sixteenth episode in a series dating back to September 2014, and sees me tasked with further investigations of the former South Staffordshire railway line. Having already bitten off chunks in Ryecroft (last August) and Pelsall (January just gone), I would now be concentrating on the section between Ryders Hayes and Brownhills, complete with the potential for things to turn Ogley!
- Free Trade Inn, a sad sight -
As in January, I get underway aboard the number 89 bus, riding out of Wolverhampton and enduring a loud rap music chorus courtesy of some rather inconsiderate fellow passengers. My eardrums can start to recover when I alight at Pelsall Wood, hopping off on Trevor Road to see if the nearby Free Trade Inn is still standing (answer: it is but looks a bit of a mess). Photos of the pub go hand in hand with shots of Pelsall Works Bridge as the Wyrley & Essington Canal nears Pelsall Junction. It's a gusty old morning and I have to brace myself not to get blown over as I proceed past Moat Farm Pool and the famous fingerpost traffic sign.
- Pool near Ryders Hayes -
A short stroll later and Ryders Hayes Lane brings me back to the spot visited in January somewhere in the vicinity of a lost level crossing. A tempting footpath stretches out ahead so naturally I follow this, tackling increasingly waterlogged underfoot conditions as I arrive at an open pool. Somehow I don't think the disused line came this close to the water's edge so I speculate I must have gone wrong somewhere, a feeling that gets confirmed when a further muddy track brings me beneath a railway bridge as I pitch up at a stable block.
- Bullows Road Bridge -
Those of you with personal experience of my occasionally wayward directions will no doubt be unsurprised at such a turn of events! Luckily I am permitted to cross the stable's yard (provided I don't scare the horses) and can exit safely onto Lichfield Road in search of proper access to the railway. Bullows Road (beside the One Stop convenience depot) comes to the rescue as I shimmy up the embankment and join a well-trodden footpath. Keen to see exactly where I'd gone astray, I head back towards Pelsall and discover I'd only been slightly out with my initial directions. Having given myself the requisite telling-off, I resume my original plan and aim for Brownhills.
- The railway crosses the canal -
Beyond Bullows Road, the old line soon reaches Clayhanger Lane (a bridge I know well from street level) and then crosses above the Curly Wyrley on a rusty relic of a metal structure. A brief detour onto the canal itself offers first ever photos of Becks Bridge (close to the Swan pub), while at Jolly Collier Bridge I branch off into Clayhanger for a well-earned bit of lunch. With my energy reserves suitably replenished, I return to the walkway only to find that access ends shortly after the Swan anyway; the line from this point through to Brownhills is out of bounds and seems to have a lot of standing water.
- From Clayhanger towards Brownhills -
My trail therefore continues via street and pavement, weaving along Wallace Road to emerge by Brownhills Police Station and the Hussey Arms. Holland Park flanks one side of the railway, as do the playing fields of The Brownhills School. The town's former railway station was situated just off the A452 Chester Road traffic island and adjacent to the landmark Town Hall with its ornate clock - I wonder if a curve in the railings here could be the ghost of a platform access ramp. The station closed in 1965 along with the passenger service along the entire line between Lichfield and Walsall.
- A Crowned Clock -
Satisfied with my railway reconnaissance, my attention now turns to matters of Ogley Hay. From Smithy's Forge I use the B4155 Lichfield Road to discover the 'Memo' (the colloquial name for the Memorial Hall), with Barnetts Lane revealing scout huts and a cemetery. The Sankey Working Men's Club is also an intriguing feature as I reach Ogley Corner, marked by a crossroads sign and a Costcutter supermarket that seems to have been turned into a little gym.
- Ogley Crossroads -
Ogley Road then stretches back to the A452 and the bottom end of Brownhills High Street - a key feature here is the shell of the Warreners Arms, a building that served as a McDonald's restaurant for a while but now acts as the base for a hand car wash operation. From here I flag down an oncoming 10A for my ride through to Walsall and that my friends is that - more miles walked and another mission very much accomplished!
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