Baggeridge History ofÉ 4pp

19,500 trees and shrubs were planted.
The main areas of tree planting were, Bag
Pool embankment, the cascades
embankment and along the edges of the
clay road. A variety of trees were planted,
the species mixtures varying between
sites. The species most often planted
were Oaks, Birch and Hawthorn. Further to
this 6,200 metres of footpath were laid.
Gospel End Common was purchased later
from the neighbouring land owner in order
to extend the Park and improve access.
The current entrance drive was then built.
The Park was officially opened by HRH
Princess Anne on 17th June 1983. The
visitor centre was developed later and
opened in 1984. The play area was
constructed in 1999 and the tea shop
opened in 2000.
1st March 1998 Miners Reunion – 30th Anniversary of the pit closure
For further information please contact a County Park Ranger on 01902 882605
LEISURE TRAILS
HISTORY OF…
BAGGERIDGE COUNTRY PARK
Until the beginning of the 20th century the local landscape
was reminiscent of Mediaeval countryside - small farm
holdings, ancient woodland (Baggeridge, High Arcal and
Himley Woods), and parklands (Himley Park). There was
very little in the way of industrial development although a
complex network of roads and rail tracks criss-crossed the
landscape.
Most of the land was once
owned by the Earls of Dudley
who lived at nearby Himley
Hall, as well as Dudley Castle
and Witley Court. The land
surrounding the hall was
landscaped by Capability
Brown. Part of this now
forms the southern half of
the Park up to the Wishing
Pools. These pools may be
seen on a land use map of
Staffordshire drawn up by
Yates in 1775. The Wishing
Pools however are marked as
one large pool, later recorded
as ‘Whites Wood Pool’. All
the pools are marked as fish
ponds. Gospel End Common
was also recorded on Yates’
map as an open area.
Baggeridge Wood as a whole
is also recorded on this map,
however Whites Wood and
Lydiates Hill are unclear.
They are clearly recorded as
forming part of Baggeridge
Wood on Greenwood’s map
Baggeridge Colliery
of 1820, yet not called
Whites Wood until the
Ordnance Survey map of
1900. Baggeridge wood
covers a large proportion of
the current Park area,
principally to the south and
west. Gospel End Common
was considered to be a
Common, and indeed used by
the local community for
grazing as well as village
fairs. However, when the
Commons Register was
introduced in the 1960’s, no
one held commoners rights.
The land was never therefore
officially registered as a
common.
Walking is not only fun, it is an excellent form of exercise. Evidence shows
that walking is playing an important role in the prevention of ill health.
RECLAMATION
COAL MINING
A great change on the Park’s history came about because
the underlying geology of the Park is Coal. Also it is the
‘ten yard coal’ or more commonly known as ‘The Thick’. At
30 feet (10m) thick it is the thickest seam in Britain. It was
mainly mined in the Black Country ‘open cast’, or without
tunnelling.
However, faults in the
layers meant it lay at
greater depth further west.
Therefore, In 1895,
following the impending
exhaustion of the Earl’s
other pits elsewhere in the
Black Country, the search
for coal began. Herbert W.
Hughes, mining engineer to
the Earl of Dudley, started
test borings but were
initially not successful. The
bore rods broke leaving a
crown of diamond cutters
worth £200 at the time
underground. The second
attempt reached coal at
1800 feet (600 metres) at
the northern end of
Baggeridge. It was not until
1902 when pit shafts were
sunk that the ‘Thick’ seam
was reached. Here though it
was only 26 feet (8.5m) at
it’s thickest. Another seam
of first class house coal
wasa also located. This was
called Brooch coal,
pronounced locally as
“Brewch”. In 1910, 2 more
shafts were sunk to a depth
of 1700 feet. Full
production began in 1912.
At the height of production
the pit employed 3,000
men, produced 12,000 tons
of coal per week and this
famous mine was claimed
to be the most productive
BAGGERIDGE MINES RESCUE TEAM CUP WINNERS 1938/39
Back Row – H. Field (Kingswinford), J. Thatcher (Kingswinford), E. Davies
(Gornal)
Front Row – Ernie Cox (Gornal), Arthur Beddard, Capt: (Sedgley), Jim Jeavons
(Sedgley)
and most modern pit in the
world. In some places the
tunnels went as far as
Wolverhampton. The coal
was worked by the Pillar
and Stall method where
pillars of coal were left to
support the high roof.
Because of the thickness of
the seam, miners were
more accustomed to ladder
work than crawling on
hands and knees. Young
children used to work down
the mine and Pit ponies
were used to transport coal
underground, even 10
remained right up to it’s
closure. It was nationalised
in 1947 and finally closed
down on 1st March 1968
due to being uneconomical.
The mine lost £138,000 in
4 months between October
1967 and January 1968 in
part because the pit face
was getting further from
the pit head. 600 local men
lost their jobs. The winding
gear at the pit heads were
located either side of the
current camp site near to
the visitor centre, and
commemorative sculptures
have been erected to mark
the end of an era in the
history of the Black
Country.
Mining the ‘Thick’
The derelict land left by the colliery closure, was bought by
the Seisdon Rural District Council, (now South Staffordshire
District Council) and initial works carried out. It was
designated a Country Park in 1970. Government grant aid
enabled improvement works to be carried out in 1971 and full
reclamation began on 12th January 1981. The landscaping of
Baggeridge Country Park was deliberately intended to give the
visitor sense a space and panoramic grandeur.
The reclamation involved extensive earth
movement activity (375,000m3) and the
reconstruction of vegetation cover. 80,000
tonnes of coal slurry were removed for re-use
at power stations, 40,000 tonnes were
dredged from the pools. Topsoil or subsoil
was stripped from sites such as the upper
meadows, the amphitheatre and along the
northern edges of Lydiates Hill, and spread
over a wider area, in one case, topsoil was
imported. All the non-wooded areas were
covered with a standard grass mix and, on a
number of sites, the grass sward was further
enriched by including wild flowers in the seed
mixture. 3250 kg of seed was sown.
Baggeridge Colliery