Everythin’ but the squale!
Keeping pigs and ponies in the Black Country of old
WAY back in November 2016 the Bugle’s Dan Shaw wrote a piece based on the memories of Peter Turner of Alveley, Shropshire.
Peter remembered how his father Jack Turner used to deliver fruit and vegetables to the inhabitants of Oakham and Kate’s Hill in Dudley. The produce would be loaded onto a cart pulled by Dolly, Jack’s horse.
Cart
On Saturdays, Peter says, John Cadman would help out with his cart, pulled by Monty, an ex-pit pony. Peter had also supplied photographs of four other ponies still working at the pit where John Cadman’s pony had once worked. At the end of the article Dan asked if anybody knew the name of the pit and anything about their handler.
While I can’t identify the handler shown in the photographs, I do know something about the pit where the ponies worked and the reason why John Cadman’s pony was working above ground. The pony was indeed called Monty and the pit was Round’s Clay Pit, also known as Gayfield Mine No. 2. Although no trace now remains, the pit head was located a few yards north of Barsham Drive, off Gayfield Avenue, in
Amblecote.
The pit produced highquality fireclay which was processed in a nearby fireclay mill, which was located near the junction of Stanhoe Close and Gayfield Avenue. The entrance to the site was via a small track off Amblecote Road, easily identified today because the Brierley Hill TV transmitter mast is located near the spot.
Playground
I learned much about what follows from my aunt Alice Wilcock (nee Cadman), as well as from personal experience, because when I was little my father would often take me to the pit site on a Sunday morning. It was a wonderful adventure playground for me, although today’s Health and Safety people would not have been impressed at the things I got up to.
My grandfather was John Cadman (senior) who lived at 58 Grove Street, Kate’s Hill.
He was an ostler at the pit, looking after the ponies, which were brought to the surface after each shift. I’m told my grandfather really loved those ponies and took great care of them. One particular pony – Monty – wouldn’t behave underground and the mine’s owner Philip Round decided he had to go. So my grandfather asked if he could have him and the owner said “take him!”. That’s how Monty came into the family.
Round’s Clay Pit – which closed around 1968 – was unusual because the fireclay was mined in the old-fashioned way. After blasting the clay with explosives it would be loaded by hand into small tubs which ran on rails, and pulled by a pony. Once lifted to the surface the clay would be transported the short distance to the mill by lorry.
Ramshackle
The pit head gear was rather ramshackle, with only a few planks of wood to stop anything falling down the shafts. I remember the winding house had this large wheel around which the cables supporting the cages was wound. One cage would ascend while the other descended. That helped balance the load on the winding machinery.
There were a couple of modern aspects to the site, for instance the winding gear was driven by a large electric motor. However, should the electric motor fail the winding gear could be driven by a steam engine, fed by a rather imposing vertical boiler. I often wonder what happened to that engine, I remember it was kept in absolutely immaculate condition.
Pumps
There were also large electric pumps at the bottom of the shafts, necessary to keep the mine workings free of water. Numerous pipes brought the water to the surface which was then discharged into the brook that ran past the site.
I don’t know whether the clay was mined five days or six days a week, but looking after the ponies was a seven-day-aweek job. My grandfather and his son – John Cadman (junior), the John Peter Turner remembers – even worked on a Sunday morning. Grandfather would tend to the ponies while my uncle would – often with other workers – perform maintenance on the mine equipment.
My aunt told me that in the 1940s and into the 1950s, on a normal working day my grandfather would catch the 5.03am bus to work. The ponies would have to be prepared ready for the day’s shift and then cleaned, fed and watered at the end of the shift. So a twelve-hour day was normal for my grandfather.
In addition to helping Jack Turner on a Saturday, John and Monty would also take a cart loaded with coal to be delivered around the Kate’s Hill area. My aunt Alice would help too. She would take coal from the cart and take it piece by piece into customers’ homes, placing the pieces in a cupboard at the side of the fireplace, perhaps receiving half a penny as a ‘thank you’.
John Cadman senior owned a plot of land on the corner of Grove Street and Peel Street, which served as a coal yard. He was married to Lilian (nee Edge) and had five children, three boys and two girls. The boys were James, John (junior) and my father, Arthur. The girls were Alice and Lilian.
During Word War Two the Government encouraged people to raise animals and grow vegetables to supplement their food ration. Having spare space in the coal yard my grandfather decided to keep pigs. They were kept in sties at the bottom of the yard but allowed to roam free as often as possible. There were also chickens, and my father grew tomatoes in a couple of ramshackle greenhouses. Heating the greenhouses was no problem being right next door to a coal yard!
The pigs remained long after the war, lasting until 1970, so my aunt said. They were fed with ‘pig swill’ which I thought was pretty unpalatable but the pigs loved it. They certainly grew fat on it. During his time Monty helped too, transporting food waste from Marks and Spencer and other places to be used in the ‘swill’.
Just inside the yard’s gate on Grove Street was a waste bin in which neighbours would place their food waste. They were happy to, because they knew they would be given some offal when a pig was killed. I clearly remember the pigs and my visits ‘down the pit’, and thought there was nothing unusual about it. Only later did I realise that I and my cousins had been rather lucky to have such playgrounds.