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Essington
Essington maps
Historic maps of Essington and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Essington maps
Essington area books
Displaying 1 of 4 books about Essington and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Essington
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Essington.
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or of a photo of Essington.
Schools
I was five and walked down this road to the infants school on the left (you can just see the school railings). My future primary school (St Johns) is in the old building to the right. There was a little sweet shop on the left (out of shot ) where we all rushed to get our halfpenny's worth of 'SUCK'. At the bottom left past the car is the HAUNTED vicarage that put the willys up me on dark stormy wintry mornings. I was only just turned five and could safely walk to school and home in this quiet village.
Hells Angels in The Box
I'm not sure if the box was still in use in 1965. I remember it better about five years later when Hells Angels used it as a type of den. We (a few mates and I) used to walk the railway line from the pithead to Broad Lane playing fields, we always had a nosey into the box as it was pretty derelict by then (aged about 10). I see it now and can't believe how well the owners have restored it and converted it into a lovely home. I think only goods (coal etc) used the line and it has long been removed along with the pit it served.
Key Factory
The long low building to the rear of the picture I remember as the Key factory (Huffs), my mom worked there for some time and we would rush to meet her on payday to get our treat. It was one of the few places in Essington to employ women and is still there now I believe... To the right of the Key factory (out of shot) was the Scout hut, then the pit and the doctors surgery.
Miitre Pub/signal Box
Just past the signal box on the left over the motorway bridge is the Mitre Pub. Many happy evenings were spent there on hot summer nights with my parents. I remember Vimto through a straw and Smiths crisps with the blue salt wrap inside, and playing in the high fenced gardens there. Mom would enthrall us all with tales of how they laid out the miners on the table in the back room, then the long walk back up the hill singing our heads off...
THE FIRST INDIAN I EVER MET
MY MOTHER WAS BORN ON HAYWOODS CORNER THELMA BEARDSMORE SHE MOVED TO GANDY RD WHERE I WENT TO SCHOOL AT PERRY HALL BEFORE LEAVING PERRY HALL MY MOM AND DAD MOVED BACK TO ESSINGTON FOUR DOORS FROM THE CHAPEL ON THE ESSINGTON RD THE FIRST INDIAN I EVER MET WAS MY TEACHER AT PERRY HALL MRS SYAL THIS LADY IS A WONDERFULL PERSON WHO I TOOK TO LIKE MY SECOND MOTHER ON MOVING BACK TO ESSINGTON IT TURNS OUT MY ASIAN MOTHER LIVED IN THE VERY HOUSE WHERE MY MOTHER WAS BORN THIS WAS VERY ODD BECAUSE WHERE I WAS SAT IN MRS SYALS HOUSE EATING A BIRTHDAY CAKE SHE HAD MADE FOR ME THIS WAS THE VERY HOUSE MY GRANDPARENTS LIVED SO LONG AGO UNKNOWING TO ME THE LITTLE INDIAN GIRL SAT NEXT TO ME WAS MEERA SYAL I WAS DRIVING FOR A BUILDERS MERCHANTS 15 YEARS AGO AND HAD A LOAD TO GO TO WALSALL I PULLED UP OUT SIDE THE ADDRESS AND GOT OUT OF... Read more
West Midlands memories
Norton East Road
I was born in Norton East Road and left Staffordshire in 1969 to live with my family in Cambridgeshire. I visit Norton often to see aunts and uncles living in Norton Canes and Heath Hayes. I am in contact with Ann Jones (now Ann Armishaw) and June Anderson (now June Smith) who were my friends from school.
I have photos in my home of St James Church where my great grandfather sang in the choir and the Methodist Chapel at the top of Norton East Road. SUCH HAPPY MEMORIES.
Journals in The College
My grandfather, W. W. Share, was a mining engineer who worked at Walsall Wood Colliery. After he died, his mining engineering journals were transferred to the college.
