Short Walk: Saltwells Nature Reserve, Delph Locks and the Batham’s brewery tap.

This is a walk of about 4 miles starting at Cradley Heath station. After a short road walk from the station we enter Saltwells National Nature Reserve, taking in the historical landmark of  Doultons Claypit and the canal feeder Lodge Farm Reservoir, also known as the Netherton Reservoir. The land around and including what we now know as Saltwells National Nature Reserve was owned by The Earl of Dudley. In 1894 a lease was drawn up by Henry Doulton and Company to lease 20 acres of this land from the Earl. Doulton’s Claypit is a result of fireclay extraction by Royal Doulton between 1870 and 1940, which has left behind high exposures of sandstone, clay and coal (Heathen Coal), which belong to the Middle and Lower Coal Measures. From the Claypit the fireclay would be carried, by tub, up an incline, known as the Old Tube Line to the Dudley No.2 Canal and Brewin’s cutting. During the Industrial Revolution the Dudley No.2 Canal formed part of a network that connected the Heart of the Earl of Dudley’s Estate with the Potteries and the rest of the Midlands. We leave the nature reserve and walk into the Merry Hill Shopping Centre, often referred to as the Merry Hell Centre. Here we take a break for coffee and probably cakes then join the Dudley No. 1 Canal, constructed by the engineer Thomas Dadford, and walk down the Delph Locks. The Delph Locks or the Delph Nine are a series of eight (originally nine) narrow canal locks. They were opened in 1779, and reopened in 1967 following restoration of the Dudley Canal and the Stourbridge Canal in a joint venture between the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Society and the British Waterways Board. An iron roving bridge manufactured by Horsley Ironworks stands near the top lock, while the original lock-keeper's house, built in 1779 and modified in the nineteenth century, is a grade II listed structure, as it is one of only a few surviving houses of its type. We leave the canal at the bottom lock and after a short walk we find the Vine Inn (a.k.a. The Bull and Bladder as its lounge bar occupies space that was once a butcher's shop), next door to the Bathams Brewery, a firm Black Country (and wider) favourite. With its quotation from Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verone “Blessing of Your Heart: You Brew Good Ale”, set out across the front of the building, this pub has become part of Black Country folklore. The terrazzo tiling in various areas, including the front bar, passageways, and ladies' room, is a key feature, contributing to the pub's historic atmosphere. After refreshment we return to Birmingham. It is a walk of just over a mile, or catch the X10 or 4M bus from near the pub, back to the station for frequent trains or stay on the X10 bus back to town.