Report - Jubilee Works, Cradley Heath, June 2015

[TranKmasT]

Couldn't find any history on the Jubilee Works site, or why it was called that. Shows it on Googlemaps as that. The last two company addresses on there are Holtite that specialise in cranes and lifting equipment and more famously Isaiah Preston anchor manufactures.
Although manufacture appears to of seized along time ago , their offices seem to be still being used in some capacity.


http://www.blackcountrybugle.co.uk/...aiah-Preston/story-20146542-detail/story.html

Model or pattern of an anchor believed to be from either Joseph Wright of Tipton or Noah Hingley of Netherton. Noah Hingley introduced anchor making to the Black Country in 1848. Within a few years the Black Country was renowned for the quality of its anchors. In 1867, G.H. Parkes of Tipton supplied the anchor for Brunel's massive steam ship, The Great Eastern and by 1905 there were fourteen anchor manufacturers in the region. In 1911 Noah Hingley made the anchor for the ill-fated Titanic which sank on its maiden voyage the following year while Samuel Taylor of Brierly Hill forged the anchors for several famous Cunard liners and the royal yacht, Britannia, launched in 1953. The last wrought iron anchor-maker in the Black Country, Isaiah Preston of Cradley Heat, closed in 1979 and some of their equipment is now preserved at the Black Country Living Museum.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/AxCS3uzNS6mJDhuUW0tX-g

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The remains of a track of somekind.

This one I remember as the titanic design one.

What a load of old anchors

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Christ knows what these were for. Unless a "poppers" production was a sideline.

 

[Speed]

That's really great. Was only saying the other day we had run out of things to check out around here!

 

[host]

nice work, i bet this gets lots of attention..

 

[dweeb]

Fantastic find!

I did a foundry in Walsall that made anchors, funny how the west midlands was such a hub of anchor manufacture being so land locked!

 

[jST]

That's tremendous mate, really well done.

 

[drhowser]

That's really nice! Cant beat a bit of old machinery.

 

[Camera Shy]

Very nice indeed. Looks like a great find and sweet pics matey.

 

[clebby]

Outstanding find

 

[TranKmasT]

Thanks lads. There was a lot of industry along that stretch of road.

Heres another one of those wooden replica sections.

 

[bubblehead]

Was looking round there earlier this year, for entrance into a large air raid shelter that's somewhere underneath it. Not found it yet though.

 

[Dave W]

Nice site!.
Other end of woods lane just behind the station there was another chain manufactuers (griffin woodhouse?) which we did part of around 6 years ago and it was on the cusp between live and mothballed - offices had wi-fi and lights on but the forge sheds were either used very irregulary or had just closed. maybe worth a look if someones over that way?
thought this was the same place as it looks identical but more derelict but looking at streetview its just down the road.

Dave

 

[Speed]

Yeh, we noticed that one too but the modern gates are a give away its still live. This one isn't exactly derelict either tho

 

[Ojay]

Moar new stuff for the derpers to run around

Cheers for sharing

 

[Oxygen Thief]

That's a nice find. The anchors and anchor patterns a nice connection with the history of course.

 

[Dave W]

Yeh, we noticed that one too but the modern gates are a give away its still live. This one isn't exactly derelict either tho

Transformers out the back had been pikeyed and some of what we got in was properly derelict back then - mostly the stuff nearest the railway line I think everything the other side of the offices was in use.

This one looks like half the forging gear is probably still in use tbh - these places tend to run sporadically doing batch orders and dont exactly look maintained even whilst theyre being used!