Photograph courtesy of the British Geological Survey P201906
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.
The start date of the lease was the 31st December 1894, so this may be considered the start of Doulton’s Claypit, although the Earl of Dudley, the Doulton company and others were extracting clay, marl and coal before this date from this and surrounding areas. For example, the Doulton’s had a pre-existing lease for the coal from an indenture (contract) dated 15th November 1885, so actual exploitation of these raw materials had started much earlier.
The South Staffordshire thick coal is referred to as the 23 feet thick seam or thick coal. This is the coal the Doulton’s (and others) were extracting from the indenture 15th November 1885. This is interesting as the Staffordshire thick coal has been recorded as being up to 30 feet thick (9 metres) in other areas. This coal was probably used by the Doulton company to fuel the kilns and furnaces of their nearby factory. There were many other brickworks and industries close by that would also use this valuable coal. The Staffordshire thick coal exposed in this area had been exploited possibly from medieval times.
The lease gave Henry Doulton & Co the right to extract clay, fire clay, coal, shale and some ironstone from below the thick coal. Rates of payment were agreed for each ton of material extracted.
The materials were removed from the claypit up a series of inclines via narrow gauge rails or tub lines. The tubs were roughly waist high and held about one cubic yard of material, weighting approximately 1.5 tons (over 1500kg). The tub lines in the claypit were temporary and easily moved to suit where the clay and other materials were being extracted from. The tubs were manually moved from the workface to the main inclines, where they were attached to a rope or wire pulley system and pulled out of the claypit up to the Winding or Engine House, then onto the double tramway up to the canal. The remains of the Engine House above the claypit suggests there were two sets of winding gear to move the tubs powered by a steam engine. At this time information about the Engine House is sparse and more research is required. It was made of engineering and blue brick and had a chimney lined with firebricks made by E J & J Pearson, Stourbridge.
The waste material was dumped a few metres to the West, producing a flat-topped spoil heap now known as Tabletop. The clay, fire clay and possibly coal were transported up the tub line or tramway to the Dudley No2 canal.
There was another lease for 3 acres of land to form the tramway, basin and wharf with access to the canal from the clay pit. The tramway consisted of a double line of rails with a siding, again leased from the Earl of Dudley by the Doulton Co. The tramway from the claypit led to a wharf known as the No1 Saltwells Canal Basin on the Dudley No2 Canal. The tramway and wharf were built and owned by the Earl of Dudley. The Doulton’s were to load and unload the tubs and provide the canal narrowboats. The Earl of Dudley was to provide and maintain the railway, siding and tubs. Doulton’s were charged a fee per ton for this service. It is possible that a second engine house stood at the top of the double tramway near to the canal basin. This would have been used to pull the full tubs up to the canal basin and lower the empty tubs back down the incline to the Engine House at the claypit head.
On the 1904 Ordnance Survey map the area is labelled Saltwells clay field. The Engine House, incline of the tramway, it passing under the road and a second building near the canal basin are all shown.
Plans predating 1904, held in Dudley’s Archives, show the line of the tramway (tub line). There is no indication of whether the tramway crossed the road (now Highbridge Road) or passed under it. The lease mentions “not restricting passage along the road”, suggesting a tunnel under the road as shown on the 1904 OS map. The plans show the No1 Saltwells canal basin. It was long enough for 2 narrowboats end to end and 3 narrowboats wide. At the entrance was an arched bridge allowing continued access along the towpath. What is now Brewin’s cutting is shown as a tunnel. Netherton reservoir is marked. The area of the claypit is marked with a railway to the South before the buildings of the Salt wells.
Permission was given for the claypit water to be drained into the stream flowing into Cradley Pool. The water must have been pumped out, because no evidence exists of a channel or culvert from the claypit to the brook.
The Doulton company was extracting clay, marl and coal in other areas before 1894 to feed the Springfield and other works in Dudley and Smethwick. As these supplies became limited or exhausted the Doulton’s Claypit (DCP) at Saltwells became an increasingly important source of clay and marl for the company.
The Doulton Pipe Works at Springfield, Rowley Regis opened in 1848, located on the Dudley No2 canal. Originally, the Springfield works first took clay from the local area at The Knowle by inclined plane to the works. As factory demand increased and local supplies dwindled, the search for raw material widened, leading to the opening of DCP shortly after the December 1894 lease was agreed.
From the start the Springfield works specialised in ceramic pipes for water supplies and sewers, referred to as ceramic sanitaryware. This has probably led to some confusion with sanitaryware such as toilets and basins. The Springfield works also made industrial stoneware, ceramics, architectural pieces and terracotta tiling but not toilets and basins. The clay from DCP was used to make salt glazed pipes of various sizes.
During the 19th century there was a massive drive to improve the health and sanitation of the country, especially in rapidly expanding industrial areas such as the Black Country. Clean water and modern sewer systems were a key part of these improvements. Salt glazed clay pipes were in huge demand and the Doulton company expanded to meet this demand.
The distance from DCP to the Springfield works along the canal is just under 2 miles. Old photographs show the clay being moved by narrowboat. Early narrowboats were horse drawn then later paired narrowboats were used, a powered narrowboat with an unpowered butty narrowboat towed behind. It would have taken less than an hour to reach the pipe works from the Saltwells No1 canal basin.
The Springfield works closed in 1979 and an industrial estate was built on the site, The Doulton Trading Estate, Doulton Road, B65 8JQ.
From the 1890s to the 1940s work continued extracting the clay. The work was mainly done by hand, other than the tub line winch few powered machines were used. The materials were sorted at the face of the claypit. The waste, called overburden and interburden was removed from the face and dumped in the old workings or removed to be dumped on the spoil heap.
The working claypit attracted interest from many geologists at the time, much as it does today. In 1916 Dr Robert Kidston a leading palaeobotanist identified, recorded and photographed many of the plant fossils found in the claypit. Photographs taken in 1921 by John Rhodes from the British Geological Survey show teams of 4-5 men working with picks and shovels extracting the materials and loading the tubs. A number of tub lines spread across the working faces like a spider’s web, linking various extraction points to the winch line and then on to the Engine House. The work was hard and physically demanding. In the 1920s it was not unusual to work 10 hours per shift, 6 days a week.
Like many working clay pits, records of the pit floor were not well kept as it changed so often. As a result, the layout over the time of the workings is difficult to accurately relay. The 1921 OS map shows a pattern of 6 double tub lines radiating from the Engine House, three into different areas of the claypit, one to the spoil heap, one to the tramway and one linking to another clay field to the South East. In addition, three single track lines are shown in the workings of the claypit itself. With careful viewing, the course and direction of these lines can still be seen today.
Although work probably stopped at DCP in the early 1940s, the end of the final lease appears to be 24th June 1948. This is the end of Doulton’s claypit as a working claypit and it is abandoned. (more research needed).
Local people referred to Doulton’s claypit as the Marl hole, with reports of three pools at its base. One deep pool was blue in colour with steep slippery sides. In the 1950s and 1960s local people often swam in these pools. They were often and rightly considered dangerous and children were warned against entering the Marl hole by their parents. If it was found out they had disobeyed this instruction the consequences were often quite severe. The slippery, greyish clay stuck to hands, knees and clothes probably gave the game away.
In the 1960s after at least one person, a young schoolboy, drowned in the marl hole Dudley Council decided to fill in the pools and raise the ground level to where it is today.
The Engine House and chimney at the top of the claypit were demolished or fell down in the 1960s. This, like many other interesting places in the reserve, needs much more future study.
In the 1980s, Saltwells Local Nature Reserve was formed and the floor of Doulton’s claypit was redesigned with a stream, small weirs, ponds and wetlands. In 1986 Doulton’s Claypit became the first designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in the reserve. The second, the Brewin’s Canal section which includes the tub line, became an SSSI in 1990. Today it is an important part of the UNESCO Black Country Geopark and Saltwells National Nature Reserve.
If you are interested in finding out more or wish to check the source information a full record of the references used has been kept.
Les Drinkwater, November 2020.
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