Category Skidmore

19th Century Working Lives, Amblecote, Brierley Hill, Coal Mining, Crime & Punishment, Skidmore

Killed in a Coal Pit

My great great grandfather's brother, John Skidmore, was just 13 years old when he was killed with four others in a coal mining accident at Clattershall Colliery, located between Stourbridge and Brierley Hill in the Black Country. How did the accident happen? Was anybody held accountable?

19th Century Working Lives, Amblecote, Firebricks, Skidmore

Another Brick in the Wall

Brettell Lane, Amblecote in the Black Country was a transportation hub with interconnecting road, waterway and railway links and once a centre of the firebrick industry due to the fine quality of its clay. Bricks were made by hand by women and girls who worked long hours in exhausting conditions.