The landscape of my childhood was a small town
in the Black Country called The Lye, a haphazard collection of narrow streets
and small houses which had grown up more or less at random during the industrialisation
of the area in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A severe redevelopment
scheme in the sixties swept away a great deal of its character but I'm happy
that I grew up in the place before it changed so much.
It was inevitable that the
current fashion for books of old photographs of one town or another should
eventually reach The Lye, and Sutton Publishing Ltd have produced a fine
collection "Britain In Old Photographs: Lye And Wollescote" which
not only reproduces some of my father's photos but has a nice picture of
him too. The book is by Denys Brooks (sadly now deceased) and Pat Dunn,
and the ISBN is 0750916575. I heartily recommend it to you. And many thanks
to Ruth, for bringing it to my attention.
Over the years I have written here and there about various obscure aspects
of The Lye as I knew it. I hope to make some of my musings accessible on
this site. Here is what you can see so far:
The Temp Cinema
There are also my Dad's memoirs for you to read.
There isn't a lot on the Web about The Lye, I'm afraid, but for a good general site on the Black Country go to The Black Country Pages.
BACK to Pigs Can Fly
March 4th 2003