THE LYE

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

Monarch Works

The Top Chapel Organ

The Swinger

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