We spent the day at the Black Country Living Museum. Very nice place; the local town is especially impressive with it's actor/inhabitants. Like most of these places they gouge you on the extras, I went for a pint in the Pub, bitter, mild and cider only, and was gobsmacked to be charged £3.00 for a pint.
This was as nothing to the mark up on soft rinks, a small glass of lemonade, less than 1/2 pint, was £1.20!
The Bottle and Glass Inn originally stood on Brierley Hill Road, Brockmore, backing onto the canal at the Stourbridge Flight of 16 locks. It was probably built shortly after the canal was cut. A map of 1822 shows the Bush public house but by the 1840s it was known as the Bottle and Glass. A .pdf doc with more info is contained in this link The pub was built with two large rooms fronting the street. The back room was a later addition and the join between the two phases of construction can clearly be seen. The front of the pub was altered in the 1870s, and the wooden seating and partitions date from these alterations.
The canal trip was particularly memorable because it was through the tunnels that, in part, made up the underground canal network of the Black Country. The underground tunnels would suddenly open up into exposed basins in the rocks that were festooned with plant life and quite beautiful. The limestone caves were also very impressive. Canals were the lifeline of Black Country industry in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The canal tunnels under the limestone hills in the area are some of the longest in the country. The horses that drew the narrow boats could not go into the tunnels so that boats had to be legged through which was pretty tiring work - even for the fittest person (Nat and Han both had a go at legging the boat, in fact they were the only two people on board who did. The other kids parents wouldn't let them try).Another memorable exhibit was the old school,
where we were all treated to the extremes of 19th Century primary education. We were taught by a very severe school marm who we were required to address as Marm.
We were seated at our desks with traditional slate on slate boards on which to write. Various persons were pulled out of class and made to stand at the front as "Marm" demonstrated the various rewards and punishments that were administered in the class rooms of the period. We had to write and H and an R on our boards and those who did these the best were called out to the front, Han was one of those called. Deb and Nat sat at the back and were ignored but I was not. As class was about to end I, along with others, was called out, to the front, to be punished for my transgressions. Marm saved me until last, apparently I was the naughtiest boy in class, having been seen in the company of a young lady who wasn't my sister amongst other things. I had to bend over and have my bottom caned, by Marm, in front of the whole class. To think, in the past, I've paid good money to have that kind of thing done to me, if only I'd known!!!!
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