Broad Street was formerly known as Rotten's
Row which was named after the Rotten family who lived at Oxley Manor. It was
later known as Lower Lichfield Street and became Canal Street after the
opening of the canal. In the early 18th Century the Quakers built a meeting
house and burial ground here. The open space on the corner of Westbury
Street marks the site of the burial ground. During the mid 1970's many of
the buildings in the lower half of the street were demolished to make way
for the building of the ring road. The photographs which follow were taken
during this period.
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Almost a third of Broad Street disappeared as work on
the ring road progressed. The bottom of Railway Street can still
be seen on the left. |
| The Union Inn and old canal bridge in October 1973. The
Inn was well kept by the Bloor family and must have changed very little
both internally and externally during its long life. Mr Bloor also ran a
small business from the pub repairing juke boxes. The British Waterways
building on the right was originally a warehouse on the side of the
Shropshire Union Wharf. |
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The Union Inn in April 1974 just before demolition. The
building to its right was the first railway station to be built in the
centre of town. It was built by the Shrewsbury & Birmingham Railway and
was designed by Edward Banks. It opened on 12th November 1849 and had a
single platform on top of the railway embankment which was accessed by a
walkway down to the station. It closed when the high Level station
opened on 24th June 1852. |
| The size of the railway station can be seen from the
remaining walls that were left after the first stage of demolition.
After closure it became a chapel and then served as a stables for the
canal company. In its final years it was used by Dent and Partners
Limited who were builders, and Midland Painting Ltd. |
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The view from St Peter's Church tower looking down Broad
Street in June 1975. At this time the Union Inn and old railway station
had finally disappeared and work was well underway on Broad Street
Basin. The old Vine Inn, now the Hoggs Head, can be seen on the corner
of Broad Street. In those days buses still ran into Wulfruna Street as
can be seen in the foreground. |
| The old canal bridge just before removal. It initially
was placed in store but eventually was moved to the Black Country Museum
where it is now an important feature of the black country village. |
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Broad Street basin in June 1975. The pile of rubble on
the left is all that remains of the Union Inn. On the right is the
entrance to Victoria Basin which led to the Great Western Railway's
goods depot. |
| The new bridge was to be built to the immediate right of
the old bridge and so the canal had to be diverted. Work on this was
underway when the photograph was taken. The Chubb building in the
background still had its original out-buildings at this time. It was
later to be redeveloped when the lighthouse cinema was built. |
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A temporary canal bridge was erected during the
construction of the new bridge. At this time the canal had been diverted
and the old bridge was nearing the end of this phase of its life. |
| The original canal under the old bridge is now
filled-in. The canal opened in 1792 and was surveyed and engineered by
James Brindley. Much of the money for the Wolverhampton section came
from the Molineux family who by then had moved into banking. |
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The temporary canal bridge. |
| When the new canal bridge had been completed the old one
was finally removed. The original course of the canal can be seen from
the pile of earth that now covers it. |
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Broad Street Basin from the new bridge.
At this time it is still a scene of dereliction but that will soon
change. The area behind the wall on the right was the old Hay Basin. It
was served from a siding off the main railway line on the embankment
above, which ran down to it. |
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