Woodway Lane and Potters Green

Elsewhere I've related my memories of my great grandfather, Joe Dyson, who was apparently quite an athlete in his day. He and his wife lived in a tiny old house - I believe an old miners' house off the "tramway" along an arm of the canal off Deedmore Road. In my teens, I used to go jogging along the tramway - by then just a coal-dust road, with "clod banks" all around. His daughter, May Bicknell, and her husband Les, lived not far away in Townsend Cottage between the two hump bridges on Deedmore Rd. All of this is now long gone, but I found an 1887 map of the area and a 1926 map of the same area. Interesting that in 1926, Deedmore Road is known as Colliery Lane. Does anyone else have memories of around that part of the world. 1887 1926

Hi gangan. My wife and I bought 42 Woodway Lane in early 1981 which is just 8 doors up from the old WMC. The building was still standing when we moved in to the house in the September of 81. Not long after the building was demolished - unbeknown to us the local residents had long complained to Hall Bros, the owners of the old club building, that it was overrun with rats so Robert Hall eventually demolished it to stop all the hastle from the local residents. When I got to know the neighbours they told me that Halls had offered them £1,000 for 3 metres of garden to build a service road, they also offered to build a garage for each house but they all refused because of the rat fiasco. As a builder I was a bit gutted to say the least, also I used the new club on Sunday lunchtimes. I used to go up with a couple of neighbours, one of which was called Reg Plumb, who used the old club. I`ll always remember him as his membership number was 3, he was in his late 70s then, so just wondering if the name rings any bells from the old club as he used to talk fondly of it

Fascinating, that area has changed so much - I read a description of it from the 1950s/1960s where it was described as being cluttered up with old railway lines and industrial buildings. Looking on Google Earth, I can see absolutely no indications of the canal basin and the remains of any railway line - no earthworks or anything showing that there was something else there. There are lots of paths in the area. Are any of these based on the former route of the mineral railway? It seems some of the paths ARE on the route of this railway

As so often happens on this forum, posts coincide with ongoing research. Using research from the late Laurence Fretwell I have been working on the Wyken group of pits which were in the Deedmoor Road/Woodway Lane area. One of which was the Alexandra and was linked with the Wyken and Craven pits. The sketch maps show the relationship between the pits and the line of the railway from the LNWR line. When complete the research will be part of a new mining exhibition at Bedworth Heritage Centre planned for early spring. The sketch maps drawn by Laurence Fretwell give an appreciation of where the pits were situated.

Thanks for that heritage. I used to use the Boat Inn in Deedmore Road occasionally and someone in there told me the canal ran at the back of the pub years ago, which I couldn't see why at the time, but your maps prove it now. Apologies to old Jim at the Boat, you were right

If you turn right from Ringwood Highway into Shilton Lane, almost opposite (at the left of the first bungalow) you will see some trees behind railings. This was the canal arm to the colliery. The colliery basin is still in use by a canal society but was linked through another basin to the main canal (under the M6). You can also see where the canal arm used to go behind the gardens, on the opposite side of Shilton Lane.

Hi all The "old canal arm" was still in situ, even after the housing estate around Felton Close was built, but I believe that a local petition after a drowning tragedy resulted in the arm being filled in. The iron footbridge, which crossed the arm junction at Woodway Lane, now crosses the Sherbourne near to Spon End. Some of the Alex working tunnels may still be hollow & flooded as at one time, local residents reported of hearing ghostly noises, even when they have not just come home from the pub. Changing water levels may force air from one cavity to another. Thank you all for your posts on this fascinating piece of local history. Please keep it coming & correct me if I am mistaken.

More info here at Coventry Walks

Does anybody remember the old Co-op in Woodway Lane?

If it was opposite Henley Road, yep...

Now one of the thousands of betting shops!!

Heritage, hi, now the map on 20 I think is slightly out, I believe the old canal extended over Woodway Lane, there were two cottages stood facing the canal, sideways on to the road. I'm hazy about what was next but then there was a bit of the old canal and next to was Lesters wood yard, ran back from the road alongside the old canal, not sure how far away stood the little school, I believe the graveyard was opposite the wood yard. I would visit the wood yard with my dad, he bought plywood tea chests at sixpence each to make toys, and we carried them back along the railway to Tusses Bridge. Now Johnnie Walker, hi, I think next to Dysons the Wyken Cottages were attached, they woke up one morning to find a bottomless pit outside their front door about ten yards across, it was about two inches away from the front corner of the building, frightened me, think sometime in the middle thirties, shouldn't be hard to check out. I posted this on the Slough thread. Now somebody like to help me out, who owned The Jolly Colliers about 1880?

According to the Real Ale Rambles site, the licensee in 1879 was Enoch Simpson and in 1888 it was Thomas Simpson

Kaga, the only remaining sign of that railway is a level crossing gate post. It stands at the back of the pavement, on Woodway Lane, and was reinstated after the nearby houses were built a few years ago.

Hi Kaga I'm pleased to see someone remembers the Dysons! I have vague memories of the Christmas parties there in the very late 1940s, although I could have been only two or three years old. The little cottage packed out with people, and my great grandfather Joe's sports trophies on the sideboard along with some impressive crockery. There was an old lady living next door - whose name I've forgotten - I will remember it if prompted. She sent me a birthday card when I was around seven or eight, and I commented on her scrawly handwriting, only to be quite rightly rebuked because she was then in her nineties, I believe. As for the Colliers, I think my uncle tried to "own it" when he was in his teens, their products being one of his favourite investments but that would have been in the mid-1950s.