| AdminHistory | This extension to the Dudley Canal, runs from Parkhead Junction, with the Dudley Canal Line No.1, to Coombeswood. The canal originally went on to join the Worcester & Birmingham Canal at Selly Oak, Birmingham, via the 3,795 yard long Lappal Tunnel. This section of the canal is today closed, although it is line for sympathetic restoration. |
| The business started in 1641 when Michael Grazebrook went into business at Stourbridge. In 1730 they controlled a glass-works at Stourbridge, a mill and forge at Halesowen and a colliery at Coseley. The third Michael Grazebrook (1723-1766) started iron production instead of glass. His son Michael (1758-1826) moved to Netherton in 1800 and the firm was re-named after his two sons, Michael (died 1838) and William. A new brick blast furnace was built and the forge sold. In 1860 the Glassworks was disposed of, and the Netherton ironworks connected to the railway. John Grazebrook went to study in Paris in 1848. He invented many machine and hand tools. Francis Grazebrook (1856-1945) took over the firm and streamlined and modernised it. In 1914, a new company M. & W. Grazebrook Limited was formed. Cold blast pig iron and heavy fabrications have been the company's main products, but during the Second World War (1939-1945) they manufactured 8,000lb and 12,000lb 'Blockbuster' bombs. By 1968 the Grazebrook family no longer owned the company which had become part of the Hingley Group. |