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Askew Bridge
Askew Bridge and the watercourse has distinguished the boundary between the two parishes of Lower Gornal and Himley, and in recent times the division of the county of Staffordshire with West Midlands.
1827-July; one of the earliest reports of a fatality in the pools.
DEATH BY DROWNING
An inquest was held on Friday, the 13th instant, at Gornall Wood, in this county, on Joseph Wynch, a collier, who was drowned while bathing in Askew Bridge Pool.
Askew is where Straits Brook, locally called 'Bobs' Brook, under-passes the main Himley-Dudley Road.
Although there is not much to see now, this was the site of the large pools upstream of Coppice Mill which formed either side of the main turnpike road, many drownings have occurred here in the past.
See:- Old News Page
The pools are now drained, just a marshy hollow remains, and only during floods do we see much water accumulate here these days.
Askew Bridge Pool - North side (site of) 2023.
On the Himley side of the brook there were pits and a colliery belonging to the Earl of Dudley, as well as a 'tramway' from Straits Green Colliery.
The lane leading to the famous Crooked House pub is on the opposite side to the Toll House, so this was quite a busy corner of the Parish.
In the 17th Century, Dud Dudley is said to have set up a furnace for a new process of smelting iron using pit coal in the fields and woods near Askew Bridge.
The furnace bellows were likely powered by water from these pools.
Another notable feature of this spot is the old Askew Bridge Toll House, one of the few Toll Houses that still exist in the area, it is now a private dwelling.
1864: The Observer, 22 October
LOWER GORNAL
    A SUPPOSED SUICIDE,—On Tuesday, Mr. Phillips, the deputy coroner, made an enquiry at the Bush Inn into the cause of the death of a man named Major Flavel, who was found under singular circumstances drowned in Askew Bridge Pool, at this place, on Monday morning. It appeared that on the side of the pool the deceased was found, there was no road or traffic, but on the Monday morning some men who were employed at hedging passed that way, and observed a "billycock" on the water, at a very shallow part of the pool, and afterwards discovered the body of deceased close by. It seams that, for some time past, has been ailing, and has been rather melancholy. He left his home in Kingswinford on Saturday last, and had not since been heard of until the time he was found. There was no evidence to show the manner in which the deceased fell into the water. The Jury returned an open verdict.

Askew Bridge Toll House.
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this aye fur noggin yeds

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