Local Archaeological Projects

The next meeting of the Society takes place on Thursday 8th May at 7:30 pm in St. Andrew's Church, Bilston Street, Sedgley.

The very short Annual General Meeting was intended to be followed by a presentation featuring local excavations by Wolverhampton Archaeological Group [WAG].

Unfortunately the speaker was not in attendence, however a visitor, Colin Pearson a metal detectorist, stepped into the breach and was 'interviewed' by Elaine Bouckley, SLHS secretary. Colin showed and talked about his finds made over forty years of detecting. Discoveries included a Bronze Age spear head, some jewellery, and English and Roman coins.

Admission is £2 – exact amount appreciated.

2025 – Spring Teaser Answer

The car in the the foreground was built by one of the most famous Black Country firms.

We asked if you could can name the manufacturer.

A. Harper, Sons & Bean Ltd was located in Hurst Lane, Tipton a quarter of a mile outside the Sedgley Manor boundary. Here Bean chassis were assembled and engines fitted on an electrically powered assembly line - the first British car to be made on a moving track.

The skeleton cars were tested on an adjacent half mile circuit before being driven 2 miles to the Waddam's Pool factory in Dudley for bodies to be fitted.

The 1925 Bean 14 Tourer glimpsed in the picture can be seen at the Black Country Living Museum. The maximum speed was 50mph with a comfortable cruising speed of 30 to 35mph.

Sadly the spotlight only shone on Bean cars for a decade from 1919 to 1929 although the name lingered on as Bean Industries and then Bean Engineering until final closure in 1994.