Search to find a use for a slice of history

Dec 5 2006 By Steve Johnson, Birmingham Mail

FAMILIES are being urged to put on their thinking caps to give a new lease of life to protected buildings at one of the most historically important sites in the Black Country.

The former Foster, Rastrick and Co foundry in Lowndes Road, Stourbridge, has stood empty since 2004 when production stopped.

Now the West Midlands Historic Buildings Trust is calling on anyone with ideas on how the buildings can be used to come forward with suggestions.

Project director David Trevis-Smith said the name Foster and Rastrick had a place in the record books for having manufactured in 1829 the first steam locomotive in America, the Stourbridge Lion.

The foundry building and others on the site were also of national importance for the architectural merit of their design, he said.

"There are a total of five listed buildings on site, including a canal-side dry dock with workshops, and the former foundry manager's house.

"The site itself also holds archeological importance in explaining the significance of the river and adjacent canal to the early development of Stourbridge town itself.

"However the demise of the foundry business has created an uncertain future for all of these historic buildings, included on the English Heritage buildings at risk register," he said.

Mr Trevis-Smith said that the Trust was calling on anyone with ideas on how the buildings could be returned to a sustainable use to put forward their ideas.

The Trust, a registered charity, has recently completed a project to rescue the former Harris and Pearson office building in Brierley Hill and is hoping to secure the futures of Corngreaves Hall in Cradley Heath and Lye and Wollescote Cemetery Chapels.

Anyone with any ideas for the future use of the Foster and Rastrick buildings can write to Mr Trevis-Smith at the Trust, in Canal Street, Stourbridge DY8 4LU or phone 01527 465260.