Rocket Pools, Bradley

[rpadam]

Possibly one for Soup Dragon or Delboy 20, but does anybody know how the Rocket Pools (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/37424/), or rather the eponymous lake opposite the pub, got its curious name (as I've drawn a blank on Google, which is rather unusual)?

[Delboy20]

Good question!
Honest answer is that I have no idea - I do know a couple of people that used to live over that way so I will try to find out next time I see them.

I am willing to bet that Soupy will come through on this one though - over to you …..

[Soup Dragon]

Possibly one for Soup Dragon or Delboy 20, but does anybody know how the Rocket Pools (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/37424/), or rather the eponymous lake opposite the pub, got its curious name (as I've drawn a blank on Google, which is rather unusual)?

Hi rpa, kind of.... opinion is divided on this even amongst the locals.

The whole area was a mix of mines and iron workings. I thought it may have been like the neighbouring Fiery Holes pub, which was named after either the actual iron furnaces or, so I believe, from the smoke that bellowed from the shafts when there was a fire underground which seemed to be even more common there than other places.

The Pools were formed by 1900 (one by the 1880s), and I know they were called the Rocket Pools in the 1930s.

When I asked the locals about the name I got two other possibilities - showing that the truth is perhaps lost now. The first was that it was the name of one shaft or the engine that powered it. I found no proof of this. The other was that it came from the Rocket plant that grew around the pools. I assume it was a wild plant, as the name Rocket seems to be given to several plants, but there were allotment gardens next to the pool back in 1900. The estate is 1960s, so all traces of the plant may have been removed when the pools were landscaped then.

I hope this was interesting if not conclusive!

[Mobyduck]

Rocket is an annual plant that freely seeds itself around, its leaves are used in salads so the allotment theory could hold some water.

[rpadam]

I hope this was interesting if not conclusive!
Indeed! Many thanks.

[Delboy20]

I knew he would have an answer for you ….

[rpadam]

I rather like the idea that somebody was making a play on words - if Moxley can have its 19th-century sounding Fiery Holes (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/37405/) (as was), then Bradley could surely tart up a manky old industrial pond to have a shiny new 20th-century Rocket Pool...