Lye Waste: A Very Horrible History

We have all heard of Sawney Bean, the notorious Scottish murderer who was thought to murder and cannibalise travellers. How much of this is truth and how much is folklore or a propaganda plot to denigrate the Scottish, we shall never know. But a less well known tale is the horrible history of Lye Waste. If you have lived in or around Lye for a while, you probably think you know the area well. I thought I did. That is, until I attended a few talks by the Lye Historical Society and started to hear a bit about Lye Waste, only a bit, mind, as no one really seemed to want to talk about it. This aroused my interest and started me looking at the horrible history of Lye Waste. Is this a conspiracy by the people of Lye to hide their less than pleasant history? As a Wooldridge by birth, I know this unpleasant history no doubt is my history too. Before I start, I should point out there is no cannibalism (that we know of) in this tale.So, let's find out more about the very horrible history of Lye Waste.Dan Shaw of the Black Country Bugle said in his review of this book - "Lye Waste: A Very Horrible History by Tracey Jones is a succinct overview of one of the most notorious corners of the Black Country.Lye Waste grew out of a squatter settlement on common land to the east of Lye Cross in the 1650s. Its inhabitants built their homes from the most readily available resource, the clayey mud and the area became known as Mud City. From these mean hovels the Lye Waste people produced nails by the million, working long hours and barely earning enough to keep themselves fed and clothed. Young children and women worked in the nail shops and there are countless stories of the hard conditions and endemic violence of their lives, some of which are recounted by Tracey.Undoubtedly, the most shocking story relating to Lye Waste is the tale of unwanted babies being fed to pigs. Whether the charge is true or not it is impossible to say
perhaps there was one isolated incident, but it was an often told tale."