n January 1917 a meeting of the Birmingham Philosophical and Natural History Society discussed a number of pre-historic mammal bones found in the Mill Meadow Sandpit at Amblecote. These were by no means the first such remains found in the area, the sand-pits having turned up similar objects ever since they were opened. A description of the meeting was printed in the County Express of January 27th 1917, and is reproduced below. Unfortunately the whereabouts of the bones, along with others displayed at one time in Stourbridge Library, is now unknown, but their recovery from the sandstone deposits of the early river Stour backs up the theory that the Stour Valley was once a migration route for pre-historic mammals and that, quite likely, the first human inhabitants were drawn here by their presence. There must inevitably be further remains still within the thick sandstone of the area north of the Stour, although whether modern re-developers would be as sympathetic to their discovery and recovery as the owners of the sand deposits ninety years ago is a moot point.

Mammalian Remains
The Important Find at Amblecote

At the last weeks meeting of the Birmingham Philosophical and Natural History Society Professor W. Bolton described the mammalian remains found in the Mill Meadow Sandpit, Amblecote and which had been described by experts at the British Museum to comprise the following: portions of a molar of elephas primogenicus (mammoth), interior portion of jugul arch and second right metacarpal of rhinoceros, canine of hippopotamus, teeth of bison, centum of dorsal vertebrae of bison, centum of dorsal vertebrae of a large deer, teeth and phalange of a horse. The method of occurrence of the prehistoric remains was fully described, and it was shown that large quantities of the materials in which they were embedded might have come from the higher regions of the Stour, but associated with them is an Arenig glacial boulder, which must have come from the Arenig mountains of Wales.                                                
Professor Boulton’s paper will in due course be published in the proceedings of the Society. At the meeting Mr. John Humphries of Birmingham presided and the discussion was opened by Mr. W. Wickham King of Stourbridge. Mr King paid tribute to the keenness and interest Mr. T.C.Clavey had taken in looking for the bones in the course of the performance of his duties whilst getting sand, and also of the very kind way in which Mr. G. Gould, the lessee of the pit, had facilitated the search.