Monday 23 September 2002.

At six minutes to one o'clock in the morning an earthquake struck the central region of England.

Britain is not a place normally associated with earthquakes, and at 4.8 Richter the affects were widely felt all around the central region as well as here in Gornal, this was one of the bigger ones that Britain occasionally gets, but not large enough for any sort of devastation.

It was later calculated that the epicentre of the quake was right here in Gornal albeit six miles below Brick Kiln Lane.

On the 1st of September 2003, 17-year-old Natalie Putt disappeared after reportedly leaving her home in Thornleigh, Lower Gornal.
She left to purchase cigarettes from a nearby shop, leaving her 11-week-old son with a relative. She was last seen that day and has not been heard from since.

This was initially treated as a missing persons case, however Police investigations soon shifted focus toward suspected foul play.
Over the years, West Midlands Police have conducted extensive searches, including excavations at the nearby disused burial ground of Ruiton Church, and woodland areas near Natalie's home, no trace of her was found, and the case remains unsolved.

At an inquest in 2019, the coroner concluded: "I am satisfied that on the balance of probability Natalie is deceased" . . . "It's likely that she died at her home address or in the near vicinity on 1 September 2003."

The mystery remains.

The case had Nationwide media coverage at the time and since, details of which are beyond the scope of this website. Draw your own conclusions from the more detailed explanations which should be sought elsewhere.

Well not quite, but a remarkable incident nevertheless.

A boiler exploded at CD Fields abattoir in Lake Street devastating the building and launching the six foot high boiler skyward, after a brief flight it crashed through the roof of a house in Leafy Rise 400 yards away.
It is equally remarkable that no one was hurt in the incident.