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The Black Country
gained its name in the mid nineteenth century due to the smoke from the many thousands
of ironworking foundries and forges plus also the working of the shallow and 30ft
thick coal seams.
There are many definitions of where the Black Country
is but one thing is for sure, you won’t find it marked on any map.
To traditionalists the Black Country is the area where the 30ft coal seam comes
to the surface - so West Bromwich, Oldbury, Blackheath, Cradley Heath, Old Hill,
Bilston, Dudley, Tipton, Wednesfield and parts of Halesowen, Wednesbury and Walsall
but not Wolverhampton, Stourbridge and Smethwick or what used to be known as Warley.
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| The Black
Country was famous for Thick Coal | The
region was described as 'Black by day and red by night' by Elihu Burritt, the
American Consul to Birmingham in 1862. Other authors, from Charles Dickens to
William Shenstone refer to the intensity of manufacturing in the Black Country
and its effect on the landscape and its people.
Today the Black Country
is described as most of the four Metropolitan District Council areas of Dudley,
Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton and the term is used as a marketing tool to
sell and promote the West Midlands region to the north of Birmingham.
Despite this
industrial past the Black Country has a long association with the arts and literature.
The poet William Shenstone lived in Halesowen as did the writer Francis Brett
Young who consistently celebrated the industrial Black Country and city of Birmingham
in his novels. Sir Henry Newbolt (1862-1938), the poet, was the son of the vicar
of St. Mary's Church. He was born in Baldwin Street, Bradley and the family later
moved into the vicarage.
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| The Black
Country is renowned for its production of iron and steel goods |
The region
also has its celebrated links with historical events such as the restoration of
Charles II to the throne and also the Gunpowder plot. On the evening of November
7,1605, a group of the fleeing plotters arrived at Holbeche House near Dudley.
Holbeche was owned by the Littleton family who had been involved in many of the
Catholic uprisings, and it was to be the last stand of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators.
That evening, several of the plotters were injured by an accidental
explosion which occurred while they were drying powder in front of an open fire.
Between this evening and morning of the following day, several members of the
group fled, while others still tried valiantly to rally support from the surrounding
area. Just before midday on the 8th of November, the Sheriff of Worcester arrived
with a posse of men and surrounded the house. After several attempts to have the
conspirators surrender, a skirmish developed. Several were fatally wounded and
the remaining known conspirators were apprehended. |
