Black Country
The Black Country is an area of England's West Midlands. It is mainly urban, covering most of the Dudley and Sandwell metropolitan boroughs, with the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton. The road between Wolverhampton and Birmingham was described as "one continuous town" in 1785. The area was one of the Industrial Revolution's birthplaces. Its name was first recorded in the 1840s, and derives either from the thick coal seam close to the surface or the production of coal, coke, iron, glass, bricks and steel which produced high levels of soot and air pollution. Extent The Black Country has no single set of defined boundaries. Some traditionalists define it as "the area where the coal seam comes to the surface – so West Bromwich, Coseley, Oldbury, Blackheath, Cradley Heath, Old Hill, Bilston, Dudley, Tipton, Wednesbury, and parts of Halesowen, Walsall and Smethwick or what used to be known as Warley." There are records from the 18th century ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dudley
Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the 2011 census, it had a population of 79,379. The wider Metropolitan Borough had a population of 312,900. In 2014, the borough council adopted a slogan describing Dudley as the capital of the Black Country, a title by which it had long been informally known. Originally a market town, Dudley was one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution and grew into an industrial centre in the 19th century with its iron, coal, and limestone industries before their decline and the relocation of its commercial centre to the nearby Merry Hill Shopping Centre in the 1980s. Tourist attractions include Dudley Zoo and Castle, the 12th century priory ruins, and the Black Country Living Museum. History Early history Dudley has a history dating b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Metropolitan Borough Of Dudley
The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley is a metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England. It was created in 1974 following the Local Government Act 1972, through a merger of the existing Dudley County Borough with the municipal boroughs of Stourbridge and Halesowen. The borough's main settlement is Dudley but it also includes the outlying towns of Brierley Hill, Halesowen, Kingswinford, Lye, Netherton, Sedgley, and Stourbridge. The borough borders Sandwell to the east, the city of Birmingham to the south east, Bromsgrove to the south in Worcestershire, South Staffordshire District to the west, and the city of Wolverhampton to the north. History The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley was created in 1974 from the existing boroughs of Dudley, the Municipal Borough of Stourbridge and the Municipal Borough of Halesowen. This followed an earlier reorganisation in 1966, as per the provisions of the Local Government Act 1958, which saw an expansion of the three boroughs from the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Oldbury, West Midlands
Oldbury is a market town in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is the administrative centre of the borough. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census, the town had a population of 13,606, while the 2017 population of the wider built-up area was estimated at 25,488. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, which defines Oldbury Town as consisting of the wards of Bristnall, Langley, Oldbury, and Old Warley, gave the population as 50,641 in 2011. Etymology The place name Oldbury comes from the Old English 'Ealdenbyrig', – signifying that Oldbury was old even in early English times over 1,000 years ago. ''Eald'' being Old English for 'old', ''Byrig'' is the plural of 'burh' in Old English – a burh being a fortification or fortified town. History Oldbury was part of the Parish, ancient parish of Halesowen (ancient parish), Halesowen, a detached part of Shropshire surrounded by Worcestershire and Staff ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arthur Mee
Arthur Henry Mee (21 July 187527 May 1943) was an English writer, journalist and educator. He is best known for ''The Harmsworth Self-Educator'', ''The Children's Encyclopædia'', ''The Children's Newspaper'', and ''The King's England''. Early life He was born on 21 July 1875 at Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, Stapleford near Nottingham, England, the second of the ten children of Henry Mee (b. 1852), railway fireman, and his wife, Mary (née Fletcher). As a boy he earned money from reading the Hansard, reports of Parliament to a local blind man. Career Mee left school at 14 to join a local newspaper, where he became an editor by age 20. He contributed many non-fiction articles to magazines and joined the staff of ''The Daily Mail'' in 1898. He was made literary editor five years later. In 1903 he began working for publisher Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, Alfred Harmsworth's Fleetway, Amalgamated Press. He was appointed general editor of ''The Harmsworth Self-Ed ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Heavy Industry
Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); or complex or numerous processes. Because of those factors, heavy industry involves higher capital intensity than light industry does, and is also often more heavily cyclical in investment and employment. Though important to economic development and industrialization of economies, heavy industry can also have significant negative side effects: both local communities and workers frequently encounter health risks, heavy industries tend to produce byproducts that both pollute the air and water, and the industrial supply chain is often involved in other environmental justice issues from mining and transportation. Because of their intensity, heavy industries are also significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Warley, West Midlands
Warley is a residential area of Oldbury in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell in the West Midlands of the United Kingdom. Historically in both Worcestershire and Shropshire, the name has been used for both a civil parish (1884–1908) and a county borough/civil parish (1966–1974). Warley has been the name of a UK Parliament constituency since 1997. History A civil parish of Warley was created on 25 March 1884 by the merger of the Warley Salop parish with parts of the parishes of Warley Wigorn and Ridgacre. On 30 September 1908 the parish was abolished, becoming part of Oldbury, although the Warley name was retained as a district of Oldbury, which was developed for housing after 1920. This also included a development by Smethwick county borough council, into which part of Warley had been incorporated in 1928 to enable Smethwick council to build houses there. The name was re-used in 1966 by the creation of the County Borough of Warley and civil parish, from the m ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Smethwick
Smethwick () is an industrial town in the Sandwell district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire and then Worcestershire before being placed into West Midlands county. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider built-up area subdivision has a population of 53,653. History It was suggested that the name Smethwick meant "smiths' place of work", but a more recent interpretation has suggested the name means "the settlement on the smooth land". Smethwick was recorded in the Domesday Book as ''Smedeuuich'', the ''d'' in this spelling being the Anglo-Saxon letter eth. Until the end of the 18th century it was an outlying hamlet of the south Staffordshire village of Harborne. Harborne became part of the county borough of Birmingham and thus transferred from Staffordshire to Warwickshire in 1891, leaving Smethwick in the County of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and south-west of Lichfield. Walsall was transferred from Staffordshire to the newly created West Midlands county in 1974. At the United Kingdom 2011 census, 2011 census, the town's built-up area had a population of 67,594, with the wider borough having a List of English districts by population, population of 269,323. Neighbouring settlements in the borough include Darlaston, Brownhills, Pelsall, Willenhall, Bloxwich and Aldridge. History Early settlement The name ''Walsall'' is derived from "Walhaz, Walh halh", meaning "valley of the Welsh", referring to the Celtic Britons, British who first lived in the area. Later, it is believed that a manor was held here by William Fitz-Anscu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Halesowen
Halesowen ( ) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically an exclave of Shropshire and, from 1844, in Worcestershire, the town is around from Birmingham city centre, and from Dudley town centre. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census, was 58,135. Halesowen is in the Halesowen (UK Parliament constituency), Halesowen parliamentary constituency. Geography and administration Halesowen was a detached part of the county of Shropshire but was incorporated into Worcestershire by the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844. Since the local government reorganisation of 1974 it has formed a part of the West Midlands (County), West Midlands Metropolitan county and West Midlands Conurbation, Conurbation, in the Dudley Metropolitan Borough, which it joined at the same time as neighbouring Stourbridge, which had also been in Worcestershire until that ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wednesbury
Wednesbury ( ) is a market town in the Sandwell district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England; it was historically in Staffordshire. It is located near the source of the River Tame, West Midlands, River Tame and is part of the Black Country. Wednesbury is situated 5 miles (8km) south-east of Wolverhampton, 3 miles (4.4km) south-west of Walsall and 7 miles (11.8km) north-west of Birmingham. At the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town's built-up area had a population of 20,313. History Medieval and earlier The substantial remains of a large ditch excavated in St Mary's Road in 2008, following the contours of the hill and predating the Early Medieval period, has been interpreted as part of a hilltop enclosure and possibly the Iron Age hillfort long suspected on the site. The first authenticated spelling of the name was Wodensbyri, written in an endorsement on the back of the copy of the will of Wulfric Spot, dated 1004. Wednesbury (" ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tipton
Tipton is an industrial town in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It had a population of 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham and southeast of Wolverhampton. It is also contiguous with nearby towns of Darlaston, Dudley, Wednesbury and Bilston. Historic counties of England, Historically within Staffordshire and briefly Worcestershire. It is located between both Wolverhampton and Birmingham. It incorporates the surrounding villages and suburbs of Tipton Green, Ocker Hill, Dudley Port, Horseley Heath and Great Bridge, West Midlands, Great Bridge. Tipton was an Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district until 1938, when it became a municipal borough. Much of the Borough of Tipton was transferred into West Bromwich County Borough in 1966, but parts of the old borough were absorbed into an expanded County Borough of Dudley, Dudley borough and the newly created Cou ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bilston
Bilston is a market town in the City of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. It is in the Black Country, south east of Wolverhampton city centre and close to the borders of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough, Sandwell and Walsall Metropolitan Borough, Walsall. The town was known for Vitreous enamel, enamelling from the mid-17th century, and is a former coal and iron mining district. Iron works dominated in Victorian era, Victorian times and the area became a centre for steel production. The town had a population of 34,639 at the 2021 Census. History Bilston was first referred to in AD 985 as ''Bilsatena'' when Wolverhampton was granted to Wulfrun then in 996 as ''Bilsetnatun'' in the grant charter of St. Mary's Church (now St. Peter's Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton). ''Bilsetnatun'' can be interpreted as meaning the settlement (''ton'') of the folk (''saetan'') of the ridge (''bill''). It is mentioned in the Domesday Book as a village called ''Billes ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |