Black Country

The Black Country is a loosely-defined area of conurbation to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton in the English West Midlands, around the South Staffordshire coalfield.

History

Prior to the 18th century the Black Country area was a collection of small villages and market towns. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the mid 18th century, discoveries of large deposits of coal and limestone, meant that the area rapidly developed mining and manufacturing industries, and the population of the Black Country grew rapidly.

Related Topics:
18th century - Industrial Revolution - Coal - Limestone - Mining - Manufacturing

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By Victorian times, the Black Country was one of the most heavily industrialised areas in Britain, and it became known for its pollution, particularly from iron and coal industries and many associated smaller businesses.

Related Topics:
Victorian - Pollution - Iron - Coal

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The area soon gained notoriety, Charles Dickens's novel The Old Curiosity Shop written in 1841, described the area, and how local factory chimneys "Poured out their plague of smoke, obscured the light, and made foul the melancholy air". In 1862, Elihu Burritt, the American Consul to Birmingham, described the region as "black by day and red by night," because of the smoke and grime generated by the intense manufacturing activity.

Related Topics:
Charles Dickens - The Old Curiosity Shop - 1841 - 1862 - Elihu Burritt

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The area is popularly said to have got its name because of pollution from these heavy industries, which covered the area in black soot and led to the name of The Black Country. There is a famous but dubious anecdote about Queen Victoria ordering the lowering of the blinds on her carriage, as the royal train passed through the area.

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However, historians have suggested that it is more likely that the name was given earlier; arising from above-ground outcroppings of black coal seams, that scarred the early heathland.

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