Black Country Black Country The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands, England, west of Birmingham and commonly refers to a region covering most of the four Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton. During the Industrial Revolution, it became one of the most industrialised parts of Britain with coal mines, coking, iron foundries, glass factories, brickworks and steel mills producing a high level of air pollution. The road between Wolverhampton and Birmingham was described as "one continuous town" in 1785. The first trace of "The Black Country" as an expression dates from the 1840s. The name is believed
Coal mining in the Black Country the Black Country Living Museum. The sinking winder, powered by a steam engine, was used to re-open a shaft at the Black Country Living Museum in the same way that 90 or 100 years ago they would have opened a new shaft. The miners digging out the shaft were lowered down in the bowk. The bowk then removed the spoil as it was dug out, and the circular shaft was lined with brickwork. The spoil from the shaft was emptied into the tipping wagon which was then pushed along the spoil heap on the tracks to the end where it