Black Country Route Black Country Route The Black Country Route is a road in the West Midlands region of England. The plans for a motorway were drawn up in 1962 to ease congestion in the Black Country towns of Bilston and Willenhall, as well as giving the residents of Dudley, Coseley and Sedgley a more direct link with the new M6 motorway. A town centre by-pass for Bilston, planned to form a spur road to the main route, was given the go-ahead in 1964. By 1968 work had yet to start on any of the route, but it was appearing on maps as
Black Country excluded by this definition because the coal here is too deep down and does not outcrop. The seam outcrop definition excludes areas in North Worcestershire and South Staffordshire. The first recorded use of the term "the Black Country" may be from a toast given by a Mr Simpson, town clerk to Lichfield, addressing a Reformer's meeting on 24 November 1841, published in the "Staffordshire Advertiser". He describes going into the "black country" of Staffordshire - Wolverhampton, Bilston and Tipton. In published literature, the first reference dates from 1846 and occurs in the novel "Colton Green: A Tale of the Black