Black Country Country". Today the term commonly refers to the majority or all of the four metropolitan boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton although it is said that "no two Black Country men or women will agree on where it starts or ends". Official use of the name came in 1987 with the Black Country Development Corporation, an urban development corporation covering the metropolitan boroughs of Sandwell and Walsall, which was disbanded in 1998. The Black Country Consortium (founded in 1999) and the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership (founded in 2011) both define the Black Country as the four metropolitan boroughs
Black Country Living Museum Pawnbrokers Shop of their items and the cost of the ticket. Pawnbrokers in the Black Country needed to be where the people were. Some of these businesses started in Public Houses, which were frequently visited and saved customers a trip into town. Other Pawnbrokers operated out of converted houses in prominent positions like corner shops. The pair of cottages from School Lane in Himley originally operated as a corner shop. The setting of the display was designed to represent a small scale business. The shop takes its name from a well known Black Country pawnbroker, Joseph Wiltshire, who owned shops in Great