Black Country
The Black Country is an area of the conurbation to the north and west of Birmingham in the English West Midlands.
Places which comprise the Black Country include the city of Wolverhampton, and the towns of:
Apart from the area covered by Wolverhampton City Council, Sandwell Metropolitan Council, Dudley Council and Walsall council administer most of the communities in the Black Country. The Black Country has a combined population of 1,078,000.
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, dicoveries 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.
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.
The common explaination for the name, is that the pollution from these heavy industries which covered the area in black soot, lead to the the unnoficial name of "The Black Country".
The area soon gained notoriety, Charles Dickens's novel The Old Curiosity Shop written in 1841, described the area, and how local factory chimineys "Poured out their plaugue 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 soot generated by the intense manufacturing activity.
However, many maintain that the Black Country name, was because of the black colour of the ground, where a 10 metre wide coal-seam rises to the surface.
Black Country dialect
The traditional Black Country Dialect is very old, and can be very confusing for outsiders. The language is said to be a throw back to "Olde English" and still contains words such as Thee, Thy and Thou. "'Ow B'ist", meaning "How beist thou?" is a common greeting, with the typical answering being "'Bay too bah", meaning "I bayn't be too bad". Black country "folk" as they are called are very proud, and resist hints at any relationship to people living in Birmingham, calling Birmingham "Brum-a-jum". Black Country folks take pride in being simple, hardworking people. The thick Black Country dialect however, is less commonly heard today then in the past.
The Black Country today
The heavy industry which once dominated the Black Country has now largely gone. Mining ceased in the area in the late 1960s, and clean air legislation has maeant that the Black Country is no longer black. Although the area still maitains some manufacturing base, ableit on a much smaller scale than historically.
Much but not all of the area now suffers from high unemployment and are amongst the most economically deprived communities in the UK.
There is a museum located in Dudley called the "Black Country Living Museum" (see External Links below) which re-creates life in the Black Country in the early 20th century, and is a popular tourist attraction.
External links
Referenced By
Birmingham | Birmingham, England | Birmingham, UK | Birmingham Canal Navigations | Birmingham City Council | Bishop Asbury Cottage | Black Country Living Museum | Blackheath, West Midlands | Brierley Hill | British English | British National Party | British language | Brummie | Brummies | Dudley | Dudley Zoo | English language/British English | Gary Titley | Halesowen | Judith Cutler | M6 Toll | M6 toll motorway | Oldbury | River Tame, West Midlands | River Tame (West Midlands) | Rowley Regis | Sandwell | Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council | Scottish English | Smethwick | Tipton | Wednesbury | Wednesbury, England | West Bromwich | West Bromwich, England | West Midlands (county) | West Midlands conurbation | West Midlands county | West Midlands metropolitan county | Wolverhampton | Wolverhampton, England
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