where is the Black Country?

The Black Country is the industrial area situated to the west of Birmingham. Its name derives from nineteenth century descriptions of the industrial landscape, dominated by smoking chimneystacks, the most noted comment being that of Elihu Burritt that the area was 'black by day and red by night'. The boundaries of the area are not clearly defined, but it is traditionally argued that the Black Country lies across those points where the region's 'thick coal' seam comes to the surface. Today, the area is made up of the metropolitan boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall, and the city of Wolverhampton.

Map based upon the Ordnance Survey mapping © Crown Copyright,
Wolverhampton City Council LA076449