About the Black Country

There is much interest now in the area we all know and love as "The Black Country" with researchers delving into their family history and from people wanting to find out more about the history of their local area.

You've found your way to The Black Country dot Net via one route or another and you might of picked up a bit of knowledge about the place from visiting this site. What else is there out on the web that provides information about The Black Country?

Common questions that are asked about the region are:

• What is The Black Country?
• Why is it called The Black Country?
• Is such-and-such-a-place in The Black Country?

I don't know all the answers and I don't want to get drawn into the debate into what is and what isn't in The Black Country but I hope to point you in the right direction so that you can judge for yourselves.

With the ever growing use of the world wide web many useful and interesting websites have sprung up with all sorts of information relating to The Black Country, with this in mind I've browsed, clicked, scrolled and surfed around the virtual Black Country to find some nice tidbits of information.

An answer to the good old question of "What is the Black Country?" can be found at the Black Country Museum website. Hopefully the folk there know what they're talking about as it is there job to know these sorts of things. If you've never visited the BCM (the place, not the website - that doesn't count) why not? It's a great place to travel back in time and you don't need a Tardis to get there.

The Black Country Society has been around since 1967 and they've been publishing books and magazines ever since. They certainly have some good inside knowledge of The Black Country and were among the original supporters of The Black Country Museum (which you know all about now from visiting their website). If you have a look on their "About us" page on their website you can read what they have to say about what they believe the original Black Country to be.

The BBC have been broadcasting quality television programmes for many years and now have a vast collection of websites - one that you'll be interested in is www.bbc.co.uk/blackcountry. Have a look at the section entitled "What and where is the Black Country?" to see what they have to say on the subject. There's also some other intersting bits and pieces on the BBC site such as video clips of the Black Country Museum, sound files of the Black Country accent and a selection of Black Country Jokes featuring the fictional Black Country comedy duo of Aynuk and Ayli.

Dave Ogden defines the area well on the "History" page on his Black Country Pages. Dave is the list owner for the "Black Country Mailing List" which provides email communications with researchers interested in local and family history with a Black Country connection.

Ian Beach who runs the excellent Sedgley Manor website has included a map to go with Dave's words which helps put you all in the picture - map of The Black Country.

Black Country Tourism Website gives the defintion of what the modern day Black Country consists of. Black Country Tourism is financed by a European Regional Development Fund Grant and funding from the Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton. The BCT defintion is "The four Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton make up the area internationally known as the 'Black Country'."

So there you go, I hope you've found your way around the Virtual Black Country and I hope to add more pages to this little section of the web shortly. Topics to cover are; genealogy (family history), local history, Black Country people, dialect and maybe a few other bits and pieces thrown in as well. If you've got any ideas shout them out.

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