Black Country

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The Black Country is a loosely defined area of England's West Midlands. It is mainly urban, covering most of the Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton metropolitan boroughs. The 14-mile (23 km) road between Wolverhampton and Birmingham was described as "one continuous town" in 1785. The area was one of the Industrial Revolution's birthplaces. Its name was first recorded in the 1840s, and derives either from the 30-foot-thick (9.1-metre) coal seam close to the surface or the production of coal, coke, iron, glass, bricks and steel which produced high levels of soot and air pollution.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Griffiths, Samuel, editor of "The London Iron Trade Exchange", No restrictions