| The
Black Country is the name of a fascinating
area in the middle of England, UK. The concept
of the Black Country is a fairly recent one -
it denotes the West Midlands region governed by
four councils - Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and
Wolverhampton.
The Black Country is an area rich in natural
resources. Its iron ore and coal made it a centre
of industry in the 19th century.
With industry came wealth, community pride and
increased population - the area is still one of
the most densely populated in the UK.
Community pride means that the people of the
Black Country towns tend to think of their identity
being bound up with their town first, and their
region second.
I only mention this because now that large-scale
heavy industry has departed, the region has become
poor - deprived economically.
The four town's strong identities were defined
in a wealthier time - but now it could be argued
that the division of the region into four has
drawbacks - the region can not take advantage
of economies of scale, for example.
With little money washing around, change is slow.
The area is not dominated by new skyscrapers.
The landscape, like the famous Black Country dialect,
survives - hidden away in the middle of England.
Ancient Black Country
The regional history that tends to get promoted
in the Black Country is the obvious stuff from
the industrial revolution. The Black Country museum
curates the 19th century story.
But what about before then? The region's ancient
history does not seem to be well documented -
maybe there's nothing to dig up after the land
was scoured by the recent dense population - maybe
I need to do more research... I do need to do
more research.
On my travels around the region the sites that
jump out at me as being populated in ancient times
are the high points - easily defensible.
Two thousand years ago, iron age people needed
iron, right? The Black Country has iron - so maybe
it had ancient people, too.
High points include:
Church Hill in Wednesbury.
Ridiculous thing to write, I know, but it feels
ancient.
"Wednesbury may date back as far as the Iron
Age. The ‘bury’ part of the name comes
from ‘beorg’, indicating a fort on
Church Hill dating as far back as 2,300 years."
says Sandwell
Council.
St
Andrew's church, Netherton.
Again, another site that feels ancient to me. It
was almost
 |
 Michael
Raven* |
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certainly
the site of an Iron
Age fort, wrote Michael
Raven in his Guide to Staffordshire.
It sounds like Michael Raven had an interesting
life - I would have liked to have met him. His
book seems to be the only on the web that mentions
Netherton's ancient history.
Sedgley Beacon - again another
high location.
Kate's Hill
&
Turner's Hill
Views
of St Andrew's church, Netherton, UK, below:
* The photo of Mr Raven is included here as a
tribute to a man who explored the history of Staffordshire
and the Black Country - his research took almost
two years, full time, six days a week.
If you own the copyright to the picture and wish
it to be removed, please contact us.
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