The Black Country Living Museum (formerly the Black Country Museum) is an

open-air museum An open-air museum (or open air museum) is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts out-of-doors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is “the unconfined atmosphere� ...

of rebuilt historic buildings in

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

, West Midlands, England.Black Country Living Museum
accessed 14 February 2011 It is located in the centre of the

Black Country The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands county, England covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised during its ...

, 10 miles west of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

. The museum occupies of former industrial land partly reclaimed from a former railway goods yard, disused

lime kiln A lime kiln is a kiln used for the calcination of limestone ( calcium carbonate) to produce the form of lime called quicklime (calcium oxide). The chemical equation for this reaction is : CaCO3 + heat → CaO + CO2 This reaction can take pla ...

s, canal arm and former coal pits. The museum opened to the public in 1978, and has since added over 50 shops, houses and other industrial buildings from around the Metropolitan Boroughs of

Sandwell Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. According to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council ...

and

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

and the City of

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

(collectively known as the

); mainly in a specially built village. Most buildings were relocated from their original sites to form a base from where demonstrators portray life spanning 300 years of history, with a focus on 1850–1950. The museum continues to evolve, as further buildings and other exhibits are added.

Background

The museum is close to the site where

Dud Dudley Dudd (Dud) Dudley (1600–1684) was an English metallurgist, who fought on the Royalist side in the English Civil War as a soldier, military engineer, and supplier of munitions. He was one of the first Englishmen to smelt iron ore using coke. B ...

first mastered the technique of smelting iron with coal instead of wood

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ...

and making iron in large enough quantities for industrial use. Having a claim to be "the birthplace of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

", the Black Country is famous for its wide range of midsteel-based products from nails to the anchor and anchor chain for the

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unite ...

. The site's coal mining heritage is shown by an underground drift and colliery surface buildings. The museum has a working replica of a

Newcomen atmospheric engine The atmospheric engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, and is often referred to as the Newcomen fire engine (see below) or simply as a Newcomen engine. The engine was operated by condensing steam drawn into the cylinder, thereby creati ...

Thomas Newcomen Thomas Newcomen (; February 1664 – 5 August 1729) was an English inventor who created the atmospheric engine, the first practical fuel-burning engine in 1712. He was an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher by calling. He ...

's invention was first successfully put to use in

Tipton Tipton is an industrial town in the West Midlands in England with a population of around 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham. Tipton was once one of the most heavily industrialised towns in the Black Country, w ...

in 1712. The museum's reconstruction was based on a print engraved by Thomas Barney, filemaker of Wolverhampton, in 1719. Electric trams and

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...

es transport visitors from the entrance to the village where thirty domestic and industrial buildings have been relocated close to the canal basin. The museum is one of three in the UK with working trolleybuses. The route to the village passes the Cast Iron Houses and a 1930s fairground. A

narrowboat A narrowboat is a particular type of canal boat, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, but with the advent of the railways, commer ...

operated by Dudley Canal Trust makes trips on the

Dudley Canal The Dudley Canal is a canal passing through Dudley in the West Midlands of England. The canal is part of the English and Welsh connected network of navigable inland waterways, and in particular forms part of the popular Stourport Ring narrowboat ...

and into the

Dudley Tunnel Dudley Tunnel is a canal tunnel on the Dudley Canal Line No 1, England. At about long, it is now the second longest canal tunnel on the UK canal network today. ( Standedge Tunnel is the longest, at , and the Higham and Strood tunnel is now ...

. On 16 February 2012, the museum's collection was awarded designated status by Arts Council England (ACE), a mark of distinction celebrating its unique national and international importance. The museum is run by the Black Country Living Museum Trust, a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

under English law.

Exhibitions

By the main entrance in the old Rolfe Street Baths from

Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider b ...

(1888) are displays of local artefacts encompassing some of the many products which were made by Black Country industry,

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuri ...

hollow ware, animal traps, vehicles, chain, anchors, enamels, weighing scales, laundry irons, nails, locks and

fire clay Fire clay is a range of refractory clays used in the manufacture of ceramics, especially fire brick. The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines fire clay very generally as a "mineral aggregate composed of hydrous silicates of alumi ...

products. The exhibition includes more fragile items such as glassware, reflecting the centuries-old industry that produced lead

crystal glass Lead glass, commonly called crystal, is a variety of glass in which lead replaces the calcium content of a typical potash glass. Lead glass contains typically 18–40% (by weight) lead(II) oxide (PbO), while modern lead crystal, historically al ...

and the

Joseph Chance Chance Brothers and Company was a glassworks originally based in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands (formerly in Staffordshire), in England. It was a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glassmaking technology. The Chance fam ...

glass works between Oldbury and Smethwick.

Mining and lime kilns

The museum site contained 42 disused mine shafts, most of which had been filled in. Two are preserved, one at the Racecourse Colliery and Brook Shaft. In 1712,

built the world's first successful steam engine which was used for pumping water from coal mines on Lord Dudley's estates. In 1986, after ten years of research, the museum completed the construction of a full-scale working replica of the engine. The "fire engine" is housed in a brick building from which a wooden beam projects through one wall. Rods hang from the outer end of the beam and operate pumps at the bottom of the mine shaft which raise the water to the surface. The engine has a boiler, a cylinder and piston and operating valves. A coal fire heats water in the boiler which is little more than a covered pan and the steam generated passes through a valve into the brass cylinder above it. The cylinder is more than two metres long and 52 centimetres in diameter. The steam in the cylinder is condensed by injecting cold water and the vacuum beneath the piston pulls the inner end of the beam down causing the pump to move. Black Country Museum - geograph

Lime working and processing was carried out on the site from medieval times. Evidence of quarries and underground remains, the canal, and preserved

s are parts of a scheduled ancient monument which has features from the medieval, Industrial Revolution and 20th century. Standing alongside canal arm are the

s, built by the

Earl of Dudley Earl of Dudley, of Dudley Castle in the County of Stafford (now the West Midlands), is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, both times for members of the Ward family. History Dudley was first used for a ...

to process limestone quarried from Wren's Nest workings. The earliest of the three surviving kilns dates from the late 18th century.

Metal working

The trap shop was built in 1913 in Rookery Street,

Wednesfield Wednesfield is a town and historic village in the City of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England, It is east-northeast of Wolverhampton city centre and about from Birmingham and is part of the West Midlands conurbation. It was historically wit ...

. It was offered to the museum in 1982. Sidebotham's Steel Trap Works was not rebuilt in its entirety and the original structure was shortened. The exhibit, set around 1930, contains the office, trap shop and the machine shop. The nail shop is a replica of a back-yard workshop, built in the 1880s from 17 Chapel Street,

Halesowen Halesowen ( ) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of West Midlands, England. Historically an exclave of Shropshire and, from 1844, in Worcestershire, the town is around from Birmingham city centre, and fro ...

. It houses equipment from the Halesowen workshop operated by Sidney Tether in the 1940s.Black Country Living Museum (2012) ''Black Country Living Museum Guide'', p58 It is in use on a regular basis by the resident nail maker who demonstrates the skill of forging nails by hand. The brass foundry was built in 1869 in Shaw Street,

and closed after the Second World War but re-opened in 1964 by James Powell and used until his death in 1973. The building and its equipment were relocated to the museum in 1986. It can be seen in operation when the brass caster demonstrates traditional skills in casting horse brasses, pot hooks and other small items. The

rolling mill In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simil ...

installed at the Birchley Works in Oldbury in 1923 ceased to operate in 1976 and it was moved to Lord Ward's Canal Arm. The museum operates it from time to time using volunteers. The Anchor Forge was rescued from Isiah Preston's in

Cradley Heath Cradley Heath is a town in the Rowley Regis area of the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England approximately north-west of Halesowen, south of Dudley and west of central Birmingham. Cradley Heath is often confused with t ...

. The steam-hammer was installed second hand in the 1920s to forge parts for ships' anchors and the other equipment including furnace and boiler also came from Prestons. The building was saved from Johnson's Rolling Mill site in West

Bromwich West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area known as the Black Country, in terms of geography, c ...

. The chain maker's shop represents one of the many workshops that made small and medium size chain.Black Country Living Museum (2012) ''Black Country Living Museum Guide'', p60 By the mid-1800s the chain industry was mostly associated with Cradley,

Old Hill Old Hill is a small village in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell in the West Midlands, England, situated around north of Halesowen and south of Dudley. Initially a separate village it is now part of the much larger West Midlands conurbati ...

, Quarry Bank and Netherton. It is operational and the skill of making chain by hand can be watched daily. An Oliver hammer was a treadle-operated hammer that forged bolts by forcing red hot lengths of iron into a

die Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...

. The machine shop contained several Oliver hammers used to forge special parts to order. It was founded by Onan Lowe and taken over by T. W. Lench Ltd.

Village

Hardware Store , Black Country living museum

On the low ground at the northern end of the site, houses, shops, workshops and public buildings have been dismantled and rebuilt brick by brick to create an early 20th-century village. Activities in the buildings are demonstrated by staff in period costume. The village preserves a cross section of social and industrial history. The village shops include

Gregory's General Store Gregory's General Store is an exhibit at the Black Country Living Museum. It once occupied numbers 89 & 90 Lawrence Lane, Old Hill, and was rebuilt on the museum site in 1980. It is set as it would have been in 1925. History Gregory's was orig ...

, Emile Doo's chemist shop, a sweet shop and cake shop with a bakery at the back. There is a hardware and ironmongers shop from Pipers Row in Wolverhampton. and a pawnbroker's shop that was relocated to the museum in 1991. Brook Street

back-to-back houses Back-to-backs are a form of terraced houses in the United Kingdom, built from the late 18th century through to the early 20th century in various guises. Many thousands of these dwellings were built during the Industrial Revolution for the rapidl ...

, built in the 1850s, were relocated from Woodsetton and were the homes of colliers, farm workers and ironworkers. The anchor maker's house from Lawrence Lane in Old Hill was the first to be relocated to the museum and is an example of late-Victorian housing. Public buildings include Providence Chapel from Darby End/Hand near Netherton, one of the first buildings to be rebuilt, and the Bottle and Glass Inn a working public house set out as it would have been in 1910. The village postbox stood on the corner of

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid out the street in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detec ...

and Blandford Street, London in 1865. It was designed by architect J W Penfold and made by Cochrane, Grove and Company. The Carter's Yard from Ogley Hay Road Burntwood,

Cannock Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolverh ...

was built around 1900. It was dismantled and brought to the museum in the 1990s.

1930s Street (Old Birmingham Road)

Old Birmingham Road links St James's School with the

Cradley Heath Workers' Institute The Cradley Heath Workers' Institute (Known locally as the 'Stute') was built between 1911 and 1912 in Lomey Town, Cradley Heath, West Midlands, England. It was built as a social centre for the people of Cradley Heath and surrounding areas withi ...

. Here buildings have been set in the 1930s to tell the story of the years leading up to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. Museum staff in St James's School demonstrate lessons and school life from the turn of the 20th century. The school building opened in Eve Hill, Dudley in 1842 for pupils aged 5–11. It was decided to transfer the building to the museum in 1989 and relocation was completed by October 1990, with the exhibit opening the following year. Hobbs & Sons fish and chip shop and H Morrall's gentlemen's outfitters have been returned to 1935 condition. The shops come from Hall Street, Dudley and date from the late-18th century and refaced with bright red pressed brickwork in 1889. The tiled interior of Hobbs features restored hand-painted tiled wall panels. The frying range is of a design patented in 1932 made by E.W. Proctor of

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence i ...

. In the 1930s many of Joseph Hobbs's customers worked in factories or shops. Four buildings were rescued from Birmingham Street, Oldbury and date to about 1860. The block is dominated by the green painted fascia of Humphrey Brothers, builders' merchants, who occupied the premises from 1921. It has a replica shop front from about 1932. Humphreys sold fireplaces, sanitaryware and building supplies including Walpamur, a flat paint used for internal walls. The motorcycle shop is based on the business of A. Hartill & Sons which was located in Mount Pleasant,

Bilston Bilston is a market town, ward, and civil parish located in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is close to the borders of Sandwell and Walsall. The nearest towns are Darlaston, Wednesbury, and Willenhall. Historically in Staffordshi ...

. The window displays six locally made motor bikes dating from 1929 to 1934. Next door is Alfred Preedy & Sons tobacconist shop, established in Dudley in 1868. James Gripton's radio shop is from the 1920s and this reconstruction, set in 1939, contains 'new' and second radios. The brick tunnel and cart entrance provide access to a late 1930s kitchen with an electric cooker made by Revo of

. There is a radio workshop behind Gripton's and then the stairs lead to two first floor living rooms and two bedrooms which are all set in the late 1930s and furnished with original 1930s style furniture and wall paper. The Cradley Heath Workers' Institute was built with surplus funds raised in 1910 during the strike for a minimum wage by women chain makers.

Mary Macarthur Mary Reid Anderson (née Macarthur; 13 August 1880 – 1 January 1921) was a Scottish suffragist (although at odds with the national groups who were willing to let a minority of women gain the franchise) and was a leading trades unionist. She ...

The Arts and Crafts style building was designed by architect, Albert Thomas Butler, and opened on 10 June 1912. It became a centre for educational meetings, social gatherings and trade union activities in

. Re-erected at the museum it is a monument to

and her campaign to establish a national minimum wage in the "sweated trades" where people worked long hours for poverty wages typically in appalling conditions. The building contains reconstructed offices, a news room with a digital interpretation of the background to the strike and a large hall which is used for a wide range of activities including theatre performances and concerts.

1930s fairground

The 1930s

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

ground located behind the school represents a travelling

ground that would have brought entertainment to people in the early 1900s. Such fairs set up on waste ground and for a few days provided thrills, entertainment and a change for those who might never go on holiday. The collection of historic rides includes a helter skelter and the Ark, the latest thing in high-speed rides when introduced in the 1920s. It was updated over the years but not converted into a waltzer. It remains one of the few "fourlift" Arks in the country.

Lord Ward's Canal Arm

Work began on the boat dock in 1976 and the museum aimed to recreate a typical dock that would have been found on the

Birmingham Canal Navigations Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) is a network of canals connecting Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and the eastern part of the Black Country. The BCN is connected to the rest of the English canal system at several junctions. It was owned and opera ...

(BCN). Docks like the one at the museum would have been formed from recycled wooden boats. They were used to build wooden boats or maintain iron and composite boats. BCLM canal

Adjacent to the museum is the

. Visitors can take a 45-minute skipper-guided trip into the tunnel through the historic limestone mines and caverns on a boat operated by the Dudley Canal Trust.

Boat collection

The museum's boat display consists of boats that it owns, are on loan or have mooring agreements. The museum owns: Other boats at the museum:

Transport collection

The size of the museum site provides the opportunity to demonstrate many of the road transport exhibits which were both used and made in the Black Country.

Trams

Dudley, Stourbridge and District Electric Traction Company The Dudley, Stourbridge and District Electric Tramways Company operated an electric tramway service between Dudley and Stourbridge and also other lines in the neighbourhood between 1899 and 1930. History On 2 April 1898 the Dudley and Stourbri ...

No. 5 Tividale single-decker built in 1920. This was the museum's first tram. It has worked much more at the museum than for its original owners. Returned to service in December 2017 after a £120,000 overhaul. * Wolverhampton District Electric Tramways Company No. 19 works car built in 1902. Stored awaiting restoration. Originally operated with Dudley, Stourbridge and District as open-topper no. 36. * Wolverhampton Tramways Company Horse Tram No. 23 open-top double-decker built in 1892. The museum's oldest tram, and is currently on display at the back of the Tram Depot. *Wolverhampton District Electric Tramways Company No. 34 Tividale single-decker built in 1919. Commenced in service at the museum in 1997 after restoration. Stored awaiting overhaul after 20 years of operation. *

Wolverhampton Corporation Tramways Wolverhampton Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Wolverhampton between 1902 and 1928. History On 1 May 1900, for the sum of £26,750, Wolverhampton Corporation bought the Wolverhampton Tramways Company which had operated a s ...

open-top double-decker No. 49 built in 1909. Returned to traffic in 2004 after a 25-year restoration, is now in service in the museum. *Dudley, Stourbridge and District Electric Traction Company No. 75 Tividale single-decker built in 1919. Stored awaiting restoration. *Wolverhampton Corporation Tramways No. 102 Tividale single-decker built in 1920. Was used as a tram shelter at the museum in the 1980s and 1990s, currently stored awaiting restoration.

Motor buses

*West Bromwich Corporation Daimler CVG6 GEA 174 built in 1948. Operational following completion of restoration in 2013. *

Midland Red Midland RedCompanies House extract company no 82681
Midland Re ...

BMMO D9 6342 HA built in 1963. Operational following completion of restoration in 2007. *

Guy Motors Guy Motors was a Wolverhampton-based vehicle manufacturer that produced cars, lorries, buses and trolleybuses. The company was founded by Sydney S. Guy (1885–1971) who was born in Kings Heath, Birmingham. Guy Motors operated out of its Falli ...

KTT 689 built in 1948 and delivered new to Court of Torquay. Operational. *West Bromwich Corporation Dennis E-Type EA 4181 built in 1929.

Trolleybuses

The museum operates a

service on certain days, unlike the tram which is usually operated seven days a week. The route is one of the few double deck trolley bus services left in the world, as most of the world's trolley buses are single deckers. The museum's fleet numbers three resident trolleybuses from the Black Country's two former trolley bus networks, and one which has been painted to resemble a local trolleybus. Unlike Birmingham's tram service, Birmingham Corporation Trolley Buses never operated in the Black Country. The Resident Fleet is listed below; *Wolverhampton Corporation Transport 78 – A Guy built 1931 Trolleybus that still requires restoration. * Wolverhampton Corporation Transport 433 – A Sunbeam with body work by C. H. Roe, this time a W4 built in 1946 which was retired with the rest of Wolverhampton's trolley buses in 1967. Operational. * Bradford Corporation Transport 735 - A

Karrier Karrier was a British marque of motorised municipal appliances and light commercial vehicles and trolley buses manufactured at Karrier Works, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, by Clayton and Co., Huddersfield, Limited. They began making Karrier moto ...

W built in 1946. Though it worked with Bradford for all its working life, it has been painted in Walsall Corporation blue in order to resemble trolleybuses that would have operated nearby. Operational. * Walsall Corporation Transport 862 – Another Sunbeam F4A with a Willowbrook Body, it was built in 1955 and retired from Walsall in 1970 on the closure of the trolleybus network. Operational.

Motor cars

Wolverhampton was home to some early manufacturers of motor cars, such as Sunbeam,

Clyno Clyno Engineering Company, later Clyno Engineering Company (1922) Ltd, was a motorcycle and car manufacturer that operated in Thrapston from 1909 to 1910 and then in Wolverhampton from 1910 to 1929. During this time they produced over 15,000 mo ...

AJS A. J. Stevens & Co. Ltd was a British automobile and motorcycle manufacturer in operation from 1909 to 1931. The company was founded by Joe Stevens in Wolverhampton, England. After the firm was sold, the name continued to be used by Matchless, ...

and

Star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

. Frisky cars were also made in Wolverhampton, while the Black Country town of Kingswinford is home to Westfield cars. The museum collection includes a 1903 Sunbeam, a 1912 Star and a 1931 AJS as well as examples of later vehicles such as the Kieft, Frisky and Westfield Topaz.

Motorcycles

There are approximately 40 motorcycles in the museum's collection, all of which were made in the Black Country. A large proportion were manufactured by Sunbeam and

, but there are also examples by firms such as Wearwell Cycle Company and Rockson. The museum is affiliated to the British Motorcycle Charitable Trust.

Other vehicles

The museum does not have an extensive collection of Black Country bicycles, but there are examples by manufacturers such as Harry Albino and

. Unusual vehicles in the fleet include a 1924 Guy- Morris fire engine, a Model T Ford van used by Willenhall firm Brevitt's and a

Bean A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

of Tipton flatbed truck.

Other collections

In addition to the wide range of displayed collections, the museum has extensive research collections held in store. These include historic objects, archival material and library books, all of which can be viewed by appointment.

Filming location

The museum has been used as a set for many film and television productions, particularly the first season of '' Rosie & Jim'' and the BBC dramas '' WPC 56'' and ''

Peaky Blinders The Peaky Blinders were a street gang based in Birmingham, England, which operated from the 1880s until the 1910s. The group consisted largely of young criminals from lower- to middle-class backgrounds. They engaged in robbery, violence, racke ...

''. ''

Stan & Ollie ''Stan & Ollie'' is a 2018 biographical comedy-drama film directed by Jon S. Baird. The script, written by Jeff Pope, was inspired by ''Laurel and Hardy: The British Tours'' by A.J. Marriot which chronicled the later years of the comedy double ...

'', a feature film on the life of

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in t ...

, shot some of its scenes on the museum's 1930s Street.

Future plans

On 15 June 2017 it was announced that the museum had been awarded £9.8 million from the National Lottery towards their £21.7m project BCLM: Forging Ahead, which will allow the museum to tell the story of the Black Country up to the closure of the Baggeridge Coal Mine in 1968. Plans include the translocation, recreation or replication at the Museum of Wolverhampton's Elephant & Castle pub, Dudley's Burgin's Newsagents, a hairdressers, an NHS clinic, West Bromwich Gas Showroom and Dudley's Woodside Library, and a butchers all dating from the 1940s to the 1960s. The new plans will see the museum space increase by one third. The plans are due to be completed in 2022. It is expected that 60 jobs would be created directly as a result of the expansion.

Gallery

File:Station Road Cottages - geograph.org.uk - 2324167.jpg , Station Road Cottages File:BCLM exhibit 03.jpg, Early Sunbeam motor car. File:BCLM exhibit 02.jpg, Vehicles on display Exhibition Hall Two, prior to 2008. The vehicle collection is now displayed in the Bradburn & Wedge showroom and other areas across the site. File:BCLM exhibit 04.jpg, Tangye

stationary engine A stationary engine is an engine whose framework does not move. They are used to drive immobile equipment, such as pumps, generators, mills or factory machinery, or cable cars. The term usually refers to large immobile reciprocating engines, ...

on display in Exhibition Hall One. File:BCLM exhibit 05.jpg, Early fire engine, probably made at the John Marston Co. Ltd. factory in Wolverhampton, which made Sunbeam cars and motor cycles. File:Regina enamelware vase museum number BCMTL 2001-009-003-2.JPG, Regina Enamelware was locally manufactured in Lye. File:Black Country Living Museum Bus.JPG, A

at the museum File:Steam narrowboat President - geograph.org.uk - 679005.jpg, 1909-built

Fellows Morton & Clayton Fellows Morton & Clayton Ltd was, for much of the early 20th century, the largest and best-known canal transportation company in England. The company was in existence from 1889 to 1947. Origins The company started in 1837 when James Fellows, a ...

steam narrowboat ''President'', preserved in working order and based at the museum File:Cradley_Boiler_Co_boiler_inspection_hole_cover.jpg, Detail of a boiler manufactured by the Cradley Boiler Co. of

, on display at the museum File:BCLM various trolleybuses.jpg, Trolleybuses at the museum. The rear (dark green and cream) vehicle is from Derby and the front (light green and yellow) vehicle is from

. The red bus in the distance is a BMMO motor bus. File:Former Rolfe St baths at BCLM.jpg, Exhibition Hall: the iron trusses are from the former Rolfe Street public baths,

, built 1888, designed by Harris, Martin & Harris

Metro

In 2022, in time for the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England b ...

, a new West Midland Metro Line will pass by the museum, with a stop outside. It is hoped that this will raise visitor numbers to the museum, connecting people to Wolverhampton in 30 minutes, and Birmingham in 45 Minutes.

Rail Access

* Tipton railway station

References

External links

Black Country Living Museum official website
{{authority control Buildings and structures in Dudley Buildings and structures in Sandwell History of the West Midlands (county) Industry museums in England Living museums in England Museums in the West Midlands (county) Mining museums in England Motorcycle museums in the United Kingdom Museums established in 1978 Open-air museums in England Steam museums in England Tramways with double-decker trams Transport museums in England Trolleybus transport in the United Kingdom Walsall Wolverhampton Industrial archaeological sites in England