Black Country Museum

Established in 1975, the Black Country Museum is a wonderful collection of history and heritage from the Black Country region. There are many buildings and the site now incorporates some 26 acres of residential and industrial property of the time, including live demonstrations and staff in period costumes in the shops and houses. The whole experience is akin to stepping into a time warp. 

You really need a whole day here. The museum shows how people lived and worked around the 18th century to the present day. An electric tramway system is in operation and many of the buses and vehicles are seen in working operation throughout the year. Coal was mined here, and visitors can take a tour down a coal mine and see what life was like.

The visitor centre at the entrance takes you back in time and provides information about the Black Country region. There is a gift shop, a real working pub, a restaurant and canal trips. A walk round the village takes you back in time. See how the locals shopped and the goods that they purchased. Call in at the sweet shop or the bakery and sample their products. You may like to see what an old school classrom looked like or watch a silent movie at the cinema. 

The Black country museum has gone to a lot of trouble to provide a realistic insight into our past. This has to be on your list of places to visit in the West Midlands. Children will enjoy it immensely as well as the adults.  There is so much to see and do at the Black Country Museum. The staff are friendly and interested in the history of the period. Here is a list of the attractions that can be found at the museum. 

tram rides, cast iron houses, rock and fossil shop, underground mine trip, racecourse colliery, Newcomen engine, toll house, cottages, Oliver shop, Builders yard, St James School, fairground, tram depot, undercover picnic area, lime kilns, general store, glass cutters shop, chain makers house, photographers studio, chemists, chapel, canal trips, carters yard, Bottle and Glass Inn, cobblers shop, nail making shop, residential housing, brass foundry, limelight cinema, ironmongers shop, hardware shop, fried fish shop, pawnbrokers shop, bakers shop, sweet shop, bakery, rolling mill, anchor forge, iron works office, boatyard and Victorian tea rooms.

Tipton Road, Dudley, West Midlands. Tel: 0121 557 9643

For more photographs of the Black Country Living Museum click here