By Mark Andrews
Wot meks the Black Country bostin?
Well, it’s hard to know where to start. But it’s fair to say the world we live in today would be very different were it not for the incredible advances it owes to the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.
Transport would still be by horse and cart. Ships would still be built from wood, and powered by sails, while bridges would still be constructed from stone.
Next Monday is Black Country Day and this week we will be highlighting why we should be proud to come from this region.
Here, as a starter, are 13 reasons to celebrate the Black Country Day.
1. It’s the birthplace of steam
The history books tell us the first car was built by Nicolas Cugnot in Paris in 1769, and the first railway locomotive some 35 years later by Richard Trevithick at Merthyr Tydfil.
True enough, but neither of them would have seen the light of day had Thomas Newcomen not built the world’s first working steam engine at Coneygree Colliery, just outside Dudley, on July 14, 1711. Were it not for this remarkable invention, it would still be ‘oss and carts all round.
It’s why we celebrate Black Country Day on July 14.
2. The canals
These were the motorways of the 19th century, the HS2 of the Industrial Revolution. Their construction enabled the (relatively) rapid transportation of raw materials, and the delivery of finished products around the country – and of course to the docks where they would be transported around the world. Many of the Black Country canals were the work of James Brindley, an engineering genius who came up with some incredible feats of technology which made it possible to navigate the hilly terrain of the region. They looked to be in a state of terminal decline in the 1950s, but the hard work of hundreds of volunteers across the region led to them being restored and becoming prized leisure assets.
3. The man who could jump across the canals
Can you imagine how Simon Cowell would have reacted if Jumping Joe Darby turned up to one of this auditions.
The son of a nailmaker from Netherton, he made his name jumping from one side of the canal to the other – without the need for a run-up. And taking a dip in the middle, without getting his feet wet. It beats a dancing dog, doesn’t it?
His most unique feat was to jump over a chair, alighting on a man’s face and jumping back again without injuring his assistant. On other occasions, he would jump on and off a seated man’s hat, without causing any damage.
Indeed his talents did lead to tours of France, Germany and North America, as well as performing for future King Edward VII at Covent Garden. The Montreal Daily Witness described him as ‘the greatest phenomenon in the jumping line in the world’.
But not only was he amazingly talented, he was also remarkably generous.
When 20,000 fans turned out to watch him take on American spring jumper Jose Parker at Dudley Castle, the gate receipts would have set him up for years to come.
He donated them all to Dudley Guest Hospital. Now that’s star quality
4. Dudley Castle
From William the Conqueror to the English Civil War the history of Britain has been shaped by the goings on at Dudley Castle.
Generally thought to have been built at the time of the Norman Conquest – although there is a line of thought that it might go back as far as 700AD – this splendid ruin has been a centre of intrigue for almost 1,000 years.
In 1553 its owner John Dudley had his daughter-in-law Lady Jane Grey installed as Queen of England and Ireland, although her reign would last for only nine days, and didn’t end particularly well for either of the protagonists. In reality, Dudley had been ruling the Kingdom for the previous six years, while child King Edward VI waited to come of age.
There were more shenanigans during the English Civil War. When Mistress Dorothy Beaumont, wife of Royalist leader Lt Col John Beaumont, died at the castle in 1646, the Roundheads outside agreed to stop fighting so her funeral procession could make its way around the town unhindered. If only Donald Trump could do that.
5. No Black Country, no iron or steel
It was the capital of the world’s iron and steel industries. Legend has it that, at the height of the Industrial Revolution, more than half the steel in the world was made within a 20-mile radius of the Earl of Dudley’s Steel Works at Round Oak.
Whether that is true or not, we do know that in the 1620s, Dud Dudley, the Earl of Dudley’s illegitimate son, became the first person in the world to smelt iron with coke. His great nephew Abraham Darby, also born in Dudley, developed the technique commercially to spark the Industrial Revolution.
Adopted Black Countryman John ‘Iron Mad’ Wilkinson, who ran an ironworks in Bradley, near Bilston, invented the precision boring machine that could create cast iron cylinders. Without it, we may never have had the internal combustion engine.
6. The Tipton Slasher
There were no chauffeur-driven limousines, gold jewellery or fisticuffs at the weigh-in when ‘Tipton Slasher’ William Perry was in his prime.
Perry was a proper hard man, who first claimed the English heavyweight championship on December 17, 1850, when he by defeated Tom Paddock over 27 rounds.
In 1851 he lost the English heavyweight title in a controversial referee’s decision to Harry Broome, which he strongly disputed. After the leading contenders of the day refused to fight him, Perry reclaimed the English title circa 1853, and retained it until Tom Sayers defeated him in a championship bout in 1857.
After his retirement he kept the Bricklayers’ Arms in Walsall Road, Wolverhampton.
7. We’m the only ones who spake proppa English.
According to academic Ed Conduit, the Black Country dialect is the closest thing we now have to Old English.
While other areas of the country allowed their language to be corrupted by the Vikings and Normans, we maintained our standards as the rest of England slipped into a sloppy mish-mash of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and French. The Black Country retained the established standards of grammar and pronunciation, and we still speak better English than anybody from the Home Counties. No matter what the BBC would have you believe.
8. The glittering glass industry
Perhaps overshadowed by the Black Country’s mining, iron and engineering industries, the area around Brierley Hill, Kingswinford, Amblecote and Wordsley was for 400 years recognised as one of the world’s leading centres for glassmaking and cutting. The region’s first glasshouse is thought to have opened sometime circa 1600, and names such as Thomas Webb, Stuart Crystal and Royal Brierley were renowned across the world. The tradition is continued today by Plowden & Thompson in Amblecote, which continues to produce specialist technical glass from a traditional cone.
The Red House Cone is thought to be the only complete remaining glass cone of its kind, and the misleadingly named Stourbridge Glass Museum – it’s actually in Wordsley – hosts possibly the largest glass collection in the country.
9. The Black Country is also the green country
The ‘Unesco Geopark’ doesn’t sound very Black Country does it? Let’s just call it ‘some bostin scenery’.
Proof that the Black Country is not all about smoking chimney and urban sprawl, Wren’s Nest National Nature Reserve is host to some 428 million years of geology, and left Michael Portillo mesmerised when he he was shown a Dudley Bug trilobite during his recent television series. Then there’s the 670-acre Sandwell Valley with its 12th century priory, the glorious lakes of Baggeridge Country Park, or the stunning views from Sedgley Beacon.
10. We luv a loff
Lenny Henry. Billy Dainty. Frank Skinner, Josie Lawrence, Lizzie Wiggins and Norman Pace – not forgetting legends like Dolly Allen, Tommy Mundon, or Aynuk and Ayli – the Black Country has an illustrious record when it comes to making people laugh.
Not only that, they do it without the nastiness of supposedly ‘cutting-edge’ comedians favoured by the London elite. When did you last hear reports of a Black Country comic being censured for foul language, political bias, or causing offence with bad-taste jokes?
That’s because we like to laugh at ourselves rather than others.
11. Black Country Living Museum.
Have you been lately? If not, it might be worth paying a visit. Traditionally, the museum focused on life during the Victorian and Edwardian eras, depicting what the area was like as the epicentre of the world’s manufacturing, and it was the natural place to record the hit period drama series Peaky Blinders.
But the attraction has seen considerable expansion in recent years, taking the story of the Black Country right up to the 1960s, and many of the new attractions may look distinctly familiar. As well as the working chainshops and blacksmith demonstrations, there are also two pubs, a record store, and fairground rides. Not forgetting the two chip shops, serving fittle like it used to be.
No wonder it was recently voted Britain’s best large visitor attraction.
12. Bloomer, Bully, Bellingham etc
The Black Country has produced some of the world’s greatest footballers. From Steve Bloomer, who scored 28 goals in 23 appearances for England from 1895-1907, to Duncan Edwards, who many consider the greatest player of all time, Black Country-born players have worn the white shirt with pride. Then there’s Steve Bull, Lee Sharpe, Allan Clarke, Billy Walker, Jess ‘Peerless’ Pennington.
And then there’s former Cradley schoolboy Morgan Rogers, who impressed during his England debut last year, and what about Jude Bellingham? Possibly a bit of a stretch, given that he was raised in Hagley, but he did cut his playing teeth in Amblecote, so, go on, we’ll allow him.
13. Proper music
Led Zeppelin, Slade, Dexy’s Midnight Runners… no need for reality shows or manufactured bands here. the Black Country is known for music that comes from the heart