Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the context of "Willenhall"

The Black Country is a loosely defined area of England's West Midlands. It is mainly urban, covering most of the Dudley and Sandwell metropolitan boroughs, with the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton. 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 (9.1 m) thick 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.

Walsall (/ˈwɔːlsɔːl/, or /ˈwɒlsɔːl/; locally /ˈwɔːsʊl/) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located 9 miles (14 km) north-west of Birmingham, 7 miles (11 km) east of Wolverhampton and 9 miles (14 km) south-west of Lichfield.

Walsall was transferred from Staffordshire to the newly created West Midlands county in 1974. At the 2011 census, the town's built-up area had a population of 67,594, with the wider borough having a population of 269,323. Neighbouring settlements in the borough include Darlaston, Brownhills, Pelsall, Willenhall, Bloxwich and Aldridge.

Darlaston is an industrial town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands of England. It is located near Bilston, Walsall, Wednesbury, Willenhall and Tipton. It was historically part of Staffordshire.

West Midlands is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the larger West Midlands region of England. A landlocked county, it is bordered by Staffordshire to the north and west, Worcestershire to the south, and is almost surrounded by Warwickshire to the east. The largest settlement is the city of Birmingham.

The county has an area of 902 km (348 sq mi) and is almost entirely urban, with a population of 3,036,605 in 2024; this made it the second most populous county in England after Greater London. Birmingham is located in the centre of the county, with Solihull and the city of Coventry to the east and West Bromwich and the city of Wolverhampton to the west. Sutton Coldfield lies to the north. Nearly all of the county's settlements belong to the West Midlands and Coventry conurbations, but the "Meriden Gap" between them is rural. For local government purposes West Midlands comprises seven metropolitan boroughs: Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, and Wolverhampton. They collaborate through the West Midlands Combined Authority. The county was historically part of Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire.

The Black Country Living Museum (formerly the Black Country Museum) is an open-air museum of rebuilt historic buildings in Dudley, West Midlands, England. It is located in the centre of the Black Country, 10 miles (16 km) west of Birmingham. The museum occupies 10.5 hectares (26 acres) of former industrial land partly reclaimed from a former railway goods yard, disused lime kilns, 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 Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton (collectively known as the Black Country); 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.

Brownhills is a historic market and industrial town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall of the West Midlands county, England. The town is located south of Cannock Chase and close to the large Chasewater reservoir, it is 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Walsall, a similar distance southwest of Lichfield and 13 miles (20.9 km) miles north-northwest of Birmingham. It is part of the Aldridge-Brownhills parliamentary constituency and neighbours the villages of Pelsall and Walsall Wood. It lies within the boundaries of the historic county of Staffordshire.

The town lies close to the route of the ancient Watling Street, and although there is no record of its existence before the 17th century, Ogley Hay – a district of the town today – is recorded as a settlement in the Domesday Book. Brownhills quickly grew around the coal-mining industry, especially after the town became linked to the canal and railway networks in the mid-19th century. By the end of the century, Brownhills had grown from a hamlet of only 300 inhabitants to a town of more than 13,000, of whom the vast majority were employed in the coal industry. Mining remained the town's principal industry until the 1950s; the subsequent closure of the pits led to a severe economic decline that has continued until now. The local authority instituted a regeneration programme in 2007, which was hoped would revive the town's fortunes, but there has been little subsequent development.

Pelsall is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. Forming part of the borough's border with Staffordshire, Pelsall is 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Walsall and midway between the towns of Bloxwich and Brownhills. It became a centre for coal mining and the site of an iron works in the 19th century. Pelsall is known for its commons. The Wyrley and Essington Canal is nearby.