Black Country Living Museum
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The Black Country Living Museum (formerly The Black Country Museum) is an open-air museum of rebuilt historic buildings, located in Dudley in the West Midlands of England. The museum occupies a 26 acre (105,000 m²) urban heritage park in the shadow of Dudley Castle in the centre of the Black Country conurbation. It was first opened in 1978, on land partly reclaimed from a former railway goods yard, disused lime kilns and former coal pits; and since then many more exhibits have been added to it.
The Museum preserves some notable buildings from around the Black Country, mainly in a specially built village. Most of the buildings are original, relocated from their original sites. As a living museum, these form a base from which volunteers portray life in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The Museum is constantly changing as new exhibits, especially buildings in the village, are being added.
While most of the exhibits are indoors, on a wet day suitable clothing is recommended for walking between buildings.
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[edit] Museum - general description
A prominent landmark on the Tipton Road passing the main entrance is the frontage of Rolfe Street Baths, relocated from Smethwick. To the left of the main entrance is a more conventional exhibition area with displays of a number of artefacts made in the Black Country. This includes not only machinery, various kinds of vehicles, and the iron products which are a major feature of Black Country industry. It also includes more fragile items such as glassware, reflecting the centuries old industry of lead crystal glass production as well as the Joseph Chance glass works between Oldbury and Smethwick.
Electric trams and trolleybuses transport visitors from the entrance in a recreated factory to the village area with thirty buildings situated by the canal basin. The museum is one of only three in the UK with working trolleybuses, the others being The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft and the East Anglia Transport Museum near Lowestoft. Nearby Walsall retained its trolleybuses until 1970. The village is only a short walk from the main entrance, passing the Newcomen pumping engine and Fun-Fair.
Coal mine displays include underground workings, colliery surface buildings and a replica of the 1712 Newcomen steam engine. In all, forty-two separate displays have either been re-erected or built to old plans to create a living open air museum.
Visitors to the museum may also take a narrowboat trip on the adjacent canal, into the Dudley Tunnel.
[edit] Exhibition area
Located by the main entrance is the exhibition area with an introduction to the Black Country, and a selection of local artefacts. The BCLM is close to the site where Thomas Dudley first mastered the technique of smelting iron with coal instead of wood charcoal and making iron which was pure enough for industrial use. Thus having a claim to be the birthplace of the industrial revolution, the Black Country is famous for its wide range of steel-based products from nails to the anchor and anchor chain for The Titanic. A representative range of smaller items are displayed at the BCLM.
The Black Country was home to some early manufacturers of motor cars and cycles, such as Sunbeam. These are represented in the displays.
Glass working was a major Black Country industry. One source of skills in decorative glassware was refugees such as the Huguenots, leading to major producers of crystal glassware setting up in the area.
[edit] The Village and Old Trades
Houses, shops and public buildings have been rebuilt to create a single early 20th century street, peopled by staff in period costume. A number of the historic trades of the Black Country are also demonstrated.
Some of these buildings are still used in their original function, such as the pub, the sweet shop, the Methodist Chapel and the 'chippy'. Others are faithful replicas of their last use, with goods in the windows. Still others are only shells of the originals, such as the bath house. By immersing the visitor in the everyday objects of life, it becomes clearer how things connected.
While some food products may be sold, modern health regulations forbid the public sampling the delicious traditionally made bread from the village bakery.
A village school shows lessons and school life from about 1912.
A short canal branch runs between the school and the main part of the village. This allows the role of waterways in Black Country history to be portrayed. Alongside the canal basin is a forge where chain-making is demonstrated.
[edit] Traditional fun-fair
A tradditional fun-fair is a prominent part of the museum site, just outside the village. It is right alongside the school, which would have been a temptation to the pupils!. It includes tradditional features, including a helter-skelter.
[edit] Museum trams
- Dudley Tram No 5 built in 1920. This was the Museum's first tram. It is currently in semi-retirement as it has worked much more here than for its original owners; it is currently out of service undergoing attention to its trolleypole and bodywork.
- Wolverhampton Horse Tram No 23 built in 1892. It is the Museum's oldest tram, and is currently on display at the back of the Tram Depot.
- Dudley Tramcar No 34 built in 1919. Returned to traffic in 1997 after restoration, it is now used regularly at the museum.
- Wolverhampton Open Top Tramcar No 49 built in 1909. Returned to traffic in 2004 after a 25 year restoration, is now in regular service in the museum.
[edit] Motor buses
- Daimler CVG6 GEA 174 built in 1948. Currently undergoing restoration, the framework is complete and the main outer body panels are going on; completion is planned in another two years.
- Midland Red BMMO D9 6342 HA. In service following restoration.
[edit] See also
- Beamish Museum - County Durham, England
- Summerlee Heritage Park - Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland
- Ulster Folk and Transport Museum - Cultra, Northern Ireland
[edit] External links
- Black Country Living Museum
- ITV local news report at the museum
[edit] Additional photos
 Early Sunbeam motor car. |
 Various vehicles on display in the exhibition area. |
 Machine on display in the exhibition area. |
 Glass engaver at work in a workshop in the village. |
 Early fire engine. Probably made at the John Marston Co. Ltd. factory in Wolverhampton, which made the Sunbeam cars and motor cycles. |
 That's - - a Dutchie on the left hand side. In one of the cottages in the village, this kitchen fireplace shows cooking utensills, including a "Dutch Oven". |
 A trolleybus at the museum |
