I've just added a new page to this website: a bibliography of Black Country history. This region is, as any scholar who tries to research it will tell you, tremendously under-researched compared to many comparable regions, which is strange when you consider the huge significance of the Black Country to British industrial, social, technological and … Continue reading Towards a bibliography of Black Country history
Tag: stourbridge
Righteous Among The Nations
I often walk the dog in Mary Stevens Park, in Stourbridge, and walk through the grand, now-restored gates. This morning though, it was a plaque on the wall to the right of the gates that caught my eye. There's a tribute there to one Frank Foley, a Devonian by birth but one who died in … Continue reading Righteous Among The Nations
Black Country Irish: lies, damned lies and statistics
We've had a quick look at some of the stories and statistics behind the Irish in the Black Country, particularly focusing on the census data for 1851. Data is an essential part of the story, but it is just a part. The historian can do loads with that, but it stops being interesting before too long: … Continue reading Black Country Irish: lies, damned lies and statistics
That particular articulation of social relations which we are at the moment naming as… Doulton Brook
A break from the Irish this week. I've been mostly reading Doreen Massey this week - if you're not familiar with her she's an urban geographer of major importance, who died earlier in the year (2016 striking again). She was a radical, a feminist, an unorthodox Marxist, and one of the best at problematising what … Continue reading That particular articulation of social relations which we are at the moment naming as… Doulton Brook
“Slums” of the Black Country: Waste Bank, Lye
The South Staffordshire coalfield defines the Black Country for many purposes, but as a culturally-defined region, its borders are highly porous. Wolverhampton is in or out, depending on who you ask; Walsall preferred to be out, at least in 1866. The coalfield knows no political boundaries either, stretching well into Worcestershire in the South (see this map Bob … Continue reading “Slums” of the Black Country: Waste Bank, Lye
“Slums” of the Black Country: a tour of Willenhall
It comes as no surprise that our loquacious correspondent was a fan of the eminent art critic, writer and proto-environmentalist John Ruskin, whose prose was classically Victorian (read, excessively wordy). In his Birmingham Daily Post article of 11th June 1866, we are introduced to Willenhall via quotes from Ruskin's newly-released The Crown Of Wild Olive, whose preface describes the … Continue reading “Slums” of the Black Country: a tour of Willenhall
Observatory Mansions – a history of a bedsit
As a geography student at Kings College London, it's difficult to get very far without studying gentrification. It's a huge topic, worthy of a post in itself, but suffice to say the economic drivers that push social change like gentrification are not often present in the unusual landscapes of decline found in the Black Country. … Continue reading Observatory Mansions – a history of a bedsit
Empty space
Warning again: I'm going to be talking Black Country history a little further down, but I've been interested in what maps do and don't show, so the preamble is a bit... vague and theoretical. Maps are complex beasts. They show what they show, for reasons their makers choose, and the inclusions and omissions can define a district. … Continue reading Empty space
Bricks
Based on my sample of three and a half months, a PhD is mostly reading. Now, I love reading, but there's only so much academic-style concentration one can take in a stretch so I've been breaking it up with some preliminary data collection, downloading census reports at my local library (free in Dudley!). Even in the barest … Continue reading Bricks
Maps, tower blocks, and tower block maps
I mentioned the other day about the fun you can have tracing old features like canals onto modern maps. The vice versa is true as well of course, and I've been playing with some olde maps of Stourbridge to demonstrate. Although I've not been able to give as much time as I'd have liked to the … Continue reading Maps, tower blocks, and tower block maps