We recently nipped back down to the West Midlands to see family, and whilst there we took in a visit to the Black Country Living Museum. This is an open-air museum with historical buildings and artefacts arranged into a fake village/townscape near Dudley. This is somewhere I (Ben) know well, having been on several school trips here as a child, though the most recent visit was about 8 years ago.
For those that don't know, the term 'Black Country' is a semi-official nickname for an area of former industrial-belt in the Dudley-Stourbridge area, a tract of land where coal production and foundries were once extensive. For a time this was one of the main industrial areas of England, though not so much nowadays, hence the museum to commemorate its past. Notable buildings throughout the borough have been dismantled brick by brick and rebuilt at the museum, and they are planning for a major extension at the moment.
We arrived and started at the garage in the top end of the town, where The Childs took part in a nice organised activity, using stirrup pumps to move water between buckets and jerry cans. Inside the garage were lots of lovely old bits of kit and machines, including the above, used for testing ignitions on cars I think (I did snap the caption, but have misplaced that image in the edit).
It was a cold day with odd lighting, but I quite like the blue sky without direct sunlight...
More nice old machinery and parts in the record store, including the marvelous record player with its curved casing.
We thought we might take some inspiration from this, a lovely decorative piece from tools and parts.
Some close-ups in the motorcycle store.
A stop at the bakers from some marvelous biscuits and pastries...
...and a proper hardware shop. A historical recreation, but I have been in a couple of places in Yorkshire which are not so far removed from this.
A family connection here, this Singer sewing machine and a few other bits were donated by our family many years ago.
Down to the canal basin, used extensively as a filming location for the BBC's "Peaky Blinders".
Down by the chain making forge.
A good demonstration of chain-making from one of the Vols.
Back up the hill and the tramway was running, supplementing the historical buses being used to ferry visitors around the site.
A couple more greyscale shots, just experimenting.
Up then to the coal mine...
...then over to where the tramway squeezes behind the toll house. I rather like this spot (reminiscent of the old Kinver Light Railway, a pastoral electric tramway) and it is something I fancy building in miniature at some point...
We did the underground tour (no photos allowed) in the fake coal mine, then back up to near the entrance so The Childs could participate in another activity, building air-driven toy racing cars.
Then finally the Newcommen Beam Engine, before home time. The museum is only open for a relatively short time at the moment in the winter/spring season, and we didn't get chance to see everything. That said, the tickets allow you unlimited entry. Any other quick notes? The Childs enjoyed the activities and the trails, the staff and vols were really friendly, the food good and an enjoyable day was had by all.
Finally, my favourite shot of the day. I grew up in the West Midlands, and this shot reminds me a great deal of the dying days of the area when I was very little, in the late 80's. The place I grew up in hadn't been that gentrified, there was still a lot of the 'old' black country around, albeit more derelict than in this shot, and the freight barges would have been abandoned and part-sunk in the canal, but it still evokes memories.
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