West Midlands is a metropolitan county in the West Midlands Region, England, with a 2021 population of 2,919,600, making it the second most populous county in England after Greater London. It was created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The county is a NUTS 2 region within the wider NUTS 1 region of the same name. It embraces seven metropolitan boroughs: the cities of Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton, and the boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull and Walsall. The county is overseen by the West Midlands Combined Authority, which covers all seven boroughs and other non-constituent councils, on economy, transport and housing.
The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands county, England covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised during its role as one of the birth places of the Industrial Revolution across the English Midlands with coal mines, coking, iron foundries, glass factories, brickworks and steel mills, producing a high level of air pollution.
Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. According to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, the borough comprises the six amalgamated towns of Oldbury, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, Tipton, Wednesbury, and West Bromwich, although these places consist of numerous smaller settlements and localities.
Oldbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It is the administrative centre of the borough and one of its six constituent towns.
Rowley Regis is a town and former municipal borough in Sandwell in the county of the West Midlands, England. It encompasses the three Sandwell council wards of Blackheath, Cradley Heath and Old Hill, and Rowley. At the 2011 census, the combined population of these wards was 50,257.
The West Midlands conurbation is the large conurbation that includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton and the towns of Sutton Coldfield, Dudley, Walsall, West Bromwich, Solihull, Stourbridge and Halesowen in the West Midlands, England. It is also referred to as the Birmingham urban area and is one of the most populated and densely populated built-up areas in the United Kingdom.
Blackheath is a town and ward in the Rowley Regis area of the Sandwell Metropolitan Borough, in the county of West Midlands, England.
Halesowen is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of West Midlands, England.
The Stour(, rhymes with "flour") is a river flowing through the counties of Worcestershire, the West Midlands and Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England. The Stour is a major tributary of the River Severn, and it is about 25 miles (40 km) in length. It has played a considerable part in the economic history of the region.
Warley was a short-lived county borough and civil parish in the geographical county of Worcestershire, England, forming part of the West Midlands conurbation. It was formed in 1966 by the combination of the existing county borough of Smethwick with the municipal boroughs of Oldbury and Rowley Regis, by recommendation of the Local Government Commission for England. It was abolished just 8 years later in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, with its area passing to the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell.
Amblecote is an urban village and one of the most affluent areas in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England. It lies immediately north of the historic town of Stourbridge, extending about one and a half miles from it, and is on the southwestern edge of the West Midlands conurbation. Historically, Amblecote was in the parish of Oldswinford, but unlike the rest of the parish it was in Staffordshire, and as such was administered separately.
Cradley Heath is a town in the Rowley Regis area of the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England approximately 2 miles (3 km) north-west of Halesowen, 3 miles (5 km) south of Dudley and 8 miles (13 km) west of central Birmingham. Cradley Heath is often confused with the neighbouring Halesowen district of Cradley, although the two places are separated by the River Stour and have long been in separate local authorities, and until 1966 were in separate counties.
Halesowen and Rowley Regis is a constituency in the West Midlands represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by James Morris, a Conservative.
Cradley is a village in the Black Country and Metropolitan Borough of Dudley near Halesowen and the banks of the River Stour. Colley Gate is the name of the short road in the centre of Cradley. It was part of the ancient parish of Halesowen, but unlike much of the rest of that parish, which was an exclave of Shropshire, Cradley was always in Worcestershire, until the creation of the West Midlands county in 1974. This meant that for civil administrative purposes, Cradley formerly had the officers which a parish would have had. The population of the appropriate Dudley Ward taken at the 2011 census was 13,340.
Warley West was a parliamentary constituency in the borough of Sandwell in the West Midlands of England. It was initially centred on the towns of Rowley Regis and Cradley Heath, and from 1983 also incorporated parts of Oldbury.
Halesowen was a medieval parish in the West Midlands of England.
Old Hill is an area of Rowley Regis in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell in the West Midlands, England, situated around 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Halesowen and 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south of Dudley. Initially a separate village it is now part of the much larger West Midlands conurbation.
Lutley is an area of Halesowen in the West Midlands, England. Site of a mill, called the Lutley Mill, also the name of a local Pub. Lutley Mill is situated on Puddings Brook. The Lutley Gutter runs through Lutley.
The administrative boundaries of Worcestershire, England have been fluid for over 150 years since the first major changes in 1844. There were many detached parts of Worcestershire in the surrounding counties, and conversely there were islands of other counties within Worcestershire. The 1844 Counties Act began the process of eliminating these, but the process was not completed until 1966, when Dudley was absorbed into Staffordshire.
Between the late 11th century and 1844, the English county of Shropshire possessed a large exclave within the present-day Black Country and surrounding area. This territory was gained from neighbouring Worcestershire, and the exclave's border corresponded with the medieval Manor of Hala. Shropshire (Detached) contained the townships of Halesowen, Oldbury, Warley Salop, Ridgacre, Hunnington, Romsley and Langley. The exceptions were Cradley, Lutley and Warley Wigorn, which were exclaves or enclaves still aligned with the original county. Bounded entirely by Staffordshire and Worcestershire, Hala was part of Brimstree hundred, and totally detached from the rest of Shropshire. Bridgnorth, the nearest town within the main body of Shropshire, is 16.8 miles (27.03 km) away from Halesowen, whilst the county town of Shrewsbury is 34.6 miles (55.62 km) away.
