The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands, England, west of Birmingham and commonly refers to a region covering most of the four Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton. During the Industrial Revolution, it became one of the most industrialised parts of Britain with coal mines, coking, iron foundries, glass factories, brickworks and steel mills producing a high level of air pollution.
Bilston is a town in the English administrative county of West Midlands, situated in the southeastern corner of the City of Wolverhampton. Historically in Staffordshire, three wards of Wolverhampton City Council cover the town: Bilston East and Bilston North, which almost entirely comprise parts of the historic Borough of Bilston, and Ettingshall which comprises a part of Bilston and parts of Wolverhampton.
Open hearth furnaces are one of a number of kinds of furnace where excess carbon and other impurities are burnt out of pig iron to produce steel. Since steel is difficult to manufacture due to its high melting point, normal fuels and furnaces were insufficient and the open hearth furnace was developed to overcome this difficulty. Compared to Bessemer steel, which it displaced, its main advantages were that it did not expose the steel to excessive nitrogen, was easier to control, and it permitted the melting and refining of large amounts of scrap iron and steel.
Coseley is a suburban area in the north of the Dudley Metropolitan Borough, in the English West Midlands. Part of the Black Country, it is situated approximately three miles north of Dudley itself, on the border with Wolverhampton. Though it is a part of Dudley for statistical and administrative purposes, it is divided between the Bilston and Tipton postal districts, and mostly falls within the Wolverhampton South-East parliamentary constituency.
Lanesfield is a district now within the boundaries of Wolverhampton, specifically in the city council's Spring Vale ward. Lanesfield lies within the Ancient Manor of Sedgley and was a rural village for many years until the growth of the Black Country's industries. Lanesfield's name originates from the Lane family who lived where the area now stands. Originally, Lanesfield was known as Lane's Field.
Wolverhampton South East is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
Bilston East is a ward of Wolverhampton City Council, West Midlands. It covers the southern and eastern parts of the town of Bilston, as well as Bradley. It borders the Spring Vale, Ettingshall, and Bilston North wards, as well as the Metropolitan Boroughs of Walsall, Sandwell, and Dudley. It forms part of the Wolverhampton South East constituency.
The Stour Valley Line is the historic and colloquial name for the line of the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stour Valley Railway Company between Birmingham and Bushbury, just north of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, England. It now forms part of the "Birmingham Loop" or "Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford Line" of the West Coast Main Line. The "Stour Valley" was a branch which was never built, yet it gives its name to the whole section.
City of Wolverhampton Council is the governing body of the City of Wolverhampton, England. The Council is still legally called Wolverhampton City Council but uses City of Wolverhampton Council as its corporate brand.
The Edgar Thomson Steel Works is a steel mill in the Pittsburgh area communities of Braddock and North Braddock, Pennsylvania, United States. It has been active since 1872. It is currently owned by U.S. Steel and is known as Mon Valley Works – Edgar Thomson Plant on its official website.
Stewarts & Lloyds was a steel tube manufacturer with its headquarters in Glasgow at 41 Oswald Street. The company was created in 1903 by the amalgamation of two of the largest iron and steel makers in Britain, A. & J. Stewart & Menzies Ltd, Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland and Lloyd & Lloyd Ltd, Birmingham, England.
The Round Oak Steelworks was an important steel production plant in Brierley Hill, West Midlands, England. It was founded by Lord Ward, later the Earl of Dudley in 1857 as an outlet for pig iron made in the nearby blast furnaces. During the Industrial Revolution, the majority of iron-making in the world was carried out within 32 kilometres of Round Oak. For the first decades of operation, the works produced wrought iron. However in the 1890s, steelmaking was introduced. At its peak, thousands of people were employed at the works. The steelworks was the first in the United Kingdom to be converted to natural gas, which was supplied from the North Sea. The works were nationalized in 1951, privatized in 1953 and nationalized again in 1967 although the private firm Tube Investments continued to part manage the operations at the site. The steelworks closed in December 1982.
Sir Alfred Hickman, 1st Baronet was a British industrialist and Conservative party politician who was a Member of Parliament (MP) between 1885 and 1906.
Eber Brock Ward was an American iron and steel manufacturer and shipbuilder. He was known as the "steamship king of the Great Lakes" and as the "first of the iron kings." Ward became Detroit's first millionaire. He was the wealthiest man in the Midwest, in his time, due to his steel factories.
Ebbw Vale Steelworks was an integrated steel mill located in Ebbw Vale, South Wales. Developed from 1790, by the late 1930s it had become the largest steel mill in Europe. Nationalized after World War II, as the steel industry changed to bulk handling, iron and steel making was ceased in the 1970s, as the site was redeveloped as a specialised tinplate works. Closed by Corus in 2002, the site is being redeveloped in a joint-partnership between Blaenau Gwent Council and the Welsh Government.
John Jones, and his brothers William Highfield Jones and Joseph Jones, were successful industrialists, benefactors and politicians. They all became aldermen and served as Mayor of Wolverhampton.
