User:Asif-the-Giant/sandbox

The Black Country was so named because of the surface coal that was visible throughout most of the country that is still referred to as the black country.

The Black Country did not get its name because of the pollution. After heavy use during the onset of the Industrial Revolution, the area was indeed dirty and grimy and the soot from coal burning was the primary reason for the blackness on buildings. On Mondays, which was washing day, temperature inversions would cause the soot to fall like snow, and the panic of the washer women to gather in the days wash was worth a good laugh. This of course was when the area became a center for the Industrial revolution.

I was born in Oldbury and I can vouch for the fact that many a home had no dirt in which to grow a garden because of the coal protruding through the surface. This coal had been scraped flat by the building process as would be normal today.

A mothers admonition to "stay clean" was totally futile if a person rode a bus or used a park bench; their clothes would gather soot.

No matter how careful any person might be the cuffs and collars of shirts would be grimy by the end of the day regardless of occupation.

Some local historians believe that the name was extant prior to the industrial revolution.

My older relatives, since passed on, confirmed this for me by day trips to the countryside where the ground was just coal and little else.

The black coal emerging to the surface of the ground gave the area the name ‘The Black Country’.

The amount of coal and ease of obtaining it was handy for the industrial revolution. The presence of limestone deposits around Dudley aided the smelting of iron ore and added to the value of using the area. There were both coal pits and coal mines.

At school leaving age I was first offered a job as a miner as was ever other boy leaving school.

Strangely enough everyone smoked 'fags' and took a pint or two in the saloon, forbidden for women to enter, where the floor would be covered with sawdust and there would be an absence of chairs and tables. A shelf to put down your drink with a rail underneath to put up your foot.

The sawdust was to soak up the blood and urine. The urine came from the drinkers who simply pissed where they stood. Most walls and floors of a saloon were made of easily cleaned ceramic tiles, usually white.

The blood was the result of fighting, with broken glasses being the weapon of choice.

The women had to content themselves with the bar or snug, outfitted with upholstered chairs in the snug, and wooden ones in the bar. Permitted to enter unescorted; usually no men would be present.

In spite of the dirt and soot most homes were kept spotlessly clean. It may be my imagination, but it seemed the woman of the house spent the day cleaning.

I would like a correction to be made concerning the reason for calling it the Black Country.