Where is the Black Country?

The Black Country is the cluster of industrial towns immediately west and north-west of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. It has no official boundary and never has, but today it is usually taken to mean the four metropolitan boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton.

Which towns are in the Black Country?

Ask five locals and you'll get five slightly different maps, but these towns are almost always included:

• Dudley borough: Dudley, Stourbridge, Halesowen, Brierley Hill, Sedgley, Kingswinford, Netherton, Coseley.
• Sandwell: West Bromwich, Oldbury, Smethwick, Tipton, Wednesbury, Rowley Regis, Cradley Heath.
• Walsall: Walsall, Darlaston, Willenhall, Bloxwich, Brownhills, Aldridge.
• Wolverhampton: Wolverhampton, Bilston, Wednesfield, Tettenhall.

Some people draw the line tighter, keeping only the towns that sat on the old coalfield and leaving out places like Stourbridge or Halesowen. Others draw it wider. Wolverhampton's place is the most argued-over. It's a city in its own right and some residents don't think of themselves as Black Country at all. The Black Country flag, registered in 2012, is flown across all four boroughs, though.

Why is it called the Black Country?

The name dates from the 19th century, when the area was one of the most heavily industrialised places on earth. It sat on the South Staffordshire coalfield, where a coal seam around 30 feet thick (the "Thick Coal") came close to the surface. Coal mines, ironworks, foundries, brickworks and chain-makers sent so much smoke into the air that visitors described the landscape as black by day and red with furnace glow by night.

A second explanation points to the ground itself, blackened by the exposed coal seams and spoil heaps. Both probably played a part. The name was in common use by the 1840s.

Where is it on the map?

Picture Birmingham city centre. The Black Country starts a few miles to the west and runs roughly 15 miles north to south, from Wolverhampton and Walsall down to Stourbridge and Halesowen. The M5 runs along its eastern side, the M6 cuts across the north, and the countryside of South Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire begins sharply on its western edge.

That sharp edge is why it's such a good base for camping. Within 20 minutes of most Black Country towns you can be on Kinver Edge, the Clent Hills or the farmland of South Staffordshire, and Wyre Forest and Cannock Chase are not much further.

Things to see in the Black Country

• Black Country Living Museum (Dudley): an open-air museum of rebuilt streets, shops, a coal mine and canal boat trips. It was also a filming location for Peaky Blinders.
• Dudley Zoo and Castle: a zoo built around the ruins of a medieval castle on Castle Hill.
• Dudley Canal Tunnel and limestone caverns: boat trips into the flooded limestone mines beneath Dudley.
• The canals: the Black Country has one of the densest canal networks in Britain, and its towpaths make easy, flat walking and cycling routes.
• Black Country UNESCO Global Geopark: the area's geology, from fossil-rich limestone to the coal seams, earned it Global Geopark status in 2020.

Camping near the Black Country

There are very few campsites inside the towns themselves, but plenty on the green edges. Our full campsite list groups them by area, with what each site takes and how far it is from the nearest Black Country town.