A Century of The Black Country offers an insight into the daily lives and living conditions of local people and gives the reader glimpses and details of familiar places during a century of unprecedented change. Many aspects of the Black Country's recent history are covered, famous occasions and individuals are remembered and the impact of national and international events is witnessed. A Century of The Black Country provides a striking account of the changes that have so altered the appearance of the region and records the process of transformation. Drawing on detailed local knowledge of the community, and illustrated with a wealth of black-and-white photographs, this book recalls what the region has lost in terms of buildings, traditions and ways of life. It also acknowledges the regeneration that has taken place and celebrates the character and energy of local people as they move through the first years of this new century.

For several years chapels have been at the heart of Black Country life. A follow-up to "Black Country Chapels", this illustrated book provides an account not only of the buildings themselves, but also of the active social life that surrounded them. It is useful to those born and brought up in the Black Country.

In their second look at the history and development of Brierley Hill, Ned Williams and the Mount Pleasant Local History Group turn their attention to the areas of Round Oak, Harts Hill, Level Street, Merry Hill, Quarry Bank, Mill Street, The Delph, Silver End and Hawbush. The needs of industry formed these settlements, but once established, they became home to a vast number of schools, churches and chapels, shops and centres of entertainment - as well as a huge number of pubs. The collapse of the metal-based industries and the spread of housing has changed the landscape, but identifying these communities and recognising what went on there in the past helps us understand the development of Brierley Hill.

The Earl of Dudley's Railway, also known as The Pensnett Railway, was nearly 40 miles of track stretching in all directions from The Earl's Iron Works (later a steel works) at Round Oak, just outside Brierley Hill. It began life in a spectacular way back in 1829 when a steam locomotive named Agenoria began hauling wagons of coal from pits near Pensnett, out to a basin on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal at Ashwood. For many years it transported coal from Baggeridge Colliery to the outside world and to Round Oak, and from 1928 until 1939 it carried passengers to the fetes at Himley Park. Now only a small remnant remains at the Round Oak Rail Terminal; the steel works and the pits have gone, some trackbeds have become footpaths, while others have disappeared completely. This book invites you to explore the railway, its locomotives and rolling stock and a little about the men who worked on the line. May it never be forgotten.

Brierley Hill is one of the heavily industrialised towns that make up the region known as the Black Country. Like many such towns it can easily be divided into many smaller communities that, while being part of Brierley Hill, have quite an independent existence and identity of their own. This book sets out on a journey across Brierley Hill that begins at the parish church and ends at one of the principal crossroads in the town centre, and then we make our way around the satellite communities of Brockmoor, Bromley and Pensnett. We find ourselves in a world that was dominated by many local pits where coal and fireclay were extracted, much of this coal being used in the manufacture of iron. When steel came along, Brierley Hill became the home to a large and important steelworks at Round Oak. Other companies came into the area to manufacture products using steel and some became very large local employers and integral parts of the community. Large scale industry and mining may have gone but the communities they spawned survive and this books provides a glimpse of the shops, pubs, schools, chapels and churches and other facilities that once made each 'village' so self-sufficient, intertwined with their railways and canals of industry. With over 200 historic and fascinating photographs, this book is a must-have for locals and visitors alike, capturing Brierley Hill as it used to be and how it has been shaped into the place that it is today.

This is Ned Williams and the Mount Pleasant Local History Group's third book about Quarry Bank and this time they take a fresh look at this little Black Country township, plus the even smaller place next door - simply known as The Delph. The area covered is part of the modern Metropolitan Borough of Dudley - the capital of the Black Country. All human life was to be found in these communities of colliers, brickyard workers and bucket-bashers before the days when motorists roared by on their way to the Merry Hill Shopping Centre. This collection of old photographs will make you pause awhile and explore some of the old shops, chapels, canals, vanished industrial enterprises, workshops and byways you never knew existed.

A Century of Wolverhampton offers an insight into the daily lives and living conditions of local people and gives the reader glimpses and details of familiar places during a century of unprecedented change. Many aspects of Wolverhampton's recent history are covered, famous occasions and individuals are remembered and the impact of national and international events is witnessed. A Century of Wolverhampton provides a striking account of the changes that have so altered the city's appearance and records the process of transformation. Drawing on detailed local knowledge of the community, and illustrated with a wealth of black-and-white photographs, this book recalls what Wolverhampton has lost in terms of buildings, traditions and ways of life. It also acknowledges the regeneration that has taken place and celebrates the character and energy of local people as they move through the first years of this new century.

NETHERTON was once a quiet North Worcestershire village on the ancient road from Dudley to Halesowen, but grew into a thriving Black Country industrial community with a strong sense of its own identity. Its natural landscape was remoulded by man in pursuit of coal and clay, and further refined by industrialists. Nethertonians produced metal goods ranging from jews' harps to ships' anchors, from nails and chains to industrial boilers. Among the nineteenth-century houses, pubs and chapels vied for supremacy. But in the second half of the twentieth century the town seemed to be in decline. Today Netherton is hoping for an imaginative regeneration. What it offers is a land of surprises: ancient woodlands, water-skiing on a reservoir, home-brewed ales, churches, chapels, an art centre, canalside walks, a proud industrial past and ever-changing vistas.

For 250 years chapels have been at the heart of Black Country life - both social and religious. Poor social conditions in this heavily industrialised area stimulated the growth of religious nonconformity, and chapel influence is strong even today, despite many closures and demolitions over the last few years. over the Black Country and from a wide range of denominations (Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Independent and Quaker) and has recorded their memories. This is, therefore, a first-hand account not only of the buildings themselves - including tin chapels, those converted to other uses, and some that have vanished altogether - but also of the wide-ranging and active social life that surrounded them - Sunday schools, Scouts and Guides, choirs, youth groups, parades and carnivals, outings, sporting events and so on. paintings, posters and other ephemera, Black Country Chapels will bring back memories for anyone who was born and brought up in the Black Country.

QUARRY BANK PAST & PRESENT is the second book produced by The History Press devoted to the recent history of this Black Country township. Two hundred and fifty pictures bring you a glimpse of the many diverse facets of life in Quarry Bank. It may be a small place, but everything within its boundaries is experienced in great variety: of pubs, schools, workplaces, churches, landscapes and land use. The Mount Pleasant Local History Group, led by Ned Williams, have been exploring the past and present life and times of Quarry Bank for several years. The group has often been frustrated in its search for local photographs, yet once the photographs found have been assembled in a collection such as this the group feels it has something worth sharing. We hope you will delight in glimpses of carnivals, school days, pigeon flying, Sunday schools, shops and people. The past and the present are connected in so many ways, and in a small community so many people's lives are interconnected. In the 'real world' of Quarry Bank every part of the township is connected to other parts, often by a mysterious network of footpaths. We feel confident you will be able to 'connect' with many pictures in this book: plunge into this treasure island called Quarry Bank.

Brierley Hill was one of those Black Country towns which was identified by the work that went on within its boundaries. Everyone knows that Brierley Hill made steel and sausages and fine pieces of glassware. These activities are now in the past but the memory of such work lingers on while the town wrestles with the problems of regeneration. This book pays plenty of attention to steel, pork products and glass, but also provides a glimpse of the many other aspects of work that have made Brierley Hill such a busy place. People worked in local government and in public sector work which maintained the life of the town, while others worked in retailing and in the provision of transport. While looking at the world of work in Brierley Hill we have taken account of the many types of employment that were to be found in its satellites: the hollow-ware industry of Quarry Bank, the brick-making that went on in The Delph, Silver End and Pensnett, the iron trades in Brockmoor and Harts Hill, and the work on the infrastructure that served all these places. The arrival of the Merry Hill Shopping Centre on Brierley Hill's doorstep has given retailing a new dominance in terms of providing local employment, but the picture of work in the twenty-first century is still emerging. Who knows what will bring Brierley Hill fame and fortune in the future?

This new book by Ned Williams takes a fresh look at the town of Dudley, often known as the Capital of the Black Country. Dudley occupies a special position in the Black Country - right in the centre of the ridge that bisects the region. It became industrialised in the same way as its neighbours, but the presence of its castle and zoo, as well as its fine town centre and its attractive residential districts made it seem more than just another Black Country town. In truth, Dudley had to face all the grim implications of nineteenth-century rapid industrialisation, and it spent the first half of the twentieth century overcoming all its problems. Then came local government reorganisation (in 1966 and 1974) and the proud borough that had been created in 1865 suddenly took on a new form. This book looks back to the pre-1966 version of Dudley and studies the life and times of a rather special town: a town of which Dudley people were very proud.

For years Netherton has lived in the shadow of Dudley, of which it is a part. However, this book shows that Netherton was a remarkably complete community in its own right - even though this was never recognised by the organisation of local government. Every ingredient of Black Country history was to be found in Netherton - coal mining, metal-bashing, canals, pubs, chapels, housing of all kinds, and an amazing variety of urban landscapes and vistas. Ned Williams, one of the Black County's foremost local historians, wrote the first book about this neglected corner of the Black Country for Sutton in 2006, and the wide-ranging collection of photographs he presents here in this second volume will stir further memories for locals.

For 250 years chapels have been at the heart of Black country life - both social and religious. Poor social conditions in this heavily industrialised area stimulated the growth of religious nonconformity, and chapel influence is strong even today, despite many closures and demolitions over the last few years. In this third book, Ned Willliams covers the areas that have not been featured already - including Walsall, Wednesbury and Darlaston, as well as denominations that have so far been under-represented.

A selection of photographs drawn from family albums, local collections and professional photographers, spanning from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Each one is captioned, named and dated where possible giving an insight into the way things were, to how they have changed.