forging ahead
A major new historic development
BCLM: Forging ahead takes our story into the 1940s, 50s and 60s.
The development will include new learning spaces and a brand new visitor centre, taking our story up to the closure of the Baggeridge Coal Mine in 1968 which brought about the end of a unique era for the Black Country.
This exciting project will use real things, real people and real stories to engage and inspire visitors, of all ages, to learn about the Black Country’s heritage, its impact on the world and its relevance today.
Explore more about the project, including how you can get involved, below.
Our plans
Our vision to create a world class heritage attraction in the heart of the Black Country.
real things, real people, real stories
The Story So far
The identity of the Black Country is based on the former richness of its coal measures, of its iron working and the impact that these and related industries had on the landscape and the people that lived in it.
It is a powerful story – distinctive because of the scale, drama, intensity and multiplicity of the industrial might that was unleashed. Arguably this is the place where the impact of the Industrial Revolution was greatest.
Today, the Black Country is described as the Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton, recognised as a distinctive region by the Ordnance Survey in 2009 and home to 1.2 million people. Whilst modern day high-technology has replaced heavy industry, manufacturing still remains a vital and central part of the Black Country economy and community.
Our Museum
With extraordinary Designated collections, the Museum is a unique, 26-acre real-life setting for telling stories. Open-air museums like ours don’t create galleries and exhibition halls with cases and labels; they build landscapes, workshops, alleyways, backyards and streets, where things happen.
Visitors are welcomed and immersed in an environment where they can see, smell, hear, touch and taste history; living interpretation and working demonstrations enable people of all ages and backgrounds to truly understand how the Black Country played a central and formative role in the creation of the connected, industrialised world we recognise today.
We are one of the UK’s five big open-air museums having welcomed over 10 million visitors since opening in 1978.
Following our 40th Anniversary in 2018, this endorsement of our BCLM: Forging Ahead project by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, means that we are now able to complete the Museum’s story and enable a greater number and a wider variety of people to understand the true significance of the Black Country.
get involved
Over the next few months and years we will be looking for your help to complete the Museum’s story. Whether it be through volunteering, donating an object or sharing your stories.
Right now, we are looking for memories between 1940s-60s for the following buildings:
West Bromwich Gas Showroom, High Street, West Bromwich
Stanton’s Music Shop, Hall Street, Dudley
West Bromwich Building Society Branch, Cape Hill, Smethwick, 1957
Marsh & Baxter’s Butchers’ Shop, Brierley HIll
Elephant & Castle Pub, Wolverhampton
E. Minett Ladies Clothes Shop, Walsall Road, Wednesbury
The Infant Welfare Centre, Lea Road, Wolverhampton
J H Lavender & Co., Hall Green, West Bromwich
Stourbridge Rd Co-op, Halesowen
Cast Iron Houses, Dudley
Dudley Weighbridge Office, Dudley
These buildings have so many stories to tell, so if you or anyone you know remembers them during this period, please get in touch via 0121 557 9643, or email us at [email protected].
Since we opened in 1978, we have collected over 80,000 items ranging from the 1850s to the 1940s.
As we embark on our major development project BCLM: Forging Ahead, we’re now looking to collect items up to the 1960s. We’re particularly interested in items which:
- Have a strong connection with the Black Country
- Are underrepresented in other local museums
- Fill a gap in our existing collections
If you think you have an item dating from the 1940s-60s that might be suitable to our new development, first of all, please give the collecting guidelines a read and, if you feel it meets the criteria, get in touch to arrange an appointment with us – details below.
To arrange an appointment please telephone our Collections Team on 0121 557 9643 or email [email protected]
Do you have a passion for the Black Country?
We’re looking for friendly folk to join our team.
We offer training, ongoing support and the opportunity to experience time in one of the premier museums in the country.
Take a look at our current and new opportunities.
Latest on forging ahead
Seeking memories of Marsh & Baxter Pork Butchers
Black Country Living Museum is recreating Brierley Hill’s Marsh & Baxter pork butchers’ shop in their brand new 1940s-60s high street. On Saturday 11th September
Forging Ahead: New Book by Simon Briercliffe
Forging Ahead: New Book Celebrating the Post-War Years of Prosperity in the Black Country In the wake of World War Two, a unique social, economic,
BCLM Makes History by Forging Ahead
Black Country Living Museum is delighted to announce that major works on its major capital development BCLM: Forging Ahead – the largest project in its
Did you shop at Langer’s Army and Navy Stores, Stourbridge, in the 1960s?
05 February 2020 Black Country Living Museum is looking for memories from the 1960s of Langer’s Army and Navy Stores, Stourbridge as part of its