Industrial enthusiasts
From mining to brickmaking, and from chain making to aluminium casting, find out more about the Black Country’s industrial past.
This trail points out examples of our storytelling where you can discover how the Black Country earned its name and what the region has produced.
1. Newcomen Engine (1712)
In 1712, Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729) invented the world’s first successful steam engine in which mechanical work was achieved by a piston moving in a cylinder.
It was known to have been put to work in the Black Country and proved an effective way of pumping water out of ever deeper coal mines.
While nothing remains of the original engine, the Museum’s replica is full sized and tells the story of an invention that changed the course of world history.
2. Racecourse Colliery (1910)
The Black Country made a significant contribution to the Industrial Revolution, as the region was uniquely rich in coal, ironstone, limestone and fire clay.
The unmistakable outline of the timber pit head frame at Racecourse Colliery marks the position of one of the original coal pits on the site (there are around 40 disused mine shafts across the Museum’s 29 acres).
Don’t miss finding out more coal mining and the famous “Staffordshire Thick” (a coal seam 30ft thick) by going on an underground tour in Drift Mine.
3. Cricket Field Brickworks (1955)
Brickworks were a key industry across the whole Black Country throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. By the mid-20th century, brickworks could claim to be the only major industry in the Black Country still rooted to its raw material, given the decline in iron and coal mining.
Cricket Field Brickworks manufactured bricks of all kinds, including firebricks and fireclay goods. The Museum’s recreation tells the story of women in brickmaking; brickmaking in the Black Country has long been a mainstay of female labour.
4. Joe H. Smith & Sons (Oldbury) Ltd. (1953)
Founded by Joe H. Smith in 1895, this family-run company produced edge tools and were best known for their sledgehammers.
The early trademark for the firm bore a sledge motif and the continued manufacture of the sledgehammer, throughout the company’s history until closure in 2009, is a matter of pride within the family.
The four drop hammers on display were translocated from the original works in 2003.
5. J.H. Lavender Aluminium Foundry (1959)
J.H. Lavender is an aluminium die-casting foundry from Hall Green, West Bromwich, that was founded in 1917 and is still in operation today.
Our translocated building is set in 1959 when the business was producing large quantities of aluminium castings for the motor industry and other clients.
6. The Workers' Institute (1935)
The Workers’ Institute stands as a monument to the struggle of the women chain makers of Cradley Heath who laid down their tools in 1910 to strike for a living wage.
Led by Mary Macarthur (1880-1921), these women focused international attention on the plight of Britain’s low paid workers and established the principle of a minimum wage.
7. Chain Making Shop (1900)
The making of heavy chains and cables in the Black Country was introduced around 1824 and made in large works such as Noah Hingley’s of Netherton.
Smaller chain was made in workshops like this one or by outworkers in small back yard chain shops.
8. Nailmaking Workshop (1900)
The hand making of nails is one of the oldest specialist iron trades of the Black Country, with Dudley famed for its nails in the 16th century.
A peak was reached around 1830, when there were 50,000 nail makers at work in the region, principally around Dudley, Sedgley, Gornal, Lye, Halesowen, and Old Hill.
The contents of our nail shop were taken from a workshop located behind 17 Chapel Street, Halesowen, dating to the 1880s and last operated in the 1940s.
9. Sidebotham's Steel Trap Works (1937)
This steel trap works, owned by four generations of the Sidebotham family, is a unique survival of a metal working trade particularly associated with Wednesfield in Wolverhampton.
Traps of all sizes, from large bear traps to small rabbit traps, were made and most were exported; the overseas destinations can be seen marked on the stencils.
