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Black Country Museum

The Black Country Living Museum (formerly the Black Country Museum) is an open-air museum of rebuilt historic buildings in Dudley, West Midlands.

It is located in the centre of the Black Country, 10 miles west of Birmingham. The museum occupies 105,000 square metres (26 acres) of former industrial land partly reclaimed from a former railway goods yard, disused lime kilns, canal arm and former coal pits.

The museum opened to the public in 1978, and has since added over 50 shops, houses and other industrial buildings from around the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton (collectively known as the Black Country); mainly in a specially built village.

Most buildings were relocated from their original sites to form a base from where demonstrators portray life spanning 300 years of history, with a focus on 1850–1950.
The museum continues to evolve, as further buildings and other exhibits are added.
These photographs were all taken during a visit on August 30, 1989.
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  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    Race Course Colliery is a replica colliery constructed around an existing mine shaft on the Black Country Museum site. Further information can be found on the Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Racecourse_Colliery

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    Race Course Colliery is a replica colliery constructed around an existing mine shaft on the Black Country Museum site. Further information can be found on the Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Racecourse_Colliery

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    Race Course Colliery is a replica colliery constructed around an existing mine shaft on the Black Country Museum site. Further information can be found on the Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Racecourse_Colliery

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    Race Course Colliery is a replica colliery constructed around an existing mine shaft on the Black Country Museum site. Further information can be found on the Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Racecourse_Colliery

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    Race Course Colliery is a replica colliery constructed around an existing mine shaft on the Black Country Museum site. Further information can be found on the Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Racecourse_Colliery

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    A rotary beam engine awaiting reconstruction.

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The 1930s Town in its early days of development.

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    Dudley Canal Lime Kilns

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The 1930s Town in its early days of development.

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Dudley Canal Tunnel with an excursion boat entering.

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    Dudley Canal Boatyard

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    Dudley Canal Wharf

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    Steel Rolling Mill

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    Steel Rolling Mill

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    Dudley Canal with Lime Kilns on the left.

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    Canal Bridge

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    Off Licence and Sweet Shop reconstruction.

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    Off Licence and Sweet Shop reconstruction.

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    Dudley Canal and Steel Rolling Mill Wharf

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Replica Newcomen Engine at the Black Country Museum was completed in 1986, being a full-scale operational replica of the 1712 Newcomen Steam Engine. It is the only full-size working replica of the engine in existence. The 'fire engine' as it was known, is an impressive brick building from which a wooden beam projects through one wall. Rods hang from the outer end of the beam and operate pumps at the bottom of the mine shaft which raise the water to the surface. The engine itself is simple, with only a boiler, a cylinder and piston and operating valves. A coal fire heats the water in the boiler which is little more than a covered pan and the steam generated then passes through a valve into the brass cylinder above the boiler. The cylinder is more than 2 metres long and 52 centimetres in diameter. The steam in the cylinder is condensed by injecting cold water and the vacuum beneath the piston pulls the inner end of the beam down and causes the pump to move.

  • The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands - August 30, 1989

    The Replica Newcomen Engine at the Black Country Museum was completed in 1986, being a full-scale operational replica of the 1712 Newcomen Steam Engine. It is the only full-size working replica of the engine in existence. The 'fire engine' as it was known, is an impressive brick building from which a wooden beam projects through one wall. Rods hang from the outer end of the beam and operate pumps at the bottom of the mine shaft which raise the water to the surface. The engine itself is simple, with only a boiler, a cylinder and piston and operating valves. A coal fire heats the water in the boiler which is little more than a covered pan and the steam generated then passes through a valve into the brass cylinder above the boiler. The cylinder is more than 2 metres long and 52 centimetres in diameter. The steam in the cylinder is condensed by injecting cold water and the vacuum beneath the piston pulls the inner end of the beam down and causes the pump to move.

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