Black Country Living Museum

Black Country Living Museum

The World’s First Industrial Landscape celebrated at the Black Country Living Museum.

The Black Country Living Museum tells the story of the industrial revolution through the everyday lives of the people whose skills shaped the modern world. A recreated ‘living’ village lies at the heart of the Museum and gives visitors an atmospheric glimpse into the lives of the ordinary men and women who made the Black Country what it was.

 

Historic buildings from across the Black Country have been moved, brick by brick and rebuilt at the Museum to create a typically tightly-knit Black Country Community in the early 20th Century. Sights, sounds, smells and tastes recall images of the past as visitors immerse themselves in history, experiencing it first hand. The sound of metal striking metal reverberates around the village as the chain maker plies his trade; the sweet scent of tobacco drifts from the tobacconist shop as glamorous advertisements peer out from the windows; colourful potion bottles catch the light in the chemist shop whilst eye-catching pills promise miracle cures; moving speeches stir the heart as voices echo from vintage radios in the repair shop and childhood is remembered with a dip of a finger into a bag of lemon sherbet from the sweetshop.

 

Costumed guides and demonstrators live the history of the Black Country and visitors step into their world as they enter the Museum village. Traditional crafts are revived and nail making, chain making, baking and sweet making are all demonstrated. History has never been so fascinating as costumed guides captivate all with living stories from within the pages of history. The Black Country Living Museum covers 26 acres and encompasses modern exhibition halls, a vintage vehicle showroom, cast iron houses, an early 20th century historic village, coal mine, school, fairground and boat dock. Moving from the 1850s through to the 1950s visitors interact with the past through exhibitions, narrated interpretation, demonstrations of skilled crafts, storytelling and street theatre.

 

Canal transport is well represented with collections of boat builder's equipment to photographs and documents. The Museum also has a working boat dock on site and eight canal boats, including President - the only original  steam powered narrow boat on the waterways today.