Black Country Living Museum, Open-air industrial museum in Dudley, England.
Black Country Living Museum is an open-air site in Dudley that displays over 50 reconstructed buildings from between 1850 and 1950, including workshops, homes, and shops. The complex covers roughly 10.5 hectares and recreates an industrial village with streets, canals, and a working mine entrance.
The site belonged to the industrial core of the region from the 17th century, when early experiments in iron smelting took place. The museum was established in the 1970s on the grounds of a closed colliery to preserve workshops and buildings threatened with demolition.
People once lived in tight rows of brick houses and shopped at corner stores, while men often worked in forges or mines nearby. The pub served as a meeting point after shifts, where news was shared and friendships formed over pints.
Many areas can be walked through, while some demonstrations run only at certain times of the day, such as in the workshops or school. Visitors usually explore on foot, moving along cobbled paths and narrow lanes that connect the buildings.
A working trolleybus from the 1940s runs regularly across the site, recalling the former urban transport network. Inside one workshop, a replica of Thomas Newcomen's steam engine operates and shows how water was pumped from mines.
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