Category Archives: Slum

“Slums” of the Black Country

Posted on December 21, 2015 by

We’ve come to the end of this series on some of the distinct areas of the Black Country that found themselves with a special stigma in the nineteenth century. Based on the Birmingham Daily Post‘s 1866 series on the sanitary condition I’ve had … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Country, Housing, Slum, tower blocks, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

“Slums” of the Black Country: Anvil Yard, Cradley Heath

Posted on December 14, 2015 by

Not far from the Lye Waste lies the ancient manor of Cradley. At the first talk I gave at Wolverhampton Art Gallery in the summer, somebody mentioned to me that I ought to check out Anvil Yard. It turns out, the history of … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Country, environment, History, Housing, Slum, Space, Worcestershire | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

“Slums” of the Black Country: Waste Bank, Lye

Posted on December 7, 2015 by

The South Staffordshire coalfield defines the Black Country for many purposes, but as a culturally-defined region, its borders are highly porous. Wolverhampton is in or out, depending on who you ask; Walsall preferred to be out, at least in 1866. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Country, environment, History, Housing, Landscape, Maps, Slum, Space, Stourbridge | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

“Slums” of the Black Country: Town End Bank, Walsall

Posted on November 30, 2015 by

Class distinction, democracy and proper drains. John Betjeman, In Westminster Abbey The protagonist of Betjeman’s satirical poem unwittingly summarised the approach of mid-Victorian society to many issues. As we’ve seen, poor drainage is one of the emblematic signifiers of a unsanitary area, and was the … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Country, Housing, Irish, Maps, Picture, Poverty, Slum, Staffordshire | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

“Slums” of the Black Country: Gold’s Hill, West Bromwich

Posted on November 23, 2015 by

The Black Country is constructed not just upon topography but upon geology. Mines can only be built where there’s something to mine; other sorts of works require proximity to those materials; infrastructure is built around, and to meet the demands of, the geology. … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Country, Canal, environment, Housing, Maps, Public Health, Slum | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

“Slums” of the Black Country: Darlaston

Posted on November 16, 2015 by

I’ve ummed and aahed a bit about what to write about the Post‘s report on Darlaston. It’s really the same old story: surface drainage, evils, abomination, bubbling and seething, stagnant, over-flowing, the cholera, back courts, and so on; there’s not a lot … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Country, half baked theories, History, Housing, Maps, Poverty, Public Health, Slum | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“Slums” of the Black Country: Oatmeal Square, Wednesbury

Posted on November 9, 2015 by

Our Birmingham Daily Post correspondent is concerned with the sanitary condition of the Black Country. Filth, smells, pigs, crowded courts – all acted as signals for diseases like cholera, typhoid, smallpox, that terrified the middle-class, newspaper-reading sets. This accounts for … Continue reading →

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“Slums” of the Black Country: Eel Street, Oldbury

Posted on November 2, 2015 by

The Post’s next community is one I’m loathe to try and explain in detail. Oldbury was infamous as one of the most polluted towns in the country – so much so that Dr Janet Sullivan recently completed a top-notch PhD thesis on … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Country, Canal, environment, Everyday Life, History, Housing, Maps, Public Health, Slum | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

“Slums” of the Black Country: a tour of Willenhall

Posted on October 26, 2015 by

It comes as no surprise that our loquacious correspondent was a fan of the eminent art critic, writer and proto-environmentalist John Ruskin, whose prose was classically Victorian (read, excessively wordy). In his Birmingham Daily Post article of 11th June 1866, we are introduced … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Country, environment, Housing, Maps, Slum | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

“Slums” of the Black Country: Quarry Lane, Bilston

Posted on October 19, 2015 by

If there’s been some research into Carribee Island in the past, and a little into the Mambles in Dudley, there’s almost nothing to be googled on another of the Birmingham Daily Post’s ‘low-lights’ of the Black Country, the next in a series … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Country, environment, Housing, Maps, Public Health, Slum | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments