Secret Black Country
Regular price
€19.99
10-20
A01=Andrew Homer
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Art Architecture & Photography
Author_Andrew Homer
automatic-update
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=WQH
COP=United Kingdom
Cultural History
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
Format=BC
Format_Paperback
History
Language_English
Local & Urban History
PA=Available
Photography
Price_€10 to €20
PS=Active
softlaunch
Product details
- ISBN 9781445697543
- Format: Paperback
- Weight: 280g
- Dimensions: 165 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 15 May 2022
- Publisher: Amberley Publishing
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
The towns and villages west of Birmingham, around Dudley, Wolverhampton, Sandwell and Wallsall, became known as the Black Country during the Industrial Revolution due to the intense industrialisation of the area, particularly coal mining and ironworking. The towns soon became one continuously built-up area, which developed its own distinctive character. Secret Black Country explores the lesser-known episodes and characters in the history of the area through the years, from Dudley Castle and royal connections with Lady Jane Grey and Queen Elizabeth I, visits by Charles I and Charles II in the English Civil War and visits by the future Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson to Himley Hall, which became a Red Cross hospital for patients with severe facial injuries during the Second World War, to the evidence of Charlie Chaplin’s birthplace on Black Patch Park in Smethwick. Entries include the massive cavern beneath Dudley Zoo used for storage during the Second World War, the stories behind the gruesome nineteenth-century robbery and murder that caused Fir Tree Hill to be renamed and the tragic death of Dorothy Beaumont, wife of the Deputy Commander of Dudley Castle, while under siege in the Civil War, who is said to still haunt the ruins. Fully illustrated throughout, this book will reveal the hidden heritage of this historic area.
Andrew Homer is a local historian who has been researching and writing about the West Midlands for many years. He has an MA in West Midlands History awarded by the University of Birmingham and is a former Secretary of the Black Country Society. Andrew presents lectures to various organisations and has appeared on local and national television talking about local history and his lifelong fascination with anomalous phenomena, especially ghosts and hauntings. After a career as a college lecturer, Andrew enjoyed working as a Historic Character at the Black Country Living Museum interpreting and explaining the history of the region and the stories of the people who helped to forge our industrial and social heritage. He has written several books for Amberley on Black Country and Birmingham history together with haunted hostelries in Shropshire.
