' South Staffs and the Black
Country'
Geoffrey Boumphrey
A short tour through the Midland counties to see what the present has made of the past and how it is shaping the future
The industries of South Staffordshire are many. One town specialises in locks, another in keys, a third in nuts and bolts. All kinds of hardware are among its output, and there are two important coal-fields, and numerous iron works. Smaller products include jews'harps and mouse-traps ; larger, anchors and iron chains for the biggest ships, boilers, pumps, and motor-cars. The Black Country itself is usually defined as lying in the area bound by-but not including-Stourbridge, Wolverhampton, and Walsall. Its dialect is supposed to be close to the English of Chaucer's 'day.