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The Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation.... The South Staffordshire coal mines, the coal coking operations, and the iron foundries and steel mills that used the local coal to fire their furnaces, produced a level of air pollution that had few equals anywhere in the world. The Black Country is relatively recent as a concept and identity, the expression deriving from the 1840s. It is popularly believed that the area got its name because of pollution from these heavy industries that covered the area in black soot. There is an anecdote about Queen Victoria ordering the blinds lowered on her carriage as the royal train passed through. However, historians suggest that it is more likely that the name existed even before the Industrial Revolution; outcroppings of black coal scarred the surface of the local heath, and the presence of coal so near the surface rendered the local soil very black.
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Walsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country. Walsall is the administrative... headquarters of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, though it has changed its name to Walsall Council. In the 2001 census, the town had a population of 170,994 with the wider borough having a population of 253,500. Neighbouring towns in the borough include Brownhills, Willenhall, Bloxwich and Aldridge. The name Walsall is thought to have derived from the words "Walh halh", meaning "valley of the Welsh speakers" . Walsall is first referenced as 'Walesho' in a document dated 1002. Possibly as a result of a clerical error, it is not referenced in the Domesday Book, while the settlements of Aldridge, Bescot, Shelfield, Pelsall, Bloxwich, Great Barr and Rushall within the Metropolitan Borough are. However, it is believed that a manor was held here by William FitzAnsculf, who held numerous manors in the Midlands.
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