Black Country Living Museum

Black Country Living Museum is an award-winning open-air museum that tells the story of one of Britain’s very first industrialised landscapes.

The idea to create an open-air, living museum that told the story of the Black Country started in the late 1960s. In 1967 an exhibition was held in Dudley about the Black Country. The Black Country Society formed, and it was from there that the idea to create the Black Country Living Museum grew. It wasn’t long before a site on Tipton Road was secured and the West Midlands County Council started a programme of land reclamation. Shortly after, the Museum separated from the council and by 1978 it was possible to hold a preview season to show how the Museum might develop.

Today it is set across 26 acres, and showcases reconstructed shops, houses and industrial areas that represent the Black Country’s story.

By 2023, the Museum plans to complete an entire 1940s-60s town centre to continue telling the region’s story in a post-war world.