I'm Wednesbury born and bred. This video bought a tear to my eyes. About 9mins in, we helped each other for free. We didn't have money anyway. Yes you didn't rob your neighbours or go shoplifting. The Women being interviewed in the market are some of the amazing people that raised me and made me what I am today. Black Country and proud.

The men in them foundry’s were bloody tuff guys . You wouldn’t mess with them.

What wonderful people these are! My grandfather was a West Virginia coal miner and blacksmith, cut his life short, but he had a huge heart. Tough as a rail tie, yet smiled through it all. Both the Black Country and Appalachia have seen better days but their history is proud with the pulse of raw soul. Great doc, thank you.

My grandad playing piano and Whistling

Q: What’s the difference between a buffalo and a bison? A: Ya carnt wash ya ‘ands in a buffalo

it does make me cry the best of humanity is behind us

My mom and dad were from West Brom, grandparents from netherton and I grew up in Colley gate. It’s heartbreaking to see what’s happened.

I currently live in Cradley and our local chip shop is called The Chainmakers' and I live in an old terrace like the ones on here. The gardens and houses where I live still have old terraces that were used to make the chains, a part of my house at the back was originally a workshop.

A valuable reminder of how brutal heavy industry life was (it still is, of course, in parts of the world). I do miss the camaraderie of our British pubs in those days though. Long gone now.

This is amazing to watch, born in 1997 in West brom, find it really fascinating seeing how things were back then for people.

Seeing the steelworkers reminded me of my dad, a coal man from Birmingham. Tough life he had.

Im american and lived in the west midlands. I’ve even played non-league football in dudley. Brierley Hill. I returned to california but i dont care what anyone says. Black Country’s my second home

Great time capsule. All my family on my mother's side are from West Bromwich, so although I've lived all my life in Birmingham I feel a tremendous attachment to the Black Country.

It’s a shame we have lost the art of the piano and a good old singsong..You can feel the warmth and togetherness..Now it’s Everyman for himself 😢

Proud to be born bred and still living in Quarry Bank , my dad was a stamper in a drop forge, my grandmother worked on a big drilling machine making shackles, hard working , hard living people, no messing about in the 60s " If yo plade up yo got a Quarry Bonk Paling "Greetings from the Black Country ,Happy New Year Everyone

What a special documentary this was. Thank you for posting it. The ladies were sweet, gentle and pleasant to listen to. Heaven help the man who dared fistfight a chainmaker. Enormous arm and upper body strength. Greetings from a former steeltown, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ❤

What an evocative documentary of the demanding lives of a time long gone. Terrific video, of a terrific community, proud and deservedly so!

Just watched this video warmed my heart to see I'm 68 and from the lunt a little place in Bilston memories a if only Tara al l hope thee bist allright

Great video Proud to be from Coseley in the black country what made Great Britain

Many happy memories brought back of visiting my maternal grandparents in Darlaston - lovely picture of the people, the accent, the humour and the hard work and tough lives they had.

This was fantastic to watch.

Unbelievable that the chain making was 1969, looks more like 1869. Looks an incredibly hard job nonetheless.

awesome film awesome people awesome time

BC born n bread and proud. Our dads and grandads were some of the hardest men around!

My mom and dad used to work in the factorys in bilston that's where they met Bradley's was the name of the factory i miss them so much

It is striking that these people look so much healthier and happier than people today, despite the pollution and the poverty, they appear to have some thing that seems to be gone today, a strong sense of identity, and a pride of place. No one looks obese or undernourished or drug addled. The dog and cock fighting is horrible to hear about though.

My family is black country born and bred , I'm proud of it .

My childhood is the black country and i can honestly say we were much happier back then and we didnt have much other than family. Now all gone

Real english people great stuff

I was born in Halem hospital West Bromwich, Brought up in Wednesbury until 6years old and thereafter in Tipton. I now live in Wales. It's difficult to explain to people how special Black Country culture has been and how different my childhood has been from other people brought up in other areas. This video has reminded me of all that but I can't help but notice that most people interviewed are talking with their "posh" voice and not he really broad Black Country dialect I remember.

what an amazing film.

this reminds me of my childhood days.

Wow...I was born in the fifties but in the early eighties I used to work at Butlins and every night just before closing time, everyone would head over to 'The Pig and Whistle' for a sing song , songs like 'I am the Piano Man' , the place was heaving and with the singing, the building literally shook ! Great times !

1969 i was born in April of that year. Things have changed so much.

Born 1947 in Willenhall at last someone sets straight the Blackcountry bounderies properly

A truly wonderful documentary. Thank you so much for making this available.

grey pase and bacon!! i vaguely remember eating this in the wheatsheaf(holdens pub) west brom near carters green, on match day!! around 1979! and it wuz bostin!1

real people . wouldnt give you tuppence for todays youth

Great video. Proud to be a black country lad

what have we become

Thats cool living in 4al history, kind regards from Aotearoa/ New Zealand

My family are😢 from the Black Country and the Jewellery quarter- I'm so proud of the connections despite growing up in Cheltenham and attending a private school ❤

Hard times tough area ,but the elite factory owners well cashed up

Bloody hell those pubs, I remember them, well the last of them

No wonder my grandparents left Dundee in 1919 and came too East London in RSA. Thank you Grandad McCulloch and Nanny. RIP. Glad you not around to see the disaster SA is now since 1994. You would weep.

For many years I thought my heritage originated in Wales .Last year I discovered it was actually West Bromwich .It transpired my Great Grandfather stood up against a mine owner after an accident which claimed many lives .He was forced out of town and settled in South Yorkshire..

very interesting video. I must confess that as I live in Northamptonshire, I only had a very vague idea of where the black country was, so it was nice to have it's boundaries defined. thankyou for sharing

Thanks for posting this v interesting programme

In 69 my family was in hilltop:::running the cottage spring pub :::I used to go to wensbury baths with my mates::and I remember the market

2 generations back this was my grandparents, and they were in and around the area for a good few generations back before then ❤

enjoyed that thanks for sharing

Gray pays n berkan bits, me mom brought up 7 kids on that culinary delight

Shame on royalty. What a hard,hard life these people lived. Shocking.

Superb piece of history 👏👏 born in willenhall the skilled industry that was prevalent in our area has long since gone.My grandparents used to run The Bell in willenhall and my uncle was a lock-maker, so sad the uk has become a dump.An era of respect ladies were ladies gentleman were gentlemen,no stabbings,murders,litter and low life behaviour.

My Great Grandad came from Stourbridge/ Brierley Hill. I’ve never been but heard so many stories that it’s built into my psyche.

Aw those peas with bacon sounds gorgeous 🤤

Thank you for sharing.

Thank you for showing us of times gone past. Enjoyed regards 😊😊😊

GREAT! Thanks

A living hell. You can see the hardship in their faces. And these people were the backbone of this country.

James Whale was from Dudley , he went to Hollywood and directed Frankenstein !

All of that great natural wealth just sitting there under the ground. There are countries that would love to have been so blessed. The ignorance of our political class knows no bounds.

This is great, thanks for posting this. I'm a Brummie, living in New Zealand. I've got to show this to my wife (she's a Kiwi...addicted to Jaffa cakes and Wotsits!) it will be interesting for her. By the way, I put the captions on, when the 90 years old lady said "furnaces" the caption replaced it with..."penises" 🤣😂🤣 so when good old Phil Drabble started talking about cock fighting that started me laughing again!

The "chap" with the beard and duffle coat ( remember them ?) Was on the open university, im sure 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿✌️

Loved this i was very surprised to learn Wolverhampton is not part of the Black Country i am Wolverhampton born and bred

I suppose nobody can do the skilled trades shown in this film anymore.

Bilston born a Black Country mon, l have seen horses pulling barges on the cut [canal] and 3 kids drowned in them also. Times when neighbors borrowed a cup of sugar or a shilling for the gas, hard workers and heavy drinking, pawn shops to see you through till payday, in a way good times,

I'm black country born & proud

This area helped form the wealth of Britain and yet it's Monarch couldn't bare to look at it. That speaks volumes.

I say bring back the headscarf!

Any one of these characters could've been an uncle or aunt of mine. My mum comes from the Black Country (Smethwick) and she had 12 brothers and sisters (my grandma was blind). When I was little we lived in Coseley as did a number of uncles and aunts. We moved away to WSM but often went back to visit - I was 15 in 1969 - so can remember what these places were like and people such as portrayed here. (Voice over was a bit patronising - probably some Oxbridge bloke who got a job in TV through patronage and had never got his hands dirty.)

Amazing people. if only we could bring them back.

If you’re travelling in the Midlands and you start hearing folk saying “Yam, Yam” then you know you’re in the Black Country ! 🤣

I was born on the tantany west bromwich im proud to be a blackcountry mon we are yam yams and proud

I was in a pub in Bridgnorth some years ago when I heard a woman say to her friend that West Bromwich was in the Black Country, to which I shouted across the pub, "no it ay". Well it was that or "cobblers" 😁. Talk about the tension of a cock fight 🤣. There's many a taan surrounding the real Black Country that every so often, when it suits, or is fashionable, that like to have signs that say something like "Wolverhampton in the Black Countrry", but as the film suggests, real Black Country folk are quite territorial, even if yowm daan another road yowm foreign, so such signs as decribed above are indeed cobblers. Great upload!

superb

I think it's where the term, Hard as nails, and even they get hammered. Comes from. I remember the squalor and the acceptance of the people who never thought things would change so most people ended up drowning their sorrows in beer down the pub whilst the women looked after the kids on very little money. Each relying on others though everyone was in the same boat. Most people would still be living like this if we hadn't voted in a decent Labour government. I've heard of dog fighting and badger baiting but never witnessed it though I've helped as a kid on look out drinking the gambling sessions in the wrenna. I remember hearing about Speka letting someone loose his rot down in the celar when someone bet his old poodle against it. They left them together while they fought it out and after a couple of minutes it went quiet. When they opened the cellar door they were all surprised to find the old poodle walk out and the big dog dead. I do know cockfighting also went on and many people kept chickens some also kept pigs. The people were hard and kept themselves to themselves as there was a lot of thieving and trouble amongst the communities. Everyone lived and survived in poverty. They'd turn in their graves today knowing the others have voted in a war mongering gang of ruthless Neoconservatives.

Amazing , thank you .

Them were slightly happier days people laughed and smiled no greed and selfishness hardly safer communitys looked out for each other...

The Black Country gave the world one of heavy metal music's greatest icons -- Rob Halford of Judas Priest!

Nows its Kebabs and a fight.

Remember it well

Like Middle English Chaucer language the Canterbury Tales 🎶fascinating video, learnt a great deal re understanding/acceptance Born Portland House 🏰 Wednesbury

hard as the nails they med

Black Country bred... all of this is still there and very vibrant if you go the rite pubs, the working man clubs, black Country family pride, we still av it, when the families gather at Christmas, all the young uns an babies, cousins an uncles, yeh we av a laugh, gray pays an baycun all the way haha

That made me feel homesick and i still live in Wednesbury, what's has happened to it ? Who allowed this to happen?

They were cruel to dogs though

Great people

David Bowie has a great song "Black Country Rock"

& the government & monarchy stick their nose up at the black country after what the black country contributed to the wealth of the country. God bless & protect the black country & its citizens ❤

🐕23:28 Phil Drabble of "One Man and His Dog" fame.🐕‍🦺

I've lived most of my life in the Black country and wouldn't live anywhere else good friendly folks This Country wouldn't be as rich without its Industry making everything

🫂 hugs to my Yam Yam friend Phil ❤ 👋 💋😘

And we are constantly told diversity built Britain. Yeah ! Right.

Everyone covered their heads.

People on here should listen to the band the SHORT HEATH BOYS a proppa black country group

Is that the greyhound pub in bilston at 3.11?

😢 EXPLOITED AND SCORNED UNKNOWINGLY ENRICHING THE MOST EVIL OF GREEDY OWNERS 😢😢 MAKES YOU SICK TO THE STOMACH 😢😢

Wolverhampton me... although it aye part of the black country..still proud of me root's aye i ..

Such primitive times yet people looked young for their ages 🤔??