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The Black Country Living Museum
The Black Country Living Museum is located in Dudley in the West
Midlands in England. The museum occupies a 26 acre (105,000 m²) urban
heritage park in the shadow of Dudley Castle in the centre of the Black
Country conurbation. It was first opened in 1976 and since then more
and more exhibits have been added to it.
Electric trams and trolleybuses transport visitors from the entrance
in a recreated factory to the village area with thirty buildings
situated by the canal basin. Coal mine displays include underground
workings, colliery surface buildings and a replica of the 1712
Newcomen steam engine. In all, forty-two separate displays have either
been re-erected or built to old plans to create a living open air
museum.
Canal boat at the Black Country Living Museum.
Houses, shops and public buildings have been rebuilt to create a
single early 20th century street, peopled by staff in period costume.
Some of these buildings are still used in their original function,
such as the pub, the sweet shop, the church and the chippy. Others are
faithful replicas of their last use, with goods in the windows. Still
others are only shells of the originals, such as the bath house. By
immersing the visitor in the everyday objects of life, it becomes
clearer how things connected.
Visitors to the museum may also take a narrowboat trip from the
adjacent canal, through the Dudley Tunnel.
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