h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Although synonymous with the major city of Birmingham and its surrounds, the West Midlands boast more miles of canals than Venice, and numerous stately homes, historic sites and country parks. If you either live in the West Midlands or were brought up there, why not share your local knowledge about the Heart of England with the rest of the h2g2 community?

Paully

I'm from Solihull and have written a (rather boring) edited entry on it.

I think any entry on the West Mids should refer to places like Birmingham (obviously and link to the entry), Stratford, Coventry, Wolverhampton etc. I was about to say Warwick and Kenilworth castles but they're in Warwickshire. Other places to go - West Midlands Safari Park, Dudley Zoo, Bull Ring, Sea-life centre, Black Country Living Museum, Packwood House and Baddesley Clinton stately homes.

How about a mention of sports teams (I can only think of football teams at the moment):

Birmingham City, Aston Villa, Coventry City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion are the main ones which come to mind.


Famous people: Jasper Carrot, UB40, Black Sabbath


Ok, I'm stuck now!

An excellent introduction there, Elentari!

Don't suppose you fancy adding some meat to those bones, do you?

And any suggestions for other important facts/features/historical sites to be covered?

Paully

I will have a think and come back. How would a list here of relevant hootoo links be? I imagine that would help?

I will help to write it but I can't write it all om my own!

You could include something about the confusion between the County of West Midlands and the region...

That sounds like an extremely sensible suggestion, KerrAvon!

Paully

Well, I live in Staffordshire (the county) but West Midlands, the region. But West Midlands the county only starts just down the road, so I often have to explain the difference.

And I live in that REALLY wishy-washy bit that can be classed as:

Coventry
West Midlands
Birmingham
Warwickshire



If anyone starts writing any entries then give me a poke please

Kat

I didn't know there was a difference between the county and the region. I've lived here for 18 years and no-one's ever told me that!

The kind of stuff we'd really like to see in all of our County entries is along the following lines:


** General location of the county in the UK (Northwest, Midlands, Highlands), including bordering counties.

** The main towns and cities there, plus any tourist attractions or places of note.

** A very basic history of the county (which, for those counties created in 1974 or after might include a little background about the region before the county was formed). Some counties will be famous for specific key events in history, which we'd also like to know about.

** Any geographical features (lakes in Cumbria, Peak District in Derbyshire, Pennines in Yorkshire/Greater Manchester)

** Links to other related entries for the region.


Paully

OK, some entries we already have:

Solihull - A956270
Knowle and Dorridge, Solihull - A767892
Walsall Aboretum - A2769258
coventry Ring Road - A210484
Coventry - A1346366
Birmingham - A280900
Sutton Coldfield - A147935
Speaking Brummie - A496352
Spaghetti Juction - A616286

How about statistics? I just found a Office of NAtional Statistics document. Population and so on?

Oooh, yes please! Nothing better than a nice table or two of stats!

Paully

I don't understand the population figures, but it says 88.7% are white british compared with 91.3% nationally, so we have a higher percentage of ethnic minorties. The West Midlnads has an area of 12, 998 sq km.

This is from http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/region_in_figures_winter04/West_Midlands.pdf

Office of National Statistics is a very useful site - use it a lot at work (Local education Authority)

I guess I should know something about the West Midlands having lived there fore 20 years.

How about:-

"The West Midlands was established by government boundary changes in 1974 as a county borough to include seven previously independent boroughs: Wolverhampton, Dudley, Walsall, Sandwell, Birmingham, Solihull and Coventry. As such it was created out of the counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire."

oh...and in the list of football teams further up the page you missed the mighty Walsall!!

Up the Saddlers! (so called due the leather industry that was prominent in Walsall during the 1800's - see http://www.walsall.gov.uk/leathermuseum/hist.asp for more info!)

Sounds like a great start to me.

Then we could say something like:

"The city of Birmingham, the second city of the UK, is the main urban area in the West Midlands. It has in fact formed a conurbation (sp?) with towns including Sutton Coldfield, Wolverhampton, and Solihull. The West Midlands is also the centre of the national transport network, with several motorways passing through, as well as railways. It also has Birmingham International Airport, a busy airport flying to 100 destinations with connections to many more."

Some tourism sites: http://www.britainexpress.com/Where_to_go_in_Britain/Maps/West_Midlands.htm

http://www.visitheartofengland.com/

and its probably worth mentioning the difference between Birmingham and the Black Country (Walsall, Dudley, Wolverhampton) - e.g. different dialects.

worth mentioning that Black Country is so named through smoke and soot associated with all the heavy industry, and is often known as the Birthplace of the Industrial revolution (along with 6 other places in England alone!!)