THE BLACK COUNTRY MEMORIES CLUB

A History of Bilston Frances Taylor Page

This history concentrates on the industrial development of this important Black Country town.  It therefore provides a context in which the story of individual industries and firms can be studied. 

The history is presented here is a number of parts.  You can, of course, read them one after the other and there are links at the foot of each page to help you do this.  Or you can read the parts in any order and there is a link at the foot of each page to bring you back to this Bilston History Contents Page.

1. Pre-Medieval Bilston
2. Bilston in Medieval Times
3. Bilston in the 17th Century
4. The Development of Mining
5. Bilston In Transition: 1790
6.  Industrial Growth
7. Bilston in the 20th Century

This history is largely based on Lawley's History of Bilston; Price's Historical Account of Bilston; Lawle's Bilston in the 17^th Century; the Bilston Civic Survey by the Bilston Borough Council, 1944; Rouse's New Guide to the Iron Trade; and Birmingham in its Regional Setting by the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1950.

There is no modern history of Bilston but a great deal can be gleaned from: Mary Mills and Tracey Williams, Bilston, Tettenhall and Wednesfield, Tempus, 1998; and Ron Davies and Roy Hawthorne, Bilston, Bradley and Ladymoor, Sutton 2000. There are also many locally published works which are available in local libraries and Tom Larkin's Black Country Lives is still available in book shops.