ABSTRACT
While the manufacture of each type of light metal article and that of certain of the heavy finished products were confined to a small area within the Black Country, the industries which were concerned with the production of raw and semi-manufactured materials were widely scattered. In 1860 coal was being obtained from almost every part of South Staffordshire and of North Worcestershire which lay on the exposed coal-measures, while a successful attempt had been made to find coal under the red rocks in the neighbourhood of West Bromwich. The close association of ironstone and coal had contributed largely to the rise of South Staffordshire as a great iron-producing centre, and in 1860, while a great deal of ore was brought from other districts, the local production was still important. Besides the coal and ironstone a number of other minerals were obtained from the district which were of no small importance in the local manufactures.
