Start of the Black Country

The view of the stone off the Great Bridge Road(A4098) in Bradley, Bilston. Near this spot John Wilkinson (1728-1808) erected his first Black Country Blast Furnace. 1767 It marked the beginning of the Iron Age in the Black Country and was truly the mother furnace of the district. Walsall M B 1987 J Wilkinson died in Bradley 14 July 1808.