The towns and villages west of Birmingham, around Dudley, Wolverhampton, Sandwell and Wallsall, became known as the Black Country during the Industrial Revolution due to the intense industrialisation of the area, particularly coal mining and ironworking. The towns soon became one continuously built-up area, which developed its own distinctive character. Secret Black Country explores the lesser-known episodes and characters in the history of the area through the years, from Dudley Castle and royal connections with Lady Jane Grey and Queen Elizabeth I, visits by Charles I and Charles II in the English Civil War and visits by the future Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson to Himley Hall, which became a Red Cross hospital for patients with severe facial injuries during the Second World War, to the evidence of Charlie Chaplin’s birthplace on Black Patch Park in Smethwick. Entries include the massive cavern beneath Dudley Zoo used for storage during the Second World War, the stories behind the gruesome nineteenth-century robbery and murder that caused Fir Tree Hill to be renamed and the tragic death of Dorothy Beaumont, wife of the Deputy Commander of Dudley Castle, while under siege in the Civil War, who is said to still haunt the ruins. Fully illustrated throughout, this book will reveal the hidden heritage of this historic area.

Andrew Homer is a local historian who has been researching and writing about the West Midlands for many years. He has had a lifelong fascination with anomalous phenomena and especially ghosts and hauntings. He has enjoyed a long and varied career in anomaly research including serving as National Investigations Co-ordinator for the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena (ASSAP). In 1998 he was awarded the Michael Bentine memorial shield for anomaly research. He has played a key role in numerous notable investigations over many years of anomaly research and has appeared on radio and television programmes. Andrew has investigated reported anomalous phenomena in every type of location including castles, stately homes, private houses and, of course, licensed properties. He has written books for Amberley on the Black Country, including brewing, and haunted hostelries in Shropshire.