The Black Country is a loosely-defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton, around the South Staffordshire coalfield. It has a combined population of around one million. By the late nineteenth century, this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation. The South Staffordshire coal mines, the coal coking operations, and the iron foundries and steel mills that used the local coal to fire its furnaces, produced a level of air pollution that had few equals anywhere in the world. It is popularly believed that The Black Country got its name because of pollution from these heavy industries that covered the area in black soot. There is a famous anecdote (of dubious authenticity) about Queen Victoria ordering the blinds lowered on her carriage as the royal train passed through. However, historians suggest that it is more likely