The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire.
The modern borders of the Midlands also correspond broadly to the early-medieval kingdom of Mercia. The region became important in the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, which led to one of its parts being named as the Black Country. Culturally, the Midlands is distinct, but contains elements from both Northern and Southern England in the North-South divide.
Definition and extent
There is no single definition for the Midlands. If defined as being made up of the statistical regions of
East Midlands and West Midlands,
it includes the counties of
Derbyshire,
Herefordshire,
Leicestershire, most of
Lincolnshire (with the exception of North and North East Lincolnshire),
Northamptonshire,
Nottinghamshire,
Rutland,
Shropshire,
Staffordshire,
Warwickshire,
Worcestershire and the West Midlands metropolitan boroughs.
Other definitions include a slightly larger area and the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica describes Gloucestershire as "West Midland", Bedfordshire as "South Midland", and Huntingdonshire as "East Midland" counties respectively. Cheshire is also occasionally recognised as being in the Midlands, while a lot of what was historically part of southern Mercia (Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Cambridgeshire) is often labelled as "Central England", typically used interchangeably with "the Midlands".
Additionally, there are two informal regions known as the South Midlands and North Midlands, which are not NUTS statistical regions of the United Kingdom and their definition varies by using organisation. The former includes the southern parts of the East Midlands and northern parts of Southern England.[Graham Turner, The North Country, p.15]
Culture and identity
Due to being neither
Northern England or
Southern England, the Midlands have had cultural elements from both sides in the North–South divide. In a binary choice, the
Watford Gap in Northamptonshire is often considered the dividing point between the north and south of England, with most of the Midlands population sitting above this point. It has been suggested that due to being neither North or South, the Midlands have had an "image problem" and lack of "identity".
Different areas of the Midlands have their own distinctive character, giving rise to many local history and industrial heritage groups. Nottingham played a notable part in the English Civil War, which is commemorated in a number of place names (Parliament Terrace, Parliament Street, Standard Hill). Areas such as Derbyshire's Amber Valley and Erewash combine attractive countryside with industrial heritage and are home to historic canals and sites associated with the mining industry. The Black Country, broadly the boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Wolverhampton and Walsall, played an important part in the Industrial Revolution.
Various parts of the Midlands, particularly Warwickshire and Leicestershire, are on occasion referred to as the Heart of England, especially in tourist literature given that the geographic centre of England is generally considered to lie within this arc.
Symbolism
A
saltire (diagonal cross) may have been used as a symbol of
Mercia as early as the reign of
Offa.
By the 13th century, the saltire had become the
attributed arms of the Kingdom of Mercia.
[College of Arms Ms. L.14, dating from the reign of Henry III] The arms are
Azure, a saltire Or, meaning a gold (or yellow) saltire on a blue field. The saltire is used as both a flag and a coat of arms. As a flag, it is flown from
Tamworth Castle, the ancient seat of the
Mercian kings.
The flag also appears on street signs welcoming people to Tamworth, the "ancient capital of Mercia". It was also flown outside Birmingham Council House during 2009 while the Staffordshire Hoard was on display in the city before being taken to the British Museum in London. The cross has been incorporated into a number of coats of arms of Midlands towns, including Tamworth, Leek and Blaby. It was recognised as the Mercian flag by the Flag Institute in 2014.
Language and dialect
Dialect is one of the fields where the Midlands may have mixed influences.
A study has shown that some Midlands areas have traditionally had a dialect closer to "northern" but now more influenced by "southern".
West Midlands English and East Midlands English are generalised groups of dialects spoken in the Midlands. The former notably includes the
Brummie dialect and Black Country dialects.
William Shakespeare, one of the most famous English poets in history, was from Warwickshire in the Midlands.
Food
The
bakewell tart, Staffordshire oatcake, Melton Mowbray pork pie, and
Coventry Godcake, as well as
Stilton cheese and
haslet, are among some of the foods that have originated in the Midlands.
The city of Birmingham has also been influential in dishes, notably the local version of Asian balti curry.
Worcestershire sauce, as well as
Walkers crisps and
Cadbury chocolate are some of the most famous names to have come out of the Midlands.
Music
Numerous famous bands and artists have originated in the Midlands. Birmingham's
Black Sabbath is considered to be pioneers of heavy metal music, while another band
Godflesh have been named pioneers of industrial metal. The city has also been influential in bhangra music.
The city of
Coventry gave rise to the
ska scene in the 1970s and bands such as
The Specials.
Discharge of
Stoke-on-Trent have been highly influential in the punk music scene. More recently, the duo
Sleaford Mods have been known for making use of a strong local East Midland accent.
Geography and cities
Geology
The area is predominantly low-lying and flat apart from isolated hills such as Turners Hill within the Black Country conurbation at 271 m (889 ft) and the
Wrekin just south of Wellington near Telford at 407 m (1,335 ft). Upland areas lie in the west and north of the region with the
Shropshire Hills to the west, close to the England–Wales border and the
Peak District area of the southern
Pennines in the north of the region. The Shropshire Hills reach a height of 540 m (1,771 ft) at Brown Clee Hill and includes the
Long Mynd,
Clee Hills and
Stiperstones ridge.
Wenlock Edge, running through the middle of the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), is a long, low ridge, which extends for over .
The Peak District reaches heights of between 300 m (1,000 ft) and 600 m (2,000 ft);
Kinder Scout is the highest point at 636 m (2,086 ft).
Further south, the Welsh border reaches over 700 m (2,000 ft) high, at Twyn Llech (Black Mountain), which at 703 m (2,306 ft) is thus the highest point in
Herefordshire.
The Precambrian Malverns are formed of some of the oldest rock in England (dating from the Cryogenian period, at around 680 million years old) and extend for through two West Midlands counties (Worcestershire and Herefordshire) as well as northern Gloucestershire in the southwest. The highest point of the hills is the Worcestershire Beacon at 425 m (1,394 ft) above sea level (OS Grid reference SO768452).[
]
The Cotswolds – designated an AONB in 1966.
Areas of lower hills, in the range 200 m (600 ft) – 300 m (1000 ft), include Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, and the Lincolnshire Wolds (100 m (300 ft) – 200 m (600 ft)); the latter having some prominence despite their modest altitude given their location in typically low-lying Lincolnshire near to the east coast.
Lincolnshire is the only coastal county in the Midlands as the region is bordered by Wales to the west. It is also where the Midlands' lowest points can be found as some places fall below sea level, with the lowest points being near Thorpe Tilney in North Kesteven and Stickford in East Lindsey.
Climate
The Midlands has a temperate
maritime climate, with cold, cloudy, wet winters and comfortable, mostly dry, mostly sunny summers.
[Calculated using data from WorldClim.org.
]
The temperature usually ranges from during winter nights to during summer days. Due to its geographical location, which is furthest away from the coast than anywhere else in England, it typically receives mostly light winds, with warm days and cold nights. Sometimes the Midlands can have very cold nights such as a minimum of in
Pershore on 20 December 2010. The previous day had a maximum of only , also in Pershore. Hot days are also possible, such as a maximum of in Pershore on 19 July 2006. There can also be very mild winters nights, such as in
Bidford-on-Avon when the temperature at 6 pm was as high as on 9 January 2015. At 8 am the following morning the temperature was still at .
[Snow and low temps 2010 http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/interesting/dec2010][December 2010 http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/2010/december][Record heat July 2006 http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/interesting/july2006/] Both the highest and lowest temperature ever recorded in England were in the Midlands, the former on 19 July 2022 around
Coningsby in Lincolnshire where it reached a maximum temperature of ,
and the latter on 10 January 1982 around Newport in Shropshire where it dropped to a minimum of .
Largest settlements and urban areas
The table below shows the urban areas in the region with a population of at least 250,000.
+Largest urban areas in the Midlands (2011 census)[ (needs a more direct citation)]
!Rank
!Area
!Population
!Area (km2)
!Density (People/km2)
! class="unsortable" | Primary settlements |
|
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Divisions
The West Midlands and
East Midlands regions are NUTS 1 statistical regions and were formerly constituencies of the European Parliament. Local government in the Midlands is as follows:
-
Boroughs (Metropolitan or Unitary):
-
(1) Birmingham ( Metropolitan borough).
-
(2) Coventry ( Metropolitan borough).
-
(3) Derby ( Unitary authority).
-
(4) Dudley ( Metropolitan borough).
-
(5) Leicester ( Unitary authority).
-
(6) Nottingham ( Unitary authority).
-
(7) Sandwell ( Metropolitan borough).
-
(8) Stoke-on-Trent ( Unitary authority).
-
(9) Solihull ( Metropolitan borough).
-
(10) Telford and Wrekin ( Unitary authority).
-
(11) Walsall ( Metropolitan borough).
-
(12) Wolverhampton ( Metropolitan borough).
-
Counties (Non-metropolitan or Unitary):
-
(13) Derbyshire ( Districts: (a) Amber Valley, (b) Bolsover, (c) Chesterfield, (d) Derbyshire Dales, (e) Erewash, (f) High Peak, (g) North East Derbyshire and (h) South Derbyshire).
-
(14) Herefordshire ( Unitary authority).
-
(15) Leicestershire ( Districts: (a) Blaby, (b) Charnwood, (c) Harborough, (d) Hinckley and Bosworth, (e) Melton, (f) North West Leicestershire and (g) Oadby and Wigston).
-
(16) Lincolnshire ( Districts: (a) Boston, (b) East Lindsey, (c) Lincoln, (d) North Kesteven, (e) South Holland, (f) South Kesteven and (g) West Lindsey).
-
(17) North Northamptonshire ( Unitary authority).
-
(18) Nottinghamshire ( Districts: (a) Ashfield, (b) Bassetlaw, (c) Broxtowe, (d) Gedling, (e) Mansfield, (f) Newark and Sherwood and (g) Rushcliffe).
-
(19) Rutland ( Unitary authority).
-
(20) Shropshire ( Unitary authority).
-
(21) Staffordshire ( Districts: (a) Cannock Chase, (b) East Staffordshire, (c) Lichfield, (d) Newcastle-under-Lyme, (e) South Staffordshire, (f) Stafford, (g) Staffordshire Moorlands and (h) Tamworth).
-
(22) Warwickshire ( Districts: (a) North Warwickshire, (b) Nuneaton and Bedworth, (c) Rugby, (d) Stratford-on-Avon and (e) Warwick).
-
(23) West Northamptonshire ( Unitary authority).
-
(24) Worcestershire ( Districts: (a) Bromsgrove, (b) Malvern Hills, (c) Redditch, (d) Worcester, (e) Wychavon and (f) Wyre Forest).
The unitary authorities of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire (not shown), while classed as part of the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire, actually come under the Yorkshire and the Humber region and are therefore not in the officially recognised East Midlands region.
The two regions of the Midlands have a combined population of 10,350,697 (2014 mid-year estimate),
The largest Midlands conurbation, which includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton, is roughly covered by the metropolitan county of the West Midlands (which also includes the city of Coventry); with the related City Region extending into neighbouring areas of Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.
Historic counties
The historic counties ceased to be used for any administrative purpose in 1899. However, they remain important to some people, notably for
county cricket.
Midlands named concepts
The "midland" name has been used for:
-
Midland Bank, founded in Birmingham and now part of HSBC
-
Midland Metro, now called West Midlands Metro
-
Midlands Engine, a regeneration programme of the UK government
-
Midland Main Line, a railway from London through the East Midlands to Sheffield
See also
Notes
Further reading
-
Allen, R.C. Enclosure and the Yeoman: the Agricultural Development of the South Midlands 1450–1850 (Oxford UP, 1992)
-
Beckett, John V. The East Midlands from AD 1000 (Addison-Wesley Longman, 1988).
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Bennett, Michael J. "Sir Gawain and the green knight and the literary achievement of the north-west Midlands: the historical background." Journal of Medieval History 5.1 (1979): 63–88.
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Betteridge, Alan. Deep Roots, Living Branches: A History of Baptists in the English Western Midlands (Troubador Publishing Ltd, 2010).
-
Dewindt, Edwin Brezett, and Edwin Brezette DeWindt. Land and people in Holywell-cum-Needingworth: structures of tenure and patterns of social organization in an East Midlands village, 1252–1457 (PIMS, 1972).
-
Donnelly, Tom, Jason Begley, and Clive Collis. "The West Midlands automotive industry: the road downhill." Business History 59.1 (2017): 56–74 online.
-
Finberg, H.P.R. The early charters of the West Midlands (Leicester University Press, 1972).
-
Gelling, Margaret. The West Midlands in the Early Middle Ages (Leicester UP, 1992).
-
Hilton, R. H. A Medieval Society: The West Midlands at the End of the Thirteenth Century (1987) online review
-
Jones, Peter M. Industrial Enlightenment: Science, technology and culture in Birmingham and the West Midlands, 1760–1820 (2017) online.
-
Laughton, Jane, Evan Jones, and Christopher Dyer. "The urban hierarchy in the later Middle Ages: a study of the East Midlands." Urban history (2001): 331–357.
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McWhirr, A. L. A. N. The Early Military History of the Roman East Midlands (1970) online.
-
Money, John. "Birmingham and the West Midlands, 1760–1793: Politics and Regional Identity in the English Provinces in the Later Eighteenth Century." Midland History 1.1 (1971): 1–19.
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Money, John. Experience and Identity: Birmingham and the West Midlands, 1760–1800 (Manchester University Press, 1977).
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Rowlands, Marie B. The West Midlands from AD 1000 (3 vol, Longman, 1987).
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Somerset, Alan. "New Historicism: Old History Writ Large? Carnival, Festivity and Popular Culture in the West Midlands." Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England 5 (1991): 245–255. online
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Stafford, Pauline. The East Midlands in the Early Middle Ages ( Leicester University, 1985).
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Stobart, Jon. "Regions, Localities, and Industrialisation: Evidence from the East Midlands Circa 1780–1840." Environment and Planning A 33.7 (2001): 1305–1325.
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Tompkins, Matthew. Peasant society in a midlands manor, Great Horwood 1400–1600 (PhD Diss. U of Leicester, 2006) online.
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Townsend, Claire. "County versus region? Migrational connections in the East Midlands, 1700–1830." Journal of Historical Geography 32.2 (2006): 291–312.
