Brierley Hill - Part of Dudley, this has been a heavily industrial area with glass and iron making. It now has a major retail centre with hundreds of new shops.

Oldbury - Part of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough, to the west of Smethwick. A town which is overshadowed by the M5 which passes overhead. Sitting on top of the Staffordshire coalfield coal and iron were important industries but it came to specialise in manufacture of steel tubes and chemicals.

Rowley Regis - Part of Sandwell in the West Midlands, located to the east of Dudley. The town is known for its quarries.

Smethwick - Part of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough, between central Birmingham and the M5. Industrial town with tradition of glass manufacturing, including equipment for lighthouses, weighing machines and many other items. The great engineering company Boulton and Watt moved here from Soho, by the Birmingham Canal, where their home is a museum. There is a canal heritage site at Galton.

Wednesbury - To the north of West Bromwich, and west of the M5 and M6 junction, Wednesbury was situated on an extraordinary seam of coal ten-yards thick close to the surface, with ironstone, lime and clay near. The pits have gone and the town developed a speciality in production of tubes, including gun barrels. There is a museum and art gallery.

West Bromwich - To the north of Oldbury, the town of West Bromwich has grown from a village. It had coal mines and a wide range of metal working industries and engineering. Canals connect the town with the Severn, the Mersey, the Humber and the Thames. The home team West Bromwich Albion are a well known football club. A major new asset is the Sandwell Valley Country Park formed in the last few years. West Bromwich is the headquarters of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough

Willenhall - This part of Wallsall, east of Wolverhampton came to specialise in making locks, and the tradition was strengthened when the American Yale set up a factory there. The town has a museum in a restored lockmaker's workshop.