Steel Buildings in West Midlands by Town

County Flag of the West Midlands by Jpb1301 - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons

Facts and information about the West Midlands

The county of the West Midlands is made up of seven metropolitan boroughs which are the City of Wolverhampton, the City of Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and the City of Birmingham.

The biggest towns (and cities) in the county are: Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Halesowen, Lichfield, Solihull, Stourbridge, Sutton Coldfield, Walsall, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton.

According to the Office of National Statistics, the estimated population of the West Midlands mid-2014 is 2,808, 356, making it the second largest populated county in England.

Culturally the West Midlands is known as the birthplace of two-tone, with The Specials coming from Coventry. Also well-known artists such as Duran Duran and Ozzy Osbourne hail from Birmingham. The library of Birmingham is architecturally outstanding and is the largest public library in Europe. In Coventry the cathedral is unusual as it is relatively modern, having been designed by Sir Basil Spence and opened in 1962. It was rebuilt following the severe bombing the city suffered in the Second World War, the ruins of the old cathedral are still available to visit.

Sporting wise the West Midlands has six main football grounds: Villa Park, the Hawthorns, St Andrew’s, Ricoh Arena, Bescot Stadium and Molineux and the famous cricket ground Edgbaston that hosts one day internationals and test matches regularly.