West Midlands

West Midlands is one of several metropolitan counties that came into existence in 1974, although one of the smaller counties in Britain it contains two of Britain's largest cities, Birmingham and Coventry the area is in the heart of Britain's industrial, manufacturing and business communities. The county is right in the centre of England being about as far from the sea as it is possible to get.

Geography

The county sites at the heart of England sitting a little way east of the River Severn and just South of the River Trent. The highest point in the West Midlands is Turners Hill, with a height of 271 m . The hill is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Barr Beacon is another hill in the West Midlands, located on the border of Birmingham and Walsall, with a height of 227 m 

Cities and Towns

The county is dominated by its 3 large cities Birmingham, Coventry & Wolverhampton, however it included several large industrial towns, Solihull, Dudley, Walsall, and West Bromich, all of which virtually run into one another making this one of the largest provincial urban areas in Britain.

The A6 and M6 in West Midlands

Just the M6 touches the West Midlands, however the motorway had become such a bottleneck that a new bypass of the county in the form of the M6 toll has been built. The M6 enters the West Midlands from Staffordshire, passing just west of Walsall before meeting up with the M5 just north East of Birmingham. The M6 then takes a more easterly direction heading towards Birmingham Centre passing its most famous junction, spaghetti junction before heading eastwards towards the Warwickshire border.