The Midlands are the cedntral part of England, the region is bordered by Northern England and Southern England. There are nine regions in England and two of them are the West Midlands and the East Midlands. The region corresponds to the the early Kingdom of Mercia (c. 527-879 CE) during medieval times. Mercia was a large kingdom that covered a large portion on middle England. The regions borders contained hositle rivals as they were the central for a time of war. The Midlands were very important to the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. This region was the center for natural resources such as coal and limestoneduring the revolution. The city of Birmingham, in the West Midlands, is known as the second largest city in a primarily urban area of England. The Midlands are the heart of England. 

The novel is set in the fictional town of MIddlemarch, in England 1830-1832. It is set in a market town in the Midlands of England. The book is set to a time four decades before it was written. The time frame is leading up to the Reform Act in 1832 that was a pivotal moment in England at the time. In the novel a very important factor of vthe setting is the estates the characters own. Mr. Featherstone owns Stone Court, Casaubon owns a large estate called Lowick and the Brooke's estate is called Tipton Grange. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a housing estate as "a residential area in which the houses, streets, etc., have all been planned and built at the same time". Estate comes from the Latin word 'status' and in its earliest English usage means a state or condition. During the time period if you owned an estate in this region you were wealthy.