In 2001 I inherited my grandpa’s retirement watch. I’d seen it at first as a piece of family history but realised on looking at the inscription on the back that it is a piece of Birmingham history too. The inscription engraved on ...
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With Panto season upon us it seemed fitting to look at Birmingham’s theatre heritage.
The era of theatre building took place from the 1880s to World War I, where over 1000 professional theatres were operating in Britain at this time. One of the ...
FORBIDDEN PLACES - Exploring our abandoned heritage
During the summer months I started to look into historic hospital buildings and during this time I came across ‘Urban Explorers’. They are a community of people who are dedicated to historic buildings and decay. They ...
The Friends of Key Hill and Warstone Lane Cemeteries was established in 2004 under the leadership of Pauline Roberts together with a small group of people who were concerned at the visible deterioration of the cemeteries and alarmed at the potential loss ...
read moreEnglish Heritage has launched a project to find out how much of the country’s industrial heritage is at risk of neglect, decay or even demolition, and to raise the debate about what needs saving and how. In October this year it will ...
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History Pin is a website that acts as an archive of the world’s historical photographs and stories. The site uses Google Maps and Street View technology to allow you to layer old images onto modern Street View scenes, revealing a series of ...
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Ghost Art – click to see more …Sorry to disappoint those of you who were expecting a blog featuring supernatural art! This post is actually following on from my recent ‘ghost signs‘ post. ‘Ghost sign’ is the term given to the old, faded advertisements often found on ...
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Homes fit for Heroes is a remarkable collection of wartime photographs of domestic life in Birmingham. Bill Brandt was commissioned by the Bournville Village Trust to record life in the cramped and often squalid Back to Backs in which ...
Ghost sign on the Stratford Road. Photographed by Caroline Bunford, image courtesy of The History of Advertsing Trust
Something that has always fascinated me are the faded, years old painted adverts one can occasionally spot on the sides of buildings. Some are more obvious, ...
Click here to see the book on Amazon
I really can’t resist a book laden with old photographs of Birmingham – which is why I bought Victorian Buildings of Birmingham by Roy Thornton. I’m sure we’ll end up reviewing, or perhaps describing, many ...
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