The Lunar Society which became the main intellectual powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution in England gathered together for lively dinner conversations at Soho House. They were led by Erasmus Darwin, a man who pioneered theories of evolution. Other members included the entrepreneur Matthew Boulton, James Watt an engineer whose inventions harnessed the power of steam, William Withering a pioneer with his work on the foxglove and Joseph Priestley who discovered oxygen. Their evening discussions covered various topics including philosophy, arts, science and commerce. The Birmingham History Theatre Group’s latest production ‘Eclipsed: The dark side of the Lunar Society’ will give an insight into their dinner conversations and some interesting experiments! Where Matthew Boulton awaits the arrival of his fellow members at Soho House but as the night goes on events take a series of unexpected turns for all those staying in the house…
The play will be performed at St Paul’s School 20th and 22nd May 2010 to book please call 0121 464 4376.
Sometimes you spot some things that are surprisingly mundane and interesting. This map charting the growth of Birmingham’s local authority to 1938 fits into that category and comes from the website www.british-history.ac.uk and the 1964 book A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 7 edited by WB Stephens.
Moseley Road Baths in Balsall Heath and the Red Lion Pub in Handsworth have made it onto a list of the Victorian Society’s 10 most endangered buildings in the UK. The list was a product of a public vote and campaign.
As a city that saw massive expansion in the 19th century we have a large proportion of Victorian buildings, so it’s no great surprise that two Birmingham buildings are on the list. What is interesting and encouraging is that the local communities felt strongly enough about these buildings to vote them into the top ten.
The Red Lion closed more than a year ago and the local Victorian Society’s casework group (chaired by one of our Trustees Joe Holyoak) writes:
A possible sale by auction of this remarkable grade II* listed pub of 1901-2 by James and Lister Lea in December did not take place, and the building with its fantastic interiors stands empty and vulnerable. We have urged Birmingham City Council to take action, and a full record of the building is currently being made. Efforts are also underway to resolve structural problems, negotiate new tenants and find a suitable use. We are particularly concerned that this building should not suffer a similar fate to other local pubs, as was highlighted through the Society’s “Crawl to Save our Pubs” last August, and resulted in some positive media coverage, including a short piece in the Guardian. Last year the grade II listed Duke of York, Hockley was lost, though its fittings and those of the now derelict but also grade II listed George and Dragon, Albion Street had been stolen some years ago. The grade II listed Wharf Inn, Cradley Heath is about to be demolished following several fires, and the interior of the grade II* listed Bellefield Inn in Winson Green was destroyed in a fire three years ago, and is now being converted to housing. Across the region unlisted, but nevertheless often interesting pubs of the 19th and 20th centuries are being closed at an accelerating rate and stand boarded up, many of them awaiting almost certain demolition or less than suitable conversion to other uses.
The Moseley Road Swimming Baths are the last working Grade II* Edwardian baths in Britain, according to the Victorian Society. They are the centre of a longstanding campaign to keep the pools working, often led by Cllr Martin Mullaney (a onetime trustee of ours!). See this, the first of many youtube films he has made to help the cause:
Stonebridge School, Brent, London
Gustav Adolfs Kyrka (The Swedish Church), Liverpool
Newsome Mill, Huddersfield
St Maries’ Church, Widnes, Cheshire
Chapels at Cathays Cemetery, Cardiff
Holy Trinity, Hove, East Sussex
Palace Theatre, Plymouth, Devon
Fletcher Convalescent Home, Cromer, Norfolk
