Posts Tagged ‘BirminghamUK’
Monday, July 5th, 2010
From The Stirrer:
Image courtesy of The Stirrer
Members of the public have a chance to delve into Birmingham’s industrial past this month when a series of archaeological lectures reveal the findings of last year’s excavation works at the site of the new Library of Birmingham in Centenary Square.
The lectures, delivered by William Mitchell and Chris Hewitson of Birmingham Archaeology, will take place at Library Theatre, adjacent to the current Birmingham’s Central Library, on Wednesday July 7th (12.30-1.30pm) and Saturday July 24th (1-2pm), and are set to reveal in detail the significance behind the discoveries made at the new site prior to the start of construction in January.
Both William and Chris were part of the archaeology team from the University of Birmingham which carried out the excavation work between July and December 2009.
The dig uncovered a plethora of intriguing links to history, including remains of Gibson’s and Baskerville Canal Arms, as well as remnants from Robert Winfield’s Cambridge Street Works, one of Birmingham’s premier brass manufacturers that flourished in the 19th century.
Tickets for the lectures are available free of charge from www.birminghamboxoffice.com, by calling 0121 303 2323, and from Central Library reception.
Tags: archaeology, birminghamheritage, BirminghamUK
Posted in Birmingham News, BirminghamUK, Buildings, Events, Heritage News, archaeology, birmingham | No Comments »
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
These are our links for April 2nd through April 15th:
- Aston Hall in frame for awards double | birminghamnewsroom.com – Aston Hall is in the frame for two prestigious awards less than a year after the completion of a £12.5 million revamp. The Jacobean mansion reopened last summer following extensive restoration work has been shortlisted for:<br />
<br />
* Museums and Heritage Awards for Excellence<br />
Category: Restoration and Conservation<br />
* RICS Awards (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors)<br />
Category: Building Conservation
- Collections open day – Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery – 3rd May 2010 – 3rd May 2010<br />
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Yet again in 2010 – Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery invites you to join us behind the scenes at one of Britain's largest storage facilities. These special public Open Days enable you the visitor to see the City's reserve collections from Ancient History to Modern Day objects. There is always something new to discover whether you are a first time visitor or a 'regular'.
- Rediscovering Birmingham's movie meccas | Chris Michael | Film | guardian.co.uk – The Flatpack film festival's Odeon bus tour unspooled the story of the rise and fall of Oscar Deutsch's 1930s art deco picture palaces
Tags: astonhall, bctblog, birmingham, BirminghamUK, BM&G, cib, cinema, heritage, jonbounds, links
Posted in Other sites | No Comments »
Thursday, April 1st, 2010
These are our history related links for April 1st from 09:08 to 11:22: Some will be about Birmingham heritage others wont:
Tags: bctblog, birmingham, BirminghamUK, environment, heritagealiance, history, HLF, katepugh, links, martineau, sohohouse, ww2
Posted in Other sites | 2 Comments »
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
Bells Farm in 1969 - photo by Phyllis Nicklin from the Birmingham University Archive
Dave Thomas, one of our volunteers has sent us this update which I thought we would share with you:
I’m really interested in old buildings and the work that Birmingham Conservation Trust does. I am a chartered building surveyor and I volunteered at Birmingham Conservation Trust (BCT). I was lucky enough to attend a recent meeting at Bells Farm with BCT, The Spearhead Trust (who use the existing part of the building for their valuable community activities) and Nick Joyce Architects LLP for initial discussions on the future restoration plans for the property.
The rear wing of this very special Grade II* listed, 17th century, timber framed farmhouse was seriously damaged by fire over 20 years ago and BCT have been asked to carry out an Options Appraisal to identify costs to restore it and a sustainable use to ensure its future. This is being done over the next few months and should lead to a bright new future for Bells Farm.
Which sort of sums up where we are at the moment.
Tags: Architecture, birmingham, BirminghamUK, conservation, heritage, Volunteers
Posted in Architecture, BirminghamUK, Buildings, Heritage News, Heritage jobs, Other Groups, Projects, Volunteers, birmingham | 9 Comments »
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
Excellent news!
Staffordshire Hoard: BBC News
According to the BBC Website:
The Staffordshire Hoard is to remain in the West Midlands after the £3.3m purchase price was met.
This news follows on from previous fears that the hoard could be sold on the open market if enough money was not raised in time.
A National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) grant of £1.285m has been added to money raised by a campaign involving Stoke and Birmingham councils.
The Memorial Fund grant stops the collection from being divided up and sold to private collectors.
Items from the hoard are still on display at The Potteries Museum and at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery until 18 April.
The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery provides more information here.
Tags: BirminghamUK, staffordshirehoard
Posted in Birmingham News, BirminghamUK, birmingham | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
The Archway of Tears
The Archway of Tears at the City Hospital, Dudley Road, Birmingham
Birmingham Conservation Trust have secured funding to carry out an Options Appraisal on the Archway of Tears at the City Hospital on Dudley Road. This is the initial stage in a proposed larger project to restore the Archway of Tears – the entrance to the former Birmingham Union Workhouse.
The building was designed by J.J. Bateman and completed in 1852. It was here that people driven by poverty and circumstance arrived to be assessed for entry to the workhouse. Its evocative name reflects the sorrow suffered by new arrivals as families were split by gender and age to relevant living and working areas. Have a look at Ted Rudge’s website http://www.ted.rudge.btinternet.co.uk/workhouse.htm to read stories about the Workhouse.
We will look at ways to re-use the building in a sustainable way and we also will tell the story of the Workhouse in some way. If you or your family have any memories or artefacts you want to share with us, please get in touch.
Tags: Architecture, Archway of Tears, birmingham, BirminghamUK, history
Posted in Architecture, Birmingham News, BirminghamUK, Buildings, Heritage News, birmingham | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
These are our history related links for March 22nd from 22:55 to 23:22: Some will be about Birmingham heritage others wont:
- Flatpack Festival 2010 – Event – More films about buildings – You can't beat a bit of windswept decay and there's plenty of that in Pollphail (dir: Matt Lloyd), a snapshot of a remote Scottish village built for workers who never came. Closer to home, Take Only Photographs, Leave Nothing But Footprints (dir: Dale O'Keeffe) offers us a quick peek round the Battery Building in Selly Oak before it was demolished, while Eva Weber's Steel Homes is about the storage containers where people stash their lives away. In Synchronisation (dir: Rimas Sakalauskas) buildings from the Soviet era are released into space, and we close with two time-lapse murals shot at FAME festival in Italy last summer, one from Birmingham's Beat 13 and the other a collaboration between Blu and David Ellis.
- Complete our online website survey for your chance to win a DVD « MACELive – What do you want from the Media Archive for Central England website? This survey asks for your feedback
- Heritage crafts at risk | UK news | The Guardian – "In 2003, Unesco – the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation – adopted a Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, including "traditional craftsmanship", which argued that any effort to safeguard traditional craftsmanship should focus not on preserving craft objects, but on "creating conditions that will encourage artisans to continue to produce crafts of all kinds, and to transmit their skills and knowledge to others". More than 100 countries signed up. Britain did not."
Tags: archive, archtecture, bctblog, BirminghamUK, britain, craft, Film, heritage, history, links, MACE, sheffield, skills, unesco, video
Posted in Other sites | No Comments »
Sunday, March 21st, 2010
These are our links for March 20th through March 21st:
Tags: acocksgreen, bctblog, BirminghamUK, cinema, Handsworth, harborne, heritage, kingsheath, links
Posted in Other sites | No Comments »
Monday, March 15th, 2010
In the Sunday Times Magazine this weekend, Tony Robinson outlined the speculative history of the Staffordshire Hoard, from its Anglo Saxon origins through to why it was buried in the Midlands 1,400 years ago.
Is this hoard evidence of a massacre? Where are the coins, jewellery and ornamental objects we would normally find among such a hoard? The artefacts are masculine — the fittings from swords, fighting knives, helmets and shields — which point to a battle context. But why only take the decorative fittings, not the complete swords and helmets? These were more valuable if kept intact, yet all we have are fragments, broken, stripped from the weapons, and bagged up for easy burial.
The article also outlines the potential future of the hoard:
Public donations to The Art Fund’s campaign to secure the hoard for the Midlands topped £500,000 in the first six weeks. But if more money isn’t raised, ownership of the treasure will pass to Terry Herbert and the landowner who will then have the right to sell it to anyone on the open market. It would be wonderful if the region could keep this enigmatic addition to its heritage, and not lose it to a foreign museum or the gloomy vaults of a private collector. The Art Fund has until April 17 to raise £3.3m to secure the Staffordshire Hoard for museums in the West Midlands. Donate at www.artfund.org/hoard
The whole article – The Long Battle for the Staffordshire Treasure Hoard, Sunday Times Magazine, Sunday March 14th 2010, – can be found here.
Tags: birminghamheritage, BirminghamUK, BM&G
Posted in Birmingham News, BirminghamUK, birmingham | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
These are our links for March 4th through March 9th:
Tags: bct, bctblog, birmingham, BirminghamUK, brandwood, end, heritage, history, links, manchester, museums
Posted in Other sites | No Comments »
