Thank you to all our wonderful supporters and friends, for voting for Birmingham Conservation Trust and our Newman Brothers Coffin Works Restoration to win the Heritage Angels 2015 People’s Favourite Award! It’s a long title, but a very worthwhile prize that means a ...
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My name is Katie Kershaw and I am one of BCT’s trustees. I became involved with the Trust because I am passionate about historic buildings and my home city of Birmingham. I am enormously grateful for the fantastic work that the Trust ...
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Friday Photo: Coffin Works I have volunteered for BCT for several years now, but recently joined the Friday Photo team. As we have finally reached the day of the launch party for the Newman Brothers at the Coffin Works, today’s Friday photo could ...
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Dawn, as an ex-funeral director, has been an invaluable source of information on the project, helping me developing my own knowledge of coffin furniture. Six months ago I embarked on what was possibly the most daunting (and exciting!) task of my career so ...
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Possibly Newman Brothers’ first coffin-furniture catalogue, circa 1894. Familiar with brass since 1882, they continued to use this material in their new business venture producing coffin furniture from 1894 onwards. © Newman Brothers at The Coffin Works. One of the most common questions ...
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Hi, My name is Valia, I come from Greece and I have studied History and Archaeology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Currently, I am studying for my MA in Heritage Management at the University of Birmingham and I have ...
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The research team have been getting to know the likes of ‘Mr Salt’ and other Newman Brothers’ employees through the many documents discovered in the company archive. Tomorrow marks the start of Volunteers’ Week, which gives us the opportunity at The Coffin Works ...
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Along with a handful of other Birmingham Conservation Trust volunteers, trustees and members – including former BCT Director Elizabeth Perkins, who started the project over a decade ago – yesterday I had the privilege of a ‘hard hat’ tour of the work ...
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Page from a Newman Brothers’ trade catalogue, still to be dated. One of the first tasks I set myself as Collections and Exhibitions Manager was to start dating some of the collection. After all, if I’m going to interpret it, I have to ...
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In an old warehouse just north of Birmingham city centre is a treasure trove of pale, unopened boxes. Hundreds and hundreds stacked up in rows like the tombstones of Manila Bay, filled with reminders of history. Each one contains the intriguing remains ...
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