When we last opened, we had some amazing feedback from our visitors, so do come along and have a look at this exceptional building and find out what went on here. Here are some of the remarks our visitors made:

Fascinating building

Cool old place

A unique and interesting site

It makes things easier if you book a place on a tour – simply email lucie.thacker@birmingham.gov.uk or elizabeth.perkins@birmingham.gov.uk or phone 0121 303 2664. Tours will take place on the hour and every half  hour between 11am and 4pm and last approximately half an hour.

Where is it:  13-15 Fleet Street, Birmingham, England please click the link for a map.

Next Thursday, September 2nd – is the deadline for submissions to the Parliamentary Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry into the potential impact of budget cuts for heritage and arts.  They want to know about:

• what impact recent, and future, spending cuts from central and local government will have on the arts and heritage at a national and local level
• what arts organisations can do to work more closely together in order to reduce duplication of effort and to make economies of scale
• what level of public subsidy for the arts and heritage is necessary and sustainable
• whether the current system, and structure, of funding distribution is the right one
• what impact recent changes to the distribution of National Lottery funds will have on arts and heritage organisations
• whether the policy guidelines for National Lottery funding need to be reviewed
• the impact of recent changes to Department for Culture, Media and Sport arm’s-length bodies – in particular the abolition of the UK Film Council and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
• whether businesses and philanthropists can play a long-term role in funding arts at a national and local level
• whether there need to be more government incentives to encourage private donations

Visit this page on the Parliament website to find out how to submit.  Hat tip to Community Media Association.

Local residents took part in a variety of free, family fun activities on Friday 20th August .

There was a health zone with information on healthy living; a make up artist gave demonstrations of horrible diseases and there was a chance to find out about 19^th Century lotion and potions.

The project was organised by Be Birmingham’s neighbourhood manager for Handsworth Tracey Thorne, and was delivered in partnership with Government regeneration agency Urban Living.

Tracey Thorne said: “This event has provided local residents with healthy living information and has given them an opportunity to share experiences with health researchers about what they think health has been like in the area since the 19^th century to present date.”

Also supported by English Heritage and Soho House, the event is part of a wider Handsworth Health & Heritage project which involves a number of volunteer researchers who are creating a history timeline that documents health in Handsworth since the 19^th Century. An exhibition of their findings will be launched in the autumn.

Tracey previewed the event here.  It’ll be fascinating to see how this evolves.

98 Moseley Road - Grade II Listed. Click picture for the original image by getgod on flickr.

It’s interesting what draws someone’s attention to old buildings. For Nicky Getgood – the local blogger for Digbeth – it was a fire which killed 2 people:

When I posted West Midlands Police’s statement about the recent fire in a property on Moseley Road, in which two people sadly died, both Barnard and Yasmin commented that the old building, along with a few houses next to it, had been empty for a number of years.

As Nicky began to share what she was finding out others joined in, using the comments section on her blog.

The house that caught fire is next to Al Kawthar Academy at 110-114 Moseley Road and just opposite Highgate Park. The house numbers are kind of erratic, but it seems to be part of 106/Flynn House, 102 and 98, all of which are empty and boarded up. According to the Land Registry, these Grade II listed properties are owned by Concept Development Solutions, who Anna Blackaby tells me went bust in 2009. On a post just outside the property is an application for planning permission.

Now Nicky’s unfolding interest in the buildings has appeared in both the Birmingham Post and the Birmingham Mail .  She has also been joined by others campaigning for the Moseley road, with it’s plethora of listed buildings, to be granted conservation area status.

By making the effort to routinely share what she knows on her blog,  Nicky has done more than report a story, she’s created a focal point for community.

108 Moseley Rd - click picture for the original image by getgod on flickr.

The HODs this year will run from 9-12 September and the event directory for this year’s events is now live, so you can start planning your visits. You may need to book ahead for some properties as places can be limited and the HODs grow more popular with visitors every year! Click here to see what’s going on in the West Midlands this year.

One of the items in the Dutch Open Air Museum collection

An item from the collection in the Dutch Open Air Museum

We were contacted by Hans Piena, a Conservator at the National Dutch Open Air Museum. He has a crate of large stamped brass ornaments, some of them a foot long and up to 4 inches wide. His research led him to us to ask us if they were coffin fittings. He sent us these photographs to help us identify the objects.

We don’t think these are coffin fittings as they don’t match anything in our collection. Elizabeth Perkins thinks they may be architectural decorations, similar to the tin pressed ceilings found in America, but it is unusual to find them in brass. They would look good around a mirror or polished up on a wall as a decorative feature. Hans has replied that he has found paperwork to suggest that the items were used as picture or mirror frames. Can anyone throw any light on the way these objects were used?

A team from the University of Birmingham, as well as archaeologists from around the world, was involved in the discovery. An article on the Guardian website describes the second henge as ‘the most exciting find at Stonehenge in a lifetime.’ In the article, Professor Vince Gaffney from the university says:  

“This finding is remarkable. It will completely change the way we think about the landscape around Stonehenge…Stonehenge is one of the most studied monuments on Earth but this demonstrates that there is still much more to be found.”

The find is fantastic, and all the more exciting for the University of Birmingham’s involvement in the project!

Read the Guardian article here. There’s also a press release on the university’s website – find it here.

CAMRA did just this and undertook a National Inventory of Pub Interiors of Outstanding Interest and of the 60 000 pubs in the United Kingdom, 293 of those were of significant importance. The inventory is in two parts: part one covers interiors which are essentially intact since they were originally created which holds 195 entries 8 of which are in Birmingham and part two lists pub interiors whilst not intact contain features or rooms which are of truly national significance of which there are 98 entries 4 of which are in Birmingham.

A series of pubs built in Birmingham between 1896 and 1904 by James and Lister Lea are truly unique to Birmingham. These pubs are named ‘tile and terracotta’ so-called from the red terracotta facing on the frontage and extensive use of tiles for decoration inside.

Ceramic tiles found in The White Swan, Digbeth

The Anchor, Digbeth: A red brick and terracotta building built by James and Lister Lea.

However, over the past three or four decades the public house has seen massive changes through changing fashion tastes, economy and benign neglect which has resulted in many nationally important interiors currently at risk. If you want to know more Licensed to Sell – The History and Heritage of the Public House by Geoff Brandwood, Andrew Davison and Michael Slaughter explains how pubs took their present form and examines the exceptional interiors that can be found.

Festival of History 2010

Prepare for the ultimate historical adventure as the Festival of History thunders back for 2010. Experience over 2000 years of history and watch as over 1,000 re-enactors march out of history and into the heart of England. Hear the thud of Roman soldiers as they march in unison, the thunder of charging horses, swords clash as Knights engage in battle and the roar of vintage fighter planes as they soar overhead. With more than 50 different shows each day this is an action packed weekend for the whole family.

The event is taking place on Saturday 17^th and Sunday 18^th July at Kelmarsh Hall, Northampton.

Go to www.festivalofhistory.co.uk to find out more.

Argent Centre, courtesy of Keshvala

The list of applications for the UK’s new Tentative List of sites for World Heritage status has been published, and includes Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter on the list.

Click here for the full 38.

John Penrose, Tourism and Heritage Minister, said:

“We wanted a strong and varied list to eventually put to UNESCO and I’m delighted that so many wonderful, diverse places have been put forward. Any list that includes Jodrell Bank, the Forth Bridge, Blackpool and the Turks and Caicos Islands certainly doesn’t lack variety.  But what all 38 sites have in common is a wow factor and a cultural resonance that makes them real contenders to sit alongside The Pyramids and Red Square in this most distinguished of gatherings.”

Fingers crossed for Birmingham!

The full list is

• Arbroath Abbey (Scotland)
• The Birmingham Jewellery Quarter (England)
• The Birth of the Railway Age serial nomination (England)
• Blackpool (England)
• The heroic period of civil and marine engineering in England 1822-1866, Bristol (England)
• Bronte Landscape and Haworth Village (England)
• Brunel’s Great Western Railway (England)
• Buildings of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow (Scotland)
• Chatham Dockyard and its Defences (England)
• Chester Rows (England)
• Colchester, Camulodunum and Colonia Victricensis (England)
• Creswell Crags (England)
• The Hill of Derry (Northern Ireland)
• The Dover Strait (England)
• The Flow Country (Scotland)
• The Forth Bridge (Scotland)
• The Fountain Cavern (Anguilla)
• Gorham’s Cave (Gibraltar)
• Gracehill Conservation area (Northern Ireland)
• Jodrell Bank Observatory (England)
• The Lake District (England)
• The Laxey Valley (Isle of Man)
• Historic Lincoln (England)
• Malone and Stranmillis Historic Urban landscape (Northern Ireland)
• Merthyr Tydfil (Wales)
• Merton Priory (England)
• Mousa, Old Scatness and Jarlshof: The Crucible of Iron Age Shetland (Scotland)
• The Royal Sites of Ireland – Navan Fort (Northern Ireland)
• The Norfolk and Suffolk Broads (England)
• Slate Industry of North Wales (Wales)
• Offa’s Dyke (England/Wales border)
• St Andrews, Medieval Burgh and Links (Scotland)
• Island of Saint Helena (Saint Helena Island, South Atlantic Ocean)
• Turks and Caicos Islands (Caribbean)
• Tynwald Hill and environs – Norse assembly sites of North West Europe (Isle of Man)
• Former RAF Upper Heyford (England)
• Wye Valley and Forest of Dean (England/Wales border)
• City of York (England)

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