Sutton Coldfield Stocks

Sutton Coldfield Stocks, c.1895 (Ref: WK/S17/154)

This amusing photograph shows two local men, probably rural labourers, messing about by old stocks in Sutton Coldfield. It was taken during the 1890s by Sir John Benjamin Stone for the Warwickshire Photographic Survey. Stone was a notable photographer as well as Member of Parliament for the borough.

I like this view as it contrasts strikingly with the modern suburb. The idyllically slow pace of life such images conveyed invariably glossed over the tough living and working conditions that were the lot of many rural folk, creating an idealised view of this vanishing world for posterity.

I was intrigued by the photograph because it shows machinery used to punish criminals had become a relic of history, providing amusement to local people whose lives would in turn be affected by modernisation as nearby Birmingham expanded. The ancient stocks are different to others I have seen, designed with wheels so the guilty could be clamped by the legs and paraded through the streets!

Michael Hunkin

Sounds of the City

BBP4631

There has been an upsurge of interest in the history of Birmingham’s music scene following the recent successful Home of Metal project and exhibition at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and also a Music Heritage Award to honour UB40’s first gig at the Hare and Hounds pub in Kings Heath.

Alongside this we had a very enthusiastic first-time user come to us hoping to find out more about a well known local Birmingham band* and about the venue where they played their first gigs.

The venue he was interested in was a city centre site which had been a nightclub in the 1970s and 1980s.  We were able to suggest newscuttings, trades directories, photographs and also some useful secondary material including an excellent book on Birmingham’s music scene called “Brum Rocked On!” by Laurie Hornsby (1988) – you can find it at Birmingham Archives and Heritage shelved at L55.5

What our researcher had not expected to find out was the age of the building; in fact most city buildings have long lives in a variety of guises.  This one had been a nightclub, a casino, a warehouse and originally a factory making light fittings in the late nineteenth century.  We were really pleased to see our researcher follow the trail through trades directories to see what kind of manufacturing had taken place there and then track down an original plan of the factory and hunt around for trades catalogues for the firm to see if he could see the kind of things they made.  It made for an interesting social study of the area showing how the character of that part of the city had changed and reflecting the decline in Birmingham of manufacturing industry.

Sometimes you don’t know what you are looking for until you find it.

Rachel MacGregor

*it wasn’t UB40 or Black Sabbath

End of Whiskey Rationing!

Queue for whiskey, 21 December 1918 (Misc Photos/WW1)

Whiskey came back on sale in Birmingham after World War One on 21 December 1918. Two enormous lines of thirsty punters formed outside this Dale End store, one stretching back towards the High Street, the other going around Henn’s Walk, a side street no longer there today.

Close-up showing entrance to E.H. James Ltd, Dale End

The focus was the premises of Edward Hill James Limited, which appears in a 1918 trade directory as Wine and Spirit Merchants of 29, Dale End. The firm was established in 1861 and rebuilt in 1906. The business remained here until around 1965, when it moved to Fazeley Street. The expectant or cheerful faces of many in the queue suggest popular relief at the lifting of wartime restrictions on alcohol sales.

Attitudes to alcohol consumption in Britain have often been complex. The queue ironically passes the Birmingham Sunday School Union Bookroom. The Protestant Nonconformist figures that traditionally dominated this movement, many having lectured on the social ills of alcohol consumption, might have been appalled by such a gathering outside their shop!

Michael Hunkin
Digitisation & Outreach

Spaghetti Junction’s 40th Birthday

Aerial view of Spaghetti Junction, Gravelly Hill, 1972 (Ref: WK/E2/259)

This May sees the 40^th anniversary of the opening of Birmingham’s ‘Spaghetti Junction’.  The name is said to have been coined by Roy Smith, a journalist from the Birmingham Evening Mail in the 1970s and this phrase is now used throughout the world.

Some interesting vital statistics: the engineers had to elevate 21.7 km (13.5 mi) of motorway to accommodate two railway lines, three canals, and two rivers.  The junction covers 30 acres (12 ha), serves 18 routes and includes 4 km (2.5 mi) of slip roads, but only 1 km (0.62 mi) of the M6 itself. Across 5 different levels, it has 559 concrete columns, reaching up to 24.4 m (80 ft). (Wikipedia).  My favorite fact is that in a curious meeting of the ‘old and new’ the pillars supporting the flyovers had to be carefully placed to enable horse-drawn canal boats to pass under the interchange without fouling the tow rope. (The Motorway Archive).

Aerial view, 1969 (Ref: WK/E2/243)

I like these pictures because they show how something that we take for granted everyday was, at the time of construction, ambitious and innovative and they allow us to see it removed and from a new angle.  The photographs are from the Warwickshire Photographic Survey collection, work on which is currently being undertaken to catalogue and digitize the images. 

Amanda Thomas

May Day Celebrations

Maypole Dancing in Aston Park, c.1900 (Ref: Misc Photos/Parks)

I thought people might enjoy this seasonal image taken from the Birmingham Album of dancing around a Maypole in Aston Park from the turn of the last century. We hold a substantial collection of images of local parks and recreational grounds that record over a 100 years of development and use; they show not only the history of the parks and horticulture but give an insight into to changing fashions and social trends.

Amanda Thomas

A Day in the Life…

A Day in the Life... of Head of Digitisation & Public Services

10.00 – a bit of time to check emails – the department receives well over 3,000 enquiries from members of the public a year and then there are all the day-to-day ones to deal with.  At the moment we are well into the process of planning the move to the new Library of Birmingham so there’s a fair bit of work planning everything that needs to be done.

10.30 – meeting with Jean, one of our IT people, to talk about testing out a new system we are having made to manage our digital images. We’re still in the testing and planning phase so we need to work out how to make sure the system does everything it’s supposed to. The digital images will be the ones which the public will eventually be able to browse via the internet, or access in the department as well as all the archive collections we have that are so-called “born digital” – digital photographs, word processed documents etc.  Just as we preserve and make available parchment deeds, old photographs, maps, letters and diaries so we will be looking after blogs, websites, digital plans, spreadsheets etc.  The new Library of Birmingham really is going to be a library for the twenty first century.

Our Next Lunchtime Lecture…

Studio Family Portraits (Birmingham Archives & Heritage)

The next in our regular series of lunchtime lectures is on Tuesday 8th May – Children’s Lives:  from the eighteenth century to the present day with Dr Sian Roberts, head of collections here at Birmingham Archives & Heritage,  which coincides with our current exhibition on Children’s Lives at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Find out more about the history of children’s lives in the city from the eighteenth century to the present day, drawing on resources from the collections at Birmingham Archives and Heritage Collections and also from the collections at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

The lecture is at 1pm in the Birmingham Central Library Theatre. This event is free and there is no need to book. We look forward to seeing you there…