1 In brief How to get there Central Edgbaston Edgbaston is an elegant leafy suburb just one mile west Blue Plaque Walk of Birmingham city centre. Walking distance Public Transport 1.6 miles / 2.57km From City By bus - using Hagley Road towards Quinton or buses to Harborne. Category By train - from New Street travel to Five Ways station. Easy For more information visit: www.networkwestmidlands.com BRIEF HISTORY of How to find Edgbaston EDGBASTON Central

EDGBaSTON Celboldestone in the Doomsday book ofBy 1086 is carEdgbaston is an elegant leafy suburb just one thought to refer to Edgbaston and depicts it as an mile west of Birmingham city centre. area of cultivated land of about 250 acres. Places to eat, drink and relax inEdgbaston church dates from the 13th centuryEdgbaston and Village is easily accessible by car. Car parking Edgbaston Hall, the manor house, now the Golf club, somewhat later. During the Englishis civil available war, at pay andPublic display Transport car parks, and there is Edgbaston: www.edgbastonvillage.co.ukwhen Edgbaston Hall was the seat of Robert From City Middlemore, a Roman Catholic and limitedRoyalist, free Buseson-street along Hagleycar parking. Road towards Quinton, Parliamentarian troops extensively damaged the buses to Harborne church and took over the Hall, which was eventually destroyed. In 1717, the Middlemore line Train to Five Ways station Walk available through the ‘Walkhaving Run been extinguished, the lordship of

BRIEF HISTORYEdgbaston was of purchased byHow Sir Richard to Gough. find Edgbaston EDGBASTON Central Cycle’ app: www.walkruncycle.com/EDGBaSTONDuring 10 years at Edgbaston he rebuiltWalk both the orWalk Cycle developed in 2018 by Heritage Celboldestone in the Doomsdayhall and thebook church. of 1086 The is Hall wasEdgbaston tenanted in is 1796 an elegant leafy suburbvolunteers just one from TASBE thought to refer to Edgbastonby William and depicts Withering it as who an became a membermile west of ofthe Birmingham (The city Arts centre Society. Birmingham Evening) birmingham-edgbaston-walk It is easy to walk and cycle to. Within the Edgbaston area of cultivated landLunar of about society, 250 a groupacres. of eminent men such as Edgbaston church dates fromJames the Watt, 13th Josephcentury Priestlyand and MatthewVillage Boulton. there are a number of cycle stands. Edgbaston Hall, the manorThey house, were nowfeared the byGolf the common people and club, somewhat later. Duringwhen the celebrating English civil thewar, 2nd anniversary of Publicthe Transport when Edgbaston Hall wasstorming the seatof the of Bastille, Robert were attacked by a mob.From City Middlemore, a Roman TheCatholic Hall w asand threatened Royalist, but successfullyBuses along defended Hagley Road towards Quinton, Parliamentarian troops extensivelyand the arrival damaged of military the support from Birminghambuses to Harborne church and took over endedthe Hall,the riot. which was eventually destroyed. In 1717,Goughs the marriedMiddlemore into linethe Calthorpe familyWalkTrain and thetodeveloped Five Ways stationby Heritage Volunteers from The Arts Society having been extinguished,Calthorpe the estatelordship continues of to dominate EdgbastonBirmingham Evening and sponsored by Calthorpe Residents’ Edgbaston was purchasedto bythis Sir day, Richard many Gough. roads being named after family During 10 years at Edgbastonmembers. he rebuilt From bothearly the C19 th migrationWalk of developedwealthy in 2018 by Heritage Society and Calthorpe Estates, plus supported by the Local hall and the church. The Hallmanufacturers was tenanted from in 1796 the city to the leafy volunteerssuburb from TASBE www.tasbe.org by William Withering who oustedbecame the a member tenant farmers of the and allowed(The theArtsInnovation building Society Birmingham Fund. Evening)

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storming of the Bastille, wereInstitute, attacked the Botanical by a mob. Gardens, the Oratory and The Hall was threatened butits successfullyschool and defendedland for Warwickshire cricket club and the arrival of military supportwere granted from Birmingham in C19th. ended the riot. Birmingham Botanical and Horticultural Society Goughs married into the Calthorpeobtained a family lease onand land the off Westbourne Road and Calthorpe estate continuesten to dominateacres of Edgbastonthe Botanical Gardens were first BLUe PLAQUEs Central Edgbastonto this day, many roads beingopened named to the after shareholders family of the Society in 1832. members. From early C19th migration of wealthy CIRCULARWALK manufacturers from the city to the leafy suburb www.tasbe.org www.calthorperesidents.org www.calthorpe.co.uk Blue Plaque Walkousted the tenant farmers and allowed the building www.tasbe.org of large elegant houses on tree-lined streets. No trade or manufacturing was allowed on the estate. and sponsored by Calthorpe Residents’ Society April 2019 However, concessions were occasionally made and the Blind Institute, the Deaf and Dumb Institute, the Botanical Gardens, the Oratory and its school and land for Warwickshire cricket club

were granted in C19th. Birmingham Botanical and Horticultural Society

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Edgbaston Village has a wide range of places to eat, drink and relax and drink eat, to places of range wide a has Village Edgbaston the storming of the Bastille, were attacked by a mob. mob. a by attacked were Bastille, the of storming the

people and when celebrating the 2nd anniversary of of anniversary 2nd the celebrating when and people

and Matthew Boulton. They were feared by the common common the by feared were They Boulton. Matthew and

of eminent men such as James Watt, Joseph Priestley Priestley Joseph Watt, James as such men eminent of

who became a member of the Lunar Society, a group group a Society, Lunar the of member a became who

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Birmingham Botanical and Horticultural Society obtained obtained Society Horticultural and Botanical Birmingham Celboldestone in the Domesday book of 1086 is is 1086 of book Domesday the in Celboldestone

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tenant farmers and allowed the building of large elegant elegant large of building the allowed and farmers tenant

manufacturers from the city to the leafy suburb ousted the the ousted suburb leafy the to city the from manufacturers

century the migration of wealthy wealthy of migration the century 19 early the From Here are some of the places you will see on the walk the on see will you places the of some are Here th Walk down Westbourne Road to the second set of the Arnold Arboretum in Boston Massachusetts and it was Central Edgbaston pedestrian lights and cross. Continue past the main near here in 1930 that he and his Edgbaston born wife Edgbaston High School and look for the plaque on the were killed in an automobile accident. The route Preparatory School. Exit the car park onto Westbourne Road and cross at C4 NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN (1869-1940) the lights into Vicarage Road. Walk to Harborne Road - Edgbaston High School Preparatory School building, and cross before turning right for next two plaques. Westbourne Road The walk begins on Calthorpe Road just Born in Edgbaston into a political family (his father was C6 FRANCIS BRETT YOUNG (1884-1954) off the Five Ways roundabout. As you Joseph and older half-brother Austen), Neville Chamberlain - 105 Harborne Road walk around look for the blue plaques will forever be remembered for brokering the Munich Born in Halesowen, the son of a doctor, Francis Brett at the locations indicated on the sketch Agreement of 1938 in which Sudetenland was ceded to Young was schooled near Birmingham and in 1895 map at the bottom of this page. Nazi Germany in return for ‘Peace in our Time’. Following progressed to Epsom College in Surrey, where he showed the outbreak of hostilities in 1939, he was vilified for his early signs of literary promise by editing the Epsomian From Calthorpe Road walk south, away from the Five policy of appeasement, but many today argue that he school magazine and winning the Rosebery Prize for English Ways roundabout to find plaque C1 on the HSBC gained valuable time for Britain’s preparations for an Literature. He then returned home to read medicine at building to the left. inevitable war. Birmingham University. He became a GP in Brixham, but his first love was writing and he eventually gave up C1 WASHINGTON IRVING (1783-1859) Politics was a second career for Chamberlain. He started his medical practice to write novels, plays and poetry. - 12 Calthorpe Road as a businessman, first disastrously on a sisal plantation He suffered from ill health and sought warmth, settling in Washington Irving was an American essayist, historian in the Bahamas, then successfully managing for 17 years Capri in 1919 with his wife Jessie. Here he began a series and diplomat, serving as the American Ambassador to a Birmingham company making metal ships’ berths and of novels with a Midlands setting. His Birmingham-based Spain 1842-1846. Born in New York city, he suffered from hospital beds. stories contained vivid descriptions of life in the area ill-health off and on for many years. In 1804 Irving set during the turn of the century. However, he considered his sail from New York Harbour bound for a spa in Bordeaux, Although long involved in civic activities, it was 1911 before best achievement to be the long work entitled ‘The Island’, France, to treat a lung ailment. For the next two years he Neville became a city councillor and later Lord Mayor in written during the second world war and covering English travelled throughout Europe including Britain. He enjoyed 1915. At 49 he became Unionist MP for Ladywood, rising history from pre-historic times. He and his wife returned to the hospitality of sophisticated European society and rapidly to become Chancellor of the Exchequer and then England but further ill-health sent them to warmer climes indulged his love of art, theatre and opera. However, his Prime Minister in 1937. His premiership saw the introduction again, this time to South Africa where he died in 1954. Grand Tour ended when, in 1806 and restored health, he of legislation to better the lot of working people, including He is buried in Worcester Cathedral. returned to America and was called to the bar. In 1815 he laws restricting working hours, improving factory conditions, left America for England to visit his brother and remained introducing paid holidays, rent control and slum clearance. C7 AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN (1863-1937) for the next seventeen years, again travelling to various After the disastrous Norway campaign following German - 83 Harborne Road countries in Europe. While in England, an unsuccessful invasion in 1940, he resigned as Prime Minister and died Austen Chamberlain was the eldest son of Joseph business venture caused him to turn to his pen in hopes six months later of bowel cancer. Chamberlain, and half-brother of Neville Chamberlain. of providing some income. Irving’s short stories, including Educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was ‘Rip Van Winkle’ and ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ first Walk through the path to the Botanical Gardens first elected as an MP in 1892. A skilled orator, his maiden printed in America under his pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon car park and look for the next plaque on the wall speech was praised by Prime Minister W.E. Gladstone between the years 1819-20 were collected in ‘The Crayon to the left of the garden’s main entrance. despite opposing his policy, and he rose quickly to become Papers’ and ‘The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon’. He Chancellor of the Exchequer, a post he held twice in his died in America on 28th November 1859, and is buried in C5 ERNEST WILSON (1876 -1930) career. After a number of governmental positions, he Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, New York. - Botanical Gardens, Westbourne Road became Leader of the Conservative Party in the post Ernest Henry ‘Chinese’ Wilson, came to live at Monkspath WW1 coalition. Loyal to PM Lloyd George he resigned Continue along Calthorpe Road to St. George’s just outside Birmingham as a small boy. He left school at rather than fight the ensuing general election as leader of School and cross at the lights into Highfield Road. thirteen and was apprenticed to a plant nursery in Solihull. an independent party. His reputation as a statesman came Number 26 is about half-way up on the right. From sixteen, he was employed as a gardener at the from his role as Foreign Secretary (1924 -1929), particularly Birmingham Botanical Gardens where he is commemorated the negotiation of the 1925 Locarno Pact to broker peace C2 EDWARD TAYLOR (1838-1911) & WILLIAM TAYLOR by this blue plaque. While at the Gardens he studied at between France and Germany. For this he was awarded (1876-1935) - 26 Highfield Road evening classes, winning the Queen’s prize for Botany. the Nobel Peace Prize. He died in March 1937, the year An artist and educator, Edward Taylor was born in Hanley, At the age of 21 he moved to work at Kew Gardens, later Neville became Prime Minister. Stoke-on-Trent. He trained at Burslem School of Art becoming a teacher of botany at the Royal College of and was influential in the Arts and Crafts movement. He Science. He is most famous for his exploration, photography By continuing along Harborne Road you will return to became the first headmaster of Birmingham School of and collecting of exotic plants and seeds in China and the Five Ways. Arts and Crafts and went on to found the Ruskin Pottery later, Japan. He introduced over 2000 plants from the at Smethwick. This was primarily known for its innovative Orient to the West and wrote a number of books illustrated use of glazes but they also made small round cabochons with his own photographs. In 1911 he began working at called ‘enamels’ or ‘plaques’ intended to be inserted into wood or mounted on metal. On his death, his son William took over the firm, but the secret of the glazes died with him in 1935. Birmingham City Centre Cross Highfield Road and go back the way you came, turning right opposite the church and right again into Westbourne Road. The next plaque is on the side of the first University building on the right, facing the church. C1 C3 OLIVER LODGE (1851-1940) - Birmingham City University, Westbourne Road A physicist and writer, Oliver Lodge was involved in the C7 Five Ways development of radio and demonstrated the existence of C6 Train station electromagnetic waves. Born in Staffordshire, he worked in the family business selling clay to the potteries until he was 22. He then went to the University of London obtaining C2 a doctorate in science before taking up an academic post at Liverpool University. Living in Edgbaston and later Barnt Green, he became the first principal of Birmingham University in 1900, a position he held until 1919. The father C3 N of twelve children, he lost a son Raymond in the First World War, which served to increase his interest in spiritualism. Unfortunately, this overshadowed his considerable scientific achievements. Two of his sons successfully used his C5 C4 Edgbaston High School scientific discoveries in their business of manufacturing To find out more about Edgbaston spark plugs. Village, along with the range of places to eat, drink and relax visit www.edgbastonvillage.co.uk