Newsletter Issue 4 Friends of June 2010 the Centre for West Midlands History Sharing the Past with the Future A Glimpse of Vanished Birmingham By Dorothy Vuong A fascinating collection of photos of Birmingham in the 1950s and 1960s is available on the University of Birmingham web repository. The photos were taken by Phyllis Nicklin, who was the Staff Tutor in Geography in the University of Birmingham‘s former Department of Extra Mural Studies in the 1950s and 1960s. Phyllis died in post in 1969 and left behind thousands of slides she had taken for her classes. The images are of the city centre and a selection of districts and suburbs. They document Birmingham‘s buildings, urban topography and street scenes and show many parts of the city during its re-development and the construction of the ring roads. 446 slides held at the University’s Orchard Centre Library were digitised by the ‘Chrysalis’ digitisation project of the West Midlands Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The original project site is alas no more, but the slides are available again at http://epapers.bham.ac.uk/chrysalis.html Some further functionality has been added, including geographical co-ordinates and a map to the approximate locations of the photos. Each image is also linked to the same location as it is today, via Google maps and streetview. The images are publicly available under a Creative Commons (Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike) Licence. They are available for anyone to download, edit, re-use and redistribute for non-commercial purposes. Picture credit: Great Russell Street Newtown, 1967 http://www.cbamh.bham.ac.uk Friends of the Centre for West Midlands History Day School: Plant Hunters, Parks and Gardens: Developments in Garden History in Birmingham and the Midlands By Elaine Mitchell Whilst the future looks bright for some of The audience travelled far with Simon Gulliver Birmingham’s historic landscapes, it remains less too, with several trips to China in the company of certain for others and in March an enthusiastic and plant hunter, Ernest Wilson. Whilst most of us go knowledgeable audience gathered to hear about to the local garden centre for our plants, we forget exciting plans for Winterbourne, the University’s that many of them originally came from rather own botanical garden in Edgbaston, as well as further afield. It is thanks to Wilson that we can concerns about Highbury Park, created around the enjoy the glorious sight of the Handkerchief Tree in former home of Joseph Chamberlain in full flight. Moor Green. Returning to Edgbaston, David Lambert explored Garden historian Phillada Ballard illuminated the the conservation of the Guinea Gardens, complex history and development of Highbury from neighbours to Birmingham Botanical Gardens but, private garden to public park, a history that has like Winterbourne, a well-kept secret. In the 19th seen Chamberlain’s ‘rus in urbe’ become what she century, Guinea Gardens surrounded Birmingham considers one of the finest public parks. However, and these groups of small plots provided a whilst much of the original landscape remains, welcome respite for city dwellers to grow modifications and concerns about the future of the vegetables and flowers or simply create their own house raise issues about how we deal with the private gardens. Their survival is extremely rare. challenges of maintaining historic landscapes. Both John Nettlefold and Ernest Wilson are Winterbourne, an Arts and Crafts garden commemorated with Blue Plaques recently erected developed around the home of John and Margaret by The Birmingham Civic Society. For opening Nettlefold, has perhaps been one of the best kept hours of Winterbourne House and Garden go to secrets of Birmingham but is now set to become www.winterbourne.org.uk and for The an important visitor attraction thanks to its recent Birmingham Botanical Gardens & Glasshouses, refurbishment. Curator, Lee Hale discussed the www.birminghambotanicalgardens.org.uk. For international influences on English Arts and Crafts more information on Edgbaston Guinea Gardens garden design. go to www.edgbastonguineagardens.org.uk. Sharing the Past with the Future Annual Conference 2010 By Paul Fantom The Annual Conference of the Centre for West Peter Rhodes, a columnist for The Express and Star Midlands History was held on 20th March. Taking newspaper, gave a fascinating account of some of as its theme War and Society in the West the experiences of local people during the First Midlands, the conference, which was chaired by World War. Zeppelins and Bayonets: West Midlands Dr Malcolm Dick, featured six presentations Civilians and Soldiers in the Great War drew covering the regional experience from extensively on reminiscences and stories told to Anglo-Saxon times up to and including the Second him by people who had lived through this period. World War. Dr Stephen Parker of the University of Worcester The session opened with a keynote lecture by presented Keep Praying Through: Religion and the Dr Steven Bassettof the University of Home Front in Birmingham During World War Two, Birmingham’s School of History and Cultures, who which looked at the contribution to the war effort spoke on the topic of Fortifying Mercia: Public of religion and its wider impact on the mainstream Defences in the West Midlands in the Anglo-Saxon of events and experience, of culture and Period. Dr Bassett demonstrated how these participation, during the war. As such, this work fortifications have shaped the landscape and offered a further dimension to understanding the continue to have an impact up to the present day. relationship between war and society. Dr Malcolm Hislop of Birmingham Archaeology The final presentation of the day was a thought- considered Military Architecture or Military Chic? provoking topic delivered by Jahan Mahmood, a Medieval Castellated Buildings in the West community historian. Birmingham’s Muslim Midlands. He highlighted local examples, including Communities and Muslim soldiers in World War castles at Dudley and Stafford, and offered a Two considered the linkages between the martial reappraisal of their military credentials. races of British India and contemporary This illustrated how the emphasis of castle design communities. Numerous examples of heroism altered over time, from being concerned with during the Second World War were provided, functional military value to that of making a including that of Noor Inayat Khan, the first female striking visual impact and being the focus radio operator to be sent into occupied France of economic power and status. by the Special Operations Executive. Betrayed to the Germans, she endured torture by the Gestapo Dr Andrew Hopper of the Centre for English without divulging any information, before being Local History at the University of Leicester provided murdered in Dachau Concentration Camp. She was insight into the regional aspects of the English Civil posthumously awarded the George Cross, one of War with his presentation on Divided War Efforts: Britain’s highest awards for gallantry. Factional Infighting and Garrison Warfare in the West Midlands, 1642-1646. Drawing upon the Are you reading this but are not a member of examples of the striking jealousies, rivalries and the Friends? If you would like to join contact the side changing that occurred, he explored Dr Malcolm Dick, Centre for West Midlands the strategies of the local commanders of both History, School of History and Cultures, parliamentary and royalist forces, together with University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, the crucial role played by the West Midlands Birmingham, B15 2TT or email during this conflict. [email protected] for further information. Friends of the Centre for West Midlands History Visit to St Nicolas Place By Roger Bruton The Friends’ visit to St Nicolas Place at Kings Norton in March was an opportunity to study at first hand the buildings and results of the work undertaken on site since the project won the BBC’s Restoration programme in 2004. The £2.5m, four year project has not only saved the Tudor Merchant’s House and the Old Grammar School but, by adaptive re-use and the successful architectural conjunction of old and new, has seen the delivery of a flourishing heritage site, archive and valuable community resource. Twenty-two Friends and their friends were treated to a presentation on the history of the buildings on the site, an understanding of what was involved in the restoration project, what the goals of the trust were and the current uses of and community roles fulfilled by St Nicolas Place. The subsequent guided tour of the restored buildings gave first-hand evidence of how sympathetically the restorations had been managed. Future events for Friends of Birmingham Archives and Heritage (FOBAH) 20th June 2010 2pm-3.30pm Historical walk around Birmingham city centre lead by Dr Chris Upton. Please contact Rachel MacGregor at Birmingham Archives and Heritage or via email [email protected] for more details and booking. Date for your diaries Aston Hall has recently re-opened following a major refurbishment of the site. The Stables Range now contains exhibitions about the history of the Hall, as well as Aston itself. There is also a cafe and a shop. We are in the process of organising a visit on Friday, 15th October, which will include a Above: The Old Grammar School Kings Norton where the top guided tour at 1pm. Full details will be provided in floor is older than the ground floor. Below: Friends of CWMH due course. in the schoolroom in the Old Grammar School, St Nicolas Place. Photographs taken by Roger Bruton. Friends of the CentreSharing for West the Midlands Past with History the Future ‘The People’s Charter and no surrender!’: Chartist Voices in Birmingham By Stephen Roberts Whenever I sit on platform one at Snow Hill Arthur O’Neill, a man of quiet determination, was railway station, waiting for the train to Worcester, buried at St.