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One favourite fact about Birmingham

M

marmalade

proper brummie kid
Evening everyone :)

I was wondering, as many of you have been researching this fair city/area for a long time now, what your favourite/most interesting piece of knowledge is about the city?

What have you found out that you tell anyone and everyone when you get the chance?

I think mine (and I've only been doing this a short while!) is about Corporation St and the vision that Chamberlain had - also the persian carpet in centenary square

so what's yours?
 
I live in Lincolnshire now and whenever the subject crops up I always tell people that in my day Birmingham always looked after it's own.
When we left school in the fifties in spite of not having had the best education in the world we always had a choice of jobs, sadly not so today.
 
Marmelade this is a promissing thread. One thing that I recall that made an impression on me was a little spot in Birmingham that has no great significance in the scheme of things today but is a remarkable reminder of the past. It is the little area just below Moat lane and the Bullring. An insignificant curve in the road realy; untill you discover that it's reason for being originally was to make the turn around the moat of the Manor house. Defiantly it is still there. Link to the thread below.

https://forum.birminghamhistory.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3444&highlight=manor+house&page=22

Read my second post down and then read the rest of this amazing series.
 
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That's a hard one Marmalade, there are so many memories of Birmingham that i feel so proud of, i think we have more than earned our place in the history books. Thank goodness we all have our memories to look back upon and may be when our grandchildren have grown up they will be just as proud to tell others that there ancestors built this city...Cat:)

Yes and with a little bit of rock and roll
 
I think you all know mine, Key Hill cemetery or more importantly the people buried there of which Joseph Chamberlain is one.
 
And mine - the wonderful skills of the jewellers and the wonderful Jewellery Quarter that we have now (provided the planners don't ruin it!)
 
Interesting thread but hard to find one place over others even though
many well liked places have disappeared. I love the area around St. Paul's Churchyard. The history in the surrounding buildings is immediately apparent when you are sitting quietly by the church. This comes in as a tie with Queen's College Chambers on Paradise Street. It's a heritage building and has a great deal of Birmingham history attached to it. I worked there for 18 months in the late l950's. I can sit in Chamberlain Square and look at Queen's College.
 
Easy peasy..
That we have more miles of canals than Venice, how cool is that?
 
Street names

The Street Names of 'My Old Birmingham ' that are still there... As I traveled around Brum last summer, the memories that came flooding back as I read the street names were amazing.
The buildings and the people may have changed in a lot of areas, but a lot of the old street names from my childhood are still there...

Pom :angel:
 
Like Les, I tell people about those lovely canals, but if I wanted to bore them silly it would be the park. I don't know why but Aston Park IS my childhood. And then of course there is Colmore Row, walking along towards the Town Hall on an early summer evening, and hearing the Starlings chirp and squabble. :)
 
It depended on what age I was - My favourite spot Handsworth Park and St Mary's Church - Later on Aston Hall and all its mysteries.
 
I think an important part of Birmingham is the many old buildings that have been preserved and hopefully future generations will value them.
When we were there in 2005 I was pleased to see the green old public toilets that I remember still standing in the Jewelery Quarter, something you don't see in other parts of the world.
The Assay Office on Newhall Street still stands and the work done there is evident all around the world. Take off your ring and if it was bought in Birmingham or even another part of the UK you probably have the Birmingham assay mark on it, that could last for hundreds of years. There are so many things to be remembered about Birmingham, thank goodness much of it is on this web site for the younger generation to read about. :) Mo
 
Being able to tell people how I proud I am of the place I was Born and of the people who share that with me:)
 
ALF.i feel the same.birmingham was very good to me,the council was great when i was homeless due to the fire,they give me a place straight away. people are friendly too.i am proud to be a brummie. pete
 
Mine has to be a tiny back to back cottage [Bell Barn rd] that holds wonderful memories of a happy childhood.Mary
 
One of my best memories is the Bull Ring, Market Hall Clock and the people who waited for the hour to strike and the Knights to move out and strike the bells, destroyed in the Blitz never to work again or be replaced.
 
My favourite fact is...........the Brummie accent:biggrin:

I love it when I hear it and always say hello to the folk who are here on holiday or live here (of which there are many Brummies):)

Yes....it has to be the Brummie accent and the friendliness of my home town people. real SALT OF THE EARTH FOLKS............
God bless 'em all.:0422::0422:
 
lencops, that is a very interesting post about the clock. Words about the clock may have been on here before but I have never seen them.The market hall sadly was only a shell with a burned out roof for me but I have posted info from the Birmingham Art Gallery about the statue inside. Actually the place had more memories for me because of the wonderful smell of salt and vinegar and whelks and crabs legs....just thinking about it makes my mouth water.
 
The fact that when I was young almost everywhere in the world there was something. Made in Birmingham.

The largest number of Spitfires was made in Castle Bromwich which possibly contributed to the fact that we are all here to post about our city.

The work shop of the world,Birmingham

Cars
Cycles
Motorcycles
Jewellery
Pens
Guns
Nuts bolts etc
Brass ( once the major maker of brass bedsteads in the world)
Silverware
Beer
Sauce
Custard
 
A favourite memory I have of Birmingham, When I went with mother as a child, to the market. At the side of the steps leading up to the Fish market, there was always a little old lady there selling paper carrier bags, I can still hear her today shouting "carrier bags".
 
Mines definately the accent, now living in Hull, whenever i hear it i think of home. My sons have Hull accents and think its funny to take the mick out of my accent. But i have one thing to say about it bosting. Does anyone remember the medieval nights with as much mead to drink as you like.
 
Sadly I never went to them but my sister did and thoroughly enjoyed herself. 'King Arthur's Court'? I did got to a couple in Coventry at Coombe Abbey but thing they were a bit more restrained. Nearly said refined until I realised I was writing about Coventry:D
 
Thats it King Arthurs Court i couldn't remember the name. some great memories from there. Thats what could be reembered after the mead. But people would be stood on tables throwing there meat bones and singing loudly.
 
I don't know who ran it but it was a shame when it shut down. Mind you i think health and safety would have a field day nowadays. But it was fun. Everone singing (shouting) greensleaves at the top of there voices.
 
Hi Rupert, The Market Hall, Brum built in 1834 with enough room for 600 stalls. The building was a magnificent hall, which overlooked the street traders and barrow boys. Gas lighting was installed to allow trading after dark. Nelson`s statue in the Bull Ring, erected by the citizens, paid for by donations.
 
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